Growing Wild Massachusetts

DCR is Growing Wild for Pollinators by expanding and enhancing our landscapes with native plants that support pollinators, wildlife, and the environment. These Managed Pollinator Habitats are throughout the DCR system and include Pollinator Gardens, Managed Meadows, and Low Mow Zones. Through selective seed and plant installation, and prescribed landscape management, these habitats are installed and maintained following DCR’s Pollinator Habitats and Gardens Best Management Practices and with the support of DCR staff, partners, and Friend’s groups.

DCR staff will be installing Growing Wild signs to highlight these areas. We invite you to visit a DCR Growing Wild site near you to learn more!

Pollinator plants being installed near the restored dam by the Friends of Harold Parker State Forest – plants provided by Oakhaven Sanctuary, Native Plant Nursery & Consulting

By Growing Wild DCR is not only improving habitats for pollinators! These habitats are also important for our local birds, small mammals, amphibians and reptiles. In addition, by reducing mowing we are using less fossil fuel such as gasoline and diesel, increasing storm water and carbon absorption by the land and improving air quality!

DCR’s efforts support the Commonwealth’s Leading by Example Program’s Sustainable Landscape Initiative .

Growing Wild is a movement driven by collective action to create thriving native plant habitats that provide resources like food and shelter for native pollinators, birds, and wildlife throughout all of Massachusetts. You can join the Growing Wild Movement by planting native plants in your home garden, eliminating or reducing your pesticide use, and choosing more eco-friendly landscape management practices. If you’ve planted native species—whether from a Growing Wild starter kit or your local nursery—take the next step and Pledge Your Garden on our Growing Wild state-wide Pollinator Map on our Growing Wild Partnership Page.

Plant Your Tomorrow 

For the fifth year in a row, Growing Wild is offering free Pollinator Garden Starter Kits throughout Massachusetts at partnering nursery locations and DCR events. 

You can pick up your free Growing Wild starter kit at the below nursery and DCR locations.

 Starter kits will include: 

• Two one-gallon native perennial plants
• Native seed packets 
• Educational resources on pollinator-friendly gardening 
• Growing Wild Massachusetts sticker

Nursery Partner Locations 

Starter Kits available starting 05/30/2025 while supplies last.

• Bemis Farms Nursery — Spencer 
• Bigelow Nurseries — Northboro 
• Busy Bee Nursery — Holden 
• Dave’s Natural Garden — Granby 
• Gulbankian Farm — Southborough 
• Hart Farm Nursery — Dennis Port 
• Kennedy Country Gardens — Scituate 
• Perreault Nurseries — North Grafton 
• Randall’s Farm — Ludlow 
• Rogers Spring Hill Garden & Farm Center — Haverhill 
• Soares Flower Garden Nursery — East Falmouth 
• Ward’s Nursery & Garden Center — Great Barrington 
• Weston Nurseries Chelmsford 
• Weston Nurseries Hingham 
• Weston Nurseries Hopkinton 
• Weston Nurseries Lincoln 
• Wolf Hill Gardens Gloucester 
• Wolf Hill Gardens Ipswich 

DCR Will be hosting the following Growing Wild Starter Kit Giveaway Events

Pollinators are mostly insects (but also some animals) that play a critical role by carrying pollen from plant to plan to create seeds that will become the next generation of plants.  

Some plants can pollinate with pollen that is blown around by the wind, but a huge percentage of the plants that we see every day (including up to 75% of all flowering plants and 35% of the plants that we eat) rely upon insects for this vital function that sustains life. In Massachusetts we have many species of native insects that thrive on and support our native plant communities. 

Unfortunately, pollinators are having a tough time right now.  Loss of native plant habitat, the spread of invasive plant and insect species, climate change impacts on native species and the improper use of some pesticides is threatening our pollinators. 

Our native plants and animals will have a hard time thriving if pollinators continue to decline.  Growing Wild for Pollinators is one way to help.

Being native to an area gives these plants, animals and pollinators strength to endure challenges that arise in their local area.  For example, the dry, hot conditions of the Southwest are home to native plants and animals that include highly specialized species like cacti and lizards that can thrive in those demanding conditions.   

Here in Massachusetts our native plants, pollinators and animals have created communities that define the character of our state in much the same way, from the dune grasses, scrub oak and cranberry bogs of the east, to the deciduous forests and wetlands of central Massachusetts to the alpine communities of the Berkshires.  Growing Wild Massachusetts is helping to grow plants that are native to our state.  

Choosing Pollinator-Friendly Native Plants in Home Gardening or Landscaping
Tools for developing pollinator-friendly landscapes using native plant species

Native and Beneficial Plants

 More Than Just a Yard

Grow Native Massachusetts

Massachusetts Pollinator Network 

Growing Wild Poster

Growing Wild Yard Sign

Growing Wild Nursery Toolkit

Decarbonize Your Landscape: Starter Guide

State Environmental Agencies Kick-Off Third Year of Growing Wild Pollinator Habitat Campaign Throughout the Commonwealth 
DCR, MDAR, and MNLA partner to continue the statewide movement encouraging residents to preserve and protect pollinators with free pollinator habitat starter kits for Massachusetts residents  

DCR Natural Resources Program
Focuses on the identification, conservation, and stewardship of ecological resources

Growing Wild is a collaborative effort of the following partners:

Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs – Leading By Example Program

Mass Wildlife

Mass Department of Agricultural Resources

Mass Department of Conservation & Recreation

Mass Audubon

Mass Department of Mental Health

Mass Department of Corrections

MNLA - Massachusetts Nursery and Landscape Association