Introductory Stewardship Consultation
Introductory Stewardship Consultation
Subject to confirmation.
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Whether you're just getting started or looking for a second opinion on an existing restoration project, this one-hour virtual consultation gives you direct access to a Restoration Ecologist.
We'll discuss your property, your goals, and your biggest challenges while introducing the principles of Fly-Wheel Ecology and how resilient native plant communities can naturally reduce invasive species over time.
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. We work with property owners who want to restore, establish, or improve a natural area on their land.
Our approach is ecological rather than ornamental. If your primary goal is native landscaping, garden design, or a more curated aesthetic, we're likely not the best fit for the design portion of your project. We do sell native plants and seed for those applications, but for landscape design and installation we would generally recommend that you work with a native landscaper, native landscape designer, or native landscape architect.
Your Consultant
Nick Fuller | Principal Ecological Officer & Ecological Restoration Consultant
20+ years of expertise in habitat restoration, stormwater compliance, and native plant design across the Chicago region and Midwest.
💳 Your $25 Comes Back as Store Credit
Once Shopify confirms your payment, the full $25 consultation fee is issued as Natural Communities store credit. Apply it toward native plants, native seed, trees and shrubs, or future stewardship consulting.
How It Works
- Purchase your consultation through Shopify. The one-time reservation fee is $25.
- Schedule after checkout. Scheduling is completed through our private Google Calendar appointment page after purchase.
- Choose your exact appointment. Google Calendar shows the openings that are still available and creates your Google Meet appointment.
- Meet virtually by Google Meet. Consultations are approximately one hour and conducted audio only.
- Your $25 becomes store credit once payment is confirmed. Shopify will also notify you when the credit is issued.
Typical Appointment Availability
Based on our current connected calendars, consultation openings generally fall within these windows:
- Monday–Thursday: typically at 3:15 PM Central Time
- Saturdays: appointment blocks are generally available in the morning
Additional daytime openings may appear. Exact appointment times vary with existing field work, meetings, and project schedules and are shown in Google Calendar when you schedule.
Please have photos, maps, or aerial imagery of your property available if possible. These help us provide more specific recommendations during your consultation.
What We'll Discuss
Every property is different, but consultations commonly include:
- Restoration goals
- Native plant and seed selection
- Invasive species management
- Prairie, woodland, and wetland restoration
- Fly-Wheel Ecology and adaptive management principles
- Wildlife habitat improvement
- Next steps and implementation priorities
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, we're happy to arrange a private, unrecorded consultation for an additional fee.
Need Ongoing Stewardship Support?
If your project would benefit from in-person site evaluation or recurring adaptive management, you can move into one of our ongoing stewardship programs.
Annual Land Stewardship Consulting
Professional on-site ecological guidance once per year, plus follow-up support.
Quarterly Land Stewardship Consulting
Four seasonal site visits with ongoing adaptive ecological guidance for active or complex restoration projects.
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
- Website orders: Seed, plugs and bare-root plants offered for shipping are shipped to your address. Shipping charges are calculated at checkout.
- Container trees and shrubs: Some #3 and #5 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 where indicated in the cart.
- Wholesale orders: Delivery and pickup are arranged separately according to the order, supplier yard and location. Wholesale pickup is free.
- 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
- Shipped or are Ready For Pick Up As Requested.
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
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
Questions & Answers
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