PROCESS
Our seed and plant collection process and the methods used for propagation reflects our deep commitment to building, protecting, and maintaining the delicate and increasingly critical relationships between pollinators, wildlife and the native plants that help sustain them.
Here's how:
All of our seeds and plants are harvested responsibly on our 34-acre property. Seeds and plants are not collected or brought in from anywhere else. We let the animals, birds, water, and wind do the dispersal for us! When seed is harvested we take a small amount to ensure that the parent plant can continue to thrive and reproduce.
All of our seeds and plants are wild-type, straight species natives. Each of them are open-pollinated plants providing the greatest genetic diversity. We do not offer cultivars.
Many of our seeds are propagated outside rather than in a greenhouse. This exposes our plants to the natural cycles in which they would naturally occur. Because we are on Mother Nature's schedule, many of our plants become available in mid to late June.
Many of our seeds are hand-propagated in a plastic-free environment. We do this by direct sowing in propagation frames and air pruning beds. When seedlings mature, we transfer them to standard nursery containers, and try to utilize upcycled plastic pots whenever we can. Our goal is to do our part in reducing single-use plastic waste.
We do not use soil that is peat-based or that has peat amendments. We are committed to protecting peatland and bog habitats worldwide in an effort to help save this non-renewable, critical resource.
We are pollinator-safe! Pesticides, fungicides, synthetic fertilizers, and neonicotinoids are never used.
PLACE
SPRINGHOUSE is located on 34 acres of meadow, woodland and riparian wetland in Kunkletown, Pennsylvania, a small town in the Pocono Mountains. Just 3 miles south, Kittatinny Ridge, a globally significant flyway for migratory birds, stretches for 250 miles as part of the Appalachian Trail. It is one of the largest continuous forest blocks remaining in southeastern Pennsylvania. The ridge was named ‘Kittatinny’ by the Lenni Lenape -- it means ‘the endless mountain’. We recognize and honor that we are on the traditional territory of the Lenni Lenape people.
Chapple Creek runs roughly north to south through the property emptying into the Buckwha Creek before meeting the Aquashicola Creek basin, a watershed designated by DEP in 2022 as "Exceptional-Value" because of its high ecological quality. They are all part of the greater Lehigh River watershed. Chapple Creek is fed by multiple springs throughout the property, along with three seasonal streams which flow during heavy rainfall and snowmelt.
A slate roofed stone spring house, the namesake of our nursery, was the first building erected on the property (built before 1800). Its original purpose was to provide refrigeration. Beneath the spring house, cool spring waters still flow into a man-made pond (circa 1950s) that outlets into the Creek.
A traditional Pennsylvania-German stone farmhouse, constructed of rounded silt-stone and shale rock as well as old-growth Hemlock timbers, all harvested from the property, was built in 1820 just north of the spring house. The original Pennsylvania-German bank barn, once used for hay, wheat and livestock production, sits north of the residence next to the road.
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This place, with it’s unique and treasured local and regional history, informs and inspires what we do at SPRINGHOUSE everyday. We hope to add a meaningful layer to the rich legacy by continuing to cultivate and strengthen connections to the community at every scale possible –
from the soil to the sky.
PEOPLE
Hillary Jones, Owner / Operator / Grower
An environmental steward, landscape architect, and tinkerer, Hillary started SPRINGHOUSE with the hopes of making native plants more accessible to the Pocono & Lehigh Valley regions of PA (and beyond!).
Her mission is to help perpetuate and celebrate biodiversity.
Before starting SPRINGHOUSE, Hillary was a practicing landscape architect in New York City for more than a decade specializing in greenroofs and gardens over-structure. It was here, planting trees and shrubs on top of buildings, that Hillary developed a true appreciation for the fundamental role native plants can play in shaping our designed and constructed environments.
These days, you can find Hillary somewhere outside with her hands in the dirt.
