ReRooted: Plant Propagation

We human beings need plants for our survival. Everything we eat consists of plants or the animals that depend on them somewhere along the food chain. They form the backbone of natural ecosystems. They absorb about 30 percent of all the carbon dioxide emitted by humans each year. Trees can prevent flooding, provide food and shelter for wildlife, reduce crime, and lower energy bills—all while adding beauty to our surroundings.

Three people tend to newly propagated plant starts.

When they’re embedded in a forest ecosystem, plants and trees can use networks of mycorrhizal fungi to protect one another and ensure long-term survival. But plants and plant communities face a host of immediate threats, from development to invasive species to rapid climate change. They need our help.

The Bad News

Ohio’s more than 1900 native plants are in trouble. Rapid climate change puts not just species but entire habitats at risk. With the climate changing rapidly—over decades rather than millennia—it is hard to predict which plants will survive. The only certainty is that the region’s present plant communities and familiar landscapes will change. Eventually, the impacts will shrink our food supply, sap our economy, and dim the beauty of our region. It’s a sobering picture.

The Better News

We can help maintain functioning ecosystems—whatever the mix of plant species—by lessening the myriad threats that our own activities and invasive species pose to the plants that define our home.

A Natural Fit

Plants have been at the core of our work throughout the 80-year history of the Civic Garden Center. As we celebrate our 80th anniversary, we’re leaning into our talent for innovation to reinvigorate our mission and our impact in support of our local ecosystems. While other conservation organizations are fighting to protect land, air and water, the CGC is dedicated to plants and trees: protecting and restoring rare and native species and keeping common ones common.

Enter: ReRooted

Native plants being propagated at the Civic Garden Center of Greater Cincinnati

ReRooted is a unique seed-saving and plant propagation program at the Civic Garden Center. It gives students, volunteers and gardeners the chance to learn about and grow native plants and, in doing so, enables them to help to restore natural areas such as Walnut Woods at Evanston or begin transitioning their yard or garden to more sustainable practices. The program aims to:

  • Retain local genetic integrity of plant species

  • Foster the restoration of public and private land using native plants and trees

  • Increase biodiversity in areas where invasive plants have been recently removed

  • Educate our community about the value of using native plants and trees

  • Assist our community in planting and maintaining native plants and trees

The Next Step

Hands-on education isn’t just nice to have. It’s necessary if we hope to see more of us gaining the simple skills required to propagate native plants — and using them to repopulate our public and private spaces. To that end, we’re making plans to construct a teaching greenhouse on our grounds that will allow us to propagate plants, start seedlings, cultivate vegetables and herbs, and even provide a lab or training facility for budding horticulturalists, biologists, farmers and gardeners.

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