GOING NATIVE HAS MADE NURSERY PROSPER BY LUCY BODILLY Special to the Journal MONROE -- Like the seeds of the native plants they sell, Storm Lake Growers have flourished by being in the right place at the right time. One of the only native plant growers in the area 15 years ago, Ann and Dan McCain started their business because they had to get rid of the plants in their greenhouse. "Ann was a plant propagator for a commercial nursery for many years, and our home greenhouse had gotten out of control," Dan McCain said. "So she decided to put a sign out by the side of the road and sell some of the plants." Soon, she decided to quit her job as a propagator, and work at home doing the same thing. Eventually, her home-based business made enough money for her husband Dan, who was working as a nursery manager, to quit his job. Dan started out doing landscaping when he was 10. A voracious reader, he taught himself about plants by reading books, attending seminars and visiting other nurseries. Storm Lake Growers got its big break with a contract to grow plants for the restoration of the Sand Point Navy base when the NOAA headquarters was being built there in the late 1970s. From there, the McCains continued to receive requests from public agencies for their native plants. "For quite a few years we had a corner on the market," Dan McCain said. Now, other nurseries are seeing the profitability of growing native plants, and competition is getting stiffer. To deal with that, Storm Lake Growers are focusing on plants that are harder to grow and obtain, but it never sells endangered plants. Today, half of the plant material the McCains sell is grown on eight acres in Monroe. Their biggest buyers are landscape contractors working on mitigation projects. About 25 percent goes to groups interested in environmental enhancement, such as the Boy Scouts. Homeowners are also becoming interested in returning their property to its native state. "Most of those are people in high-end homes that want to make their 40 acres look more Dan McCain (center) and two employees at Storm Lake Growers in Monroe. natural," Dan McCain said. So, he also sells some natives to larger retail nurseries with customers interested in native plants. In all, the McCains grow about 250 different species in small quantities. "For us, growing 1,000 plants of the same kind would be a lot," Dan McCain said. They also dabble in a few ornamentals for fun. And, they propagated a group of Japanese maples to help pay for their daughter's education. "Unfortunately, she graduated before they were ready." Growing up as a plant at Storm Lake must seem like going through plant boot camp. When cuttings are first taken, the plants are babied with a mist fan that keeps the humidity near 100 percent. But after that, they need to harden off quickly. "These plants have to be tough," McCain said. Healthy and well cared for, the plants are no beauty queens. "We like to keep them slightly overstressed so they will have a better chance to survive." To survive outside of the nursery, the plants need to be as hardy as possible. In most mitigation projects the canopy, understory and shorter plants are put in all at once. In the wild, maidenhair fern often grows in the shade of large alder trees. But in a newly planted project, the alders are small and provide no shade at all. Unless the ferns are already used to the sun, they will die. In the early years, Ann and Dan discovered that their business would not be long-lived unless they became good stewards of the environment. For that reason, the company uses few pesticides and herbicides. Only if an infestation is severe, such as the peak year during the seven-year cycle of the tent caterpillar, are the plants sprayed. Thousands of plants sit in pots on the eight-acre site, but much of the property is kept in its natural condition. This helps control pests such as aphids, because natural predators are close by. The soil on their site is glacial till, and a poor excuse for the dirt they need to raise plants. Instead of depleting existing topsoil, they use composted wood chips from Northwest Hardwoods. Composted for 10 years, the consistency and growing properties are similar to those found in the forest. Though the location is an idyllic spot in the hills near Monroe, the McCains are thinking about buying some land closer to town for a sales facility. A more central location would make it easier for customers and the soil is better, McCain said. The move would also allow expansion into ornamentals. "The difficulty for us is that everybody plants natives in the winter months because of the wet weather. If we sold other types of plants also, it would help even out the cash flow," McCain said. The pair describes themselves as old hippies. They never buy on credit, use no machinery except for a tractor, and are happy that they have jobs that are so much fun. "This is really a hobby that got out of hand," McCain said.