Introductory Stewardship Consultation
Introductory Stewardship Consultation
We value this one-hour consultation at $250. We charge only $25 to help you plan confidently and give your restoration project a strong start—and return that $25 to you as store credit that you can use on plants and seed.
Your Natural Communities store credit is issued once payment is confirmed. No purchase of plants, seed, or other products is required.
Use the session to work through restoration goals, site constraints, invasive-species strategy, native plant and seed decisions, budgeting, or practical next steps.
How many plants do you need?
Calculate plants & flatsEstimate quantities from your planting area and species-appropriate spacing, then round up to whole flats.
How much seed do you need?
Calculate seed quantitiesEnter your planting area and the rate for this species, or add species to plan a custom mix.
Available
Subject to confirmation.
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Getting started with restoration can feel intimidating, especially if you've never done it before. Drawing on decades of experience, scientific knowledge, and hands-on fieldwork, we'll help you prepare, understand your options, and move forward with greater confidence. We can talk through site preparation, installation, invasive-species control, maintenance, and augmentation of an existing native plant community.
We want you to succeed. Supporting your stewardship helps support wildlife and a healthier environment. Sharing what we've learned is one way we give back to the people caring for the land.
Make the Hour Useful
Bring a property, project, difficult management question, or second-opinion request. We’ll focus the conversation on the decisions that will help you move forward.
Common Topics
- Restoration goals and project scoping
- Prairie, woodland, wetland, and savanna management
- Invasive-species control and adaptive management
- Native plant and seed selection
- Wildlife habitat and ecological function
- Implementation priorities, budgets, and next steps
Your Consultant
Nick Fuller | Principal Ecological Officer & Ecological Restoration Consultant
20+ years working with habitat restoration, natural-area management, stormwater systems, and native plant communities across the Chicago region and Midwest.
How It Works
- Reserve the consultation.
- Schedule after checkout. Choose an available time through our private Google Calendar appointment page.
- Meet virtually by Google Meet. Consultations are approximately one hour and conducted audio only.
- Bring project materials if available. Maps, photos, aerial imagery, plans, or species lists help us make the conversation more specific.
Standard Booking Details
The standard reservation fee is $25. For standard bookings, the full consultation fee is issued back as Natural Communities store credit after payment is confirmed and can be applied toward native plants, native seed, trees and shrubs, or future stewardship consulting.
Eligible Professional & Agency List subscribers may receive this introductory consultation as a complimentary subscriber benefit.
Scope
Our consulting work focuses on the ecological health, restoration, and management of natural areas, including prairies, woodlands, wetlands, savannas, and other wild or semi-wild spaces. Our approach is ecological rather than ornamental. For curated residential landscape design, we generally recommend working with a native landscaper, landscape designer, or landscape architect.
Audio Recording Notice
Consultations are conducted through Google Meet and recorded audio only. Recordings help us capture recommendations accurately and may be used for educational or marketing purposes. If you prefer not to be recorded, contact us about a private unrecorded consultation.
Plant Shipping & Care
Plant Shipping & Care
We want to ensure that our customers get what they want, a native backyard oasis. To do that, we need to follow a few simple guidelines and give you some information and pointers to make sure you get your plants delivered in a healthy state.
As a reminder, you will receive an email to confirm your pickup or shipping window just before the plants are ready. See Order Fulfillment below for seasonal fulfillment windows.
Choices to Receive Your Plants & Accessories
- Retail online orders: Plant and seed orders ship only, except eligible trees and shrubs offered for pickup. Shipping charges are calculated at checkout.
- Retail pickup — trees and shrubs only: Pickup is available by prior arrangement for eligible woody plants. Some container options are offered for scheduled pickup only. Check the selected product option and the cart pickup instructions before ordering. Pickup and shipped items require separate orders.
- Wholesale orders: Plants, trees and shrubs are available for pickup by arrangement. Delivery can also be arranged for your order. Wholesale pickup is free. All seed orders ship, including wholesale seed.
- Pickup locations and dates are confirmed by email. Please wait for confirmation before traveling to a pickup site. Our offices are not retail stores or nursery pickup locations.
Order Fulfilment - When Your Plants or Other Items Will Be Ready
We take orders all year long and seed is shipped all year, but we only provide the plants to you in certain fulfillment windows to ensure healthy plants.
Wholesale Orders
- Plant pickup and delivery are arranged for your order. Seed ships only.
Retail & Website Orders
- Seed Typically Ships Out Within One Week Of Order All Year Long
- Typically, single species flats ship when ready, sometimes as soon as early to mid-April (depends on weather) through early-October.
- Mixed species kits are batched and shipped as indicated on the product page.
- If a plant order is placed while outside of the plant fulfillment window your plants will be reserved through your payment, however, the order will not be fulfilled and shipped until the following spring. We don't want to provide you plants when they won't be happy during the cold winter months.
- Early in the spring and later in the fall certain species may be dormant or partially dormant with brown leaves, however they will return to grow healthy next growing season.
- Your order may arrive in several different shipments.
- If certain plants within an order will not be available until a later date, we may choose to hold the full order until all are ready. In certain circumstances, we may choose to send them in two separate shipments
- Fulfillment is always dependent upon plant availability. We try our best but sometimes plants do not overwinter well and perish. If a plant is on back order you will receive an email indicating the estimated shipping date. If we can not provide the plant we will first notify you and give you an option of substitution or a refund of that individual species.
- Plants are typically only packaged and shipped on Mondays to ensure they do not sit in the harsh delivery facility for extended periods of time over the weekend. You will receive a confirmation email once your delivery has been shipped and to estimate your delivery date.
- Apparel & accessories are ready typically within one to two weeks. See product page for holiday shipping.
Where We Ship
Natural Communities ships native plants and seed from multiple supplier locations across the Midwest. Shipping coverage extends beyond our local consultation area; see the shipping map below. Availability and delivery options depend on the product and destination. Check the product details and shipping options at checkout, or contact us before ordering if you need help confirming coverage.
Our on-site ecological consulting serves the greater Chicago region and southeastern Wisconsin, including the Milwaukee area. Consultations take place at your property by appointment. Our offices are not walk-in retail stores or plant pickup sites.
What to Expect When Receiving Your Delivery
- Your plants will be packaged with the utmost care
- We will need to cut back certain plants prior to shipping. This seems counter-intuitive, however, the fewer leaves the less water the plants can lose during shipping, resulting in healthier plants for you. This also enables the plants to fit within the protective packaging and shipped safely.
Shipments
- Larger plant shipments will look similar to the picture below with a tray of your plants and a cardboard box to protect them during shipping.
What to Do With Your Plants After Receiving Your Delivery
- Unpack your order IMMEDIATELY
- Inspect for damage and report any issues immediately to Natives@NaturalCommunities.net
- Water your plants
- Install your plants as quickly as possible and water the entire garden area thoroughly
- If you cannot install your plants immediately
- Some plants may not be in a container, put them into some kind of a container such as a paper cup with loose soil until installation
- Make sure each plant is receiving the appropriate amount of light.
- Continue to water daily each morning and possibly again in the afternoon
- No additional fertilizer is needed
Seed Shipping & Care
Seed Shipping & Care
Seed ships all year and typically ships within a week of an order being placed.
We have attempted to put together some basic information regarding native seed installation, establishment, and maintenance. We hope you find it helpful. If you need further assistance on native seed establishment, please schedule a free consolation call here.
Consultation Services
Ecosystem Restoration Considerations
Native Seed Establishment Best Management Practices
Native Seed Stratification Best Management Practices
