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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

A Thriving Business In Northwest Seeds

Jeri Mccroskey Correspondent

Sometimes gardeners get a longing for the wild things. And with shovel in hand, we head out to where they are.

We dig up a pine, a fir or maybe even kinnikinick plants to transplant in our own yards.

But we find the plants don’t thrive in captivity. I’ve had my share of failures - needles turn brown, leaves drop off.

Loring Jones has spent his life working at the solution to this problem. The Moscow man runs the business end of a wild seed operation from his home. He says wild plants have an extensive root system and it is difficult to retrieve enough of that root to assure that the plant will survive in captivity.

If you have a yearning to grow native trees, shrubs and flowers in your own yard, Jones’ advice is that you are better off to buy seeds or seedlings from a supplier or nursery. And for the past 22 years, his operation - Northplan/ Mountain Seed - has shipped wild seed from its warehouse in Boise to growers across the United States and as far away as Europe.

“Contrary to what many people think, we do not go into the forest digging up existing vegetation,” he says. “We gather and save seeds from growing plants. It does no harm.”

A native of New Haven, Conn., Jones grew up in an environment that charted his career. His father, Donald F. Jones, was a geneticist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experimental Station and originated the double crossing method of producing hybrid seed corn.

After graduation from Dartmouth in botany, young Jones worked with his father as a plant breeder.

Jones says, “This project was important because it improved wheat yields when needed and helped the country win World War II.”

After military service as a Navy officer, Jones went on to earn a master’s degree in biology from Harvard and then worked as an agronomist with a Midwest seed company for 18 years. In 1965, he moved his wife and two daughters to Moscow to fill a joint position with the Idaho Parks and Recreation Department and the University of Idaho, where he eventually earned a master’s degree in forestry.

Two years later he began his own consulting business and in 1975 bought an existing native seed operation.

He emphasizes, “We deal in just seeds - trees, shrubs, vine types, wild flowers - 300 varieties. The majority of these are Northwest types.”

How does he acquire seeds for a business that supplies a network of growers across the country and abroad? He says much comes from other seed suppliers and he gathers some himself. The latter is more of a recreational thing. Sometimes he and his wife, Veralee, enjoy going into the forests to collect their own seeds.

Today, most of his business is with the private growers who propagate the seeds. In the past, he supplied government agencies such as the Forest Service, national parks, Bureau of Land Management and state highway departments, but he says that now these agencies tend to be their own suppliers and propagators.

Jones says he will sell pound or fractions of pound packets of native wild flower seeds. Also, Plants of the Wild in Tekoa, Wash., for which he is a seed supplier, will sell to individuals when there are leftovers from large orders.

In addition to his business, he has served as president of the Idaho Native Plant Society and is on its board as a member at large. He is also treasurer of Friends of McCroskey State Park.

, DataTimes MEMO: Jeri McCroskey, a free-lance writer and antique collector, lives with her husband at Carlin Bay. Panhandle Pieces is shared among several North Idaho writers.

Jeri McCroskey, a free-lance writer and antique collector, lives with her husband at Carlin Bay. Panhandle Pieces is shared among several North Idaho writers.