Volunteer to Grow Native Plants At Home

Help put more native prairie plants in the ground, starting right at home! The Great Grow Out is completely free, and all materials are provided.

Through the Great Grow Out, volunteers grow native prairie plants at home, at schools, at workplaces, and in their communities. The Coastal Prairie Conservancy provides everything you need to get started, including native seed, soil, pots, growing materials, and guidance.

Once your plants are ready, return them to CPC to be planted in prairie restoration and community projects across our region. Growers are also welcome to keep a few plants to add native habitat at home!

As Doug Tallamy, founder of the Homegrown National Park movement, puts it: “Nature is not optional. We need it for survival, and we need it where we live.”

Whether you are an experienced grower or completely new to native plants, there is a way for everyone to get involved.

Ways to Get Involved:

Become a Great Grow Out Grower

Already comfortable growing native plants? Start here.

If you already have experience growing native plants from seed, you can jump right into the Great Grow Out Program. Sign up to become a grower, and CPC will provide the seed, soil, pots, and growing materials you need. You provide the care to turn those seeds into healthy native prairie plants.

Once the plants are ready, return them to CPC, and feel free to keep a couple for your home garden. Our goal is simple: get more native plants in the ground across our region.

Organize a Great Grow Out Workshop

Gather your group. We’ll bring everything else!

Bring together your coworkers, neighbors, garden club, school, scout troop, community organization, friends, or another group, and CPC will organize a free Great Grow Out workshop with you.

You provide:

• At least 12 participants

• A place to host

CPC provides:

• Growing materials, including pots, soil, and locally collected native seed

• Hands-on instruction

There is no cost to organize or participate, and no previous native plant experience is needed. Everyone leaves ready to become a Great Grow Out Grower.

Attend a Great Grow Out Workshop

New to growing native plants? We’ll teach you.

If you are new to growing native plants from seed, we recommend starting with a Great Grow Out workshop.

These free, hands-on workshops walk you through how to start and care for native prairie plants. CPC provides everything you need, including seed, soil, pots, growing materials, and hands-on instruction. You will leave with your planted seeds, materials, and everything you need to become a Great Grow Out grower.

CPC offers free public Great Grow Out workshops periodically throughout the year at locations around the Houston region.

No public workshops are currently scheduled. Check back for upcoming dates.

From Local Seed to More Native Plants

The seeds you grow through Great Grow Out have a local story.

Through CPC’s Seed Collecting Program, volunteers collect native seed from remnant prairies throughout our region. These remnant prairies are important reservoirs of the native plant diversity that once characterized much of our region, and the seeds from these prairies have local genetics that make them resilient and uniquely adapted to the Southeast Texas environment.

Great Grow Out growers help take the next step by turning those locally collected seeds into grown-out plants.

You can learn more about how the Great Grow Out Program fits into our broader Native Plants Program and the Coastal Prairie Conservancy’s restoration efforts below.

Grower Spotlight: Houston Zoo

At the Houston Zoo, Bennett Dones, Manager of Interpretive Programs, has led an effort to grow more than 300 native prairie plants through the Great Grow Out Program. He recently returned these plants to the Indiangrass Preserve to be utilized in our land restoration efforts.

Growers can start with a few plants or take on hundreds. No matter how many you grow, you are contributing to the same goal: getting more native plants into the ground!

Great Grow Out Resources

• Coastal Prairie Plant Growers Handbook — 2nd Edition — December 2010

• Guide to the Plants of Louisiana — resource about many plants of the coastal prairie from Louisiana to the Texas Coastal Bend.

• Growing Prairie Natives — video series on YouTube

• Seed Pick-Up Form

• Plant Return Form

FAQ’s