Bear Mountain Forest Nursery

07/21/2026

This nerd 😅

We're excited to welcome Josh Smith and Bear Mountain Forest Nursery to our Native Plant Sale!

Join us Saturday, July 25th, from 10am to 1pm at Government Hill Commons & Orchard (803 Erickson Street).

Stop by his booth to browse a diverse selection of plants that support resilient landscapes and local food security. Ask Josh how ecology influences the way he grows plants!

Come celebrate Alaska's native plants while supporting our local growers who help bring them into our communities. We hope to see you there!

06/09/2026

Love some Boyer’s!

03/29/2026

I spoke too soon.

I ran my initial germination test of these Ribes glandulosum/Nundghuna(Dena’ina)/skunk currants back in December/january, and only had about a dozen germinate. I figured that was good from a few dozen total berries I received from a friend in Fairbanks. The plan was to save and plant those plants to establish my own seed source/patch on the edge of the nursery..

While pursuing that plan, for funsises, I threw the ungerminated seeds back in the fridge only to remove them about a week ago. Well, it turns out we just needed more time, as I just filled a 50 cell plug tray with seedlings, and still have more coming..

Turns out we will have confirmed pure skunk currant plants with the nursery, along with our five other native species of Ribes 😅

03/09/2026

Finally got caught up with transplanting the newly germinated Vaccinium parvifolium/Tleikatánk(Lingít)/red huckleberry seedlings from berries harvested with Yéilk’ in Sitka! We will be formalizing/documenting the germination process for this species in the coming months, but in the meantime, these seedlings will be living their best life under lights and fed fish emulsion. We are looking into opportunities to send a portion (about 200) of these plants back to southeast Alaska in support of community plantings/projects, but that still needs to be ironed out. If anyone has any ideas of anyone or entity that would be willing to receive these plants in southeast Alaska and transplant/care for them until final homes are identified, let me know! I will ensure they are spoiled until then!

Bring on the red huckleberry plants!

02/28/2026

These beauties are Ribes glandulosum/Nundghuna(Dena’ina)/skunk currants grown from seeds harvested north of Fairbanks. We only managed to germinate about 15, so instead of selling these with the nursery, we will be using them to establish plantings on site and create our own local seed-source. Due to their trailing growth habit, I will plant them along the perimeter moose fence and train them up the fence. This will create an edible wall of native currants, and will allow us to grow/harvest seeds from our space to grow future nursery stock. We will be doing this with all of our native Ribes(currant) species this season, and hopefully our native blueberries and raspberry species too. Creating an on-site seed source will help us grow more of these more reliably into the future.

Happy plants, happy place.

02/20/2026

Quick break from the world. Please join me in enjoying the progress of these beauties.

These seedlings are Menziesia ferruginea/Rusty menziesia/false huckleberry, that we started from locally-harvested seeds back in early December. This species is a common component of moist forests from southcentral Alaska to Northern California, and upslope areas of the Rockies from British Columbia to Wyoming, often getting up over 6’ tall. They are often nicknamed the “fool’s or false huckleberry” due to similar flowering structures to species within the Vaccinium genus (blueberry/western huckleberry). But when those aspiring berrypickers return pick the berries of the bushes that were covered in the bell-shaped flowers, they find they were fooled (no berries). This species, while belonging to the family Ericaceae (same as Vaccinium species), they are closer related to azaleas/rhododendrons. The more you know 😀

The progress growing these from seed has been slow but steady. I lost some to fungus gnat larvae prior to beneficial nematode/BT treatment (mosquito dunk bits), but the remaining plants have grown strong, and didn’t seem fazed by the transplant into the cells. The plants are now planted in pure peatmoss under lights, and being given diluted fish emulsion every few weeks. These plants are the oldest, and have since started two more batches of seeds (staggering incase of loss). But none the less, they are still doing their thing!

I will keep everyone posted!