Heritage team preparing Magnolia seedlings for shipment to Atlanta Botanical Garden — Our team washing and preparing Magnolia seedlings before shipment to Atlanta Botanical Garden.

From the Nursery

Heritage Donates Magnolia Seedlings to Support Puerto Rico Magnolia Conservation

How propagation research with Atlanta Botanical Garden may help protect two endangered Magnolia species.

In Puerto Rico, two native Magnolia species, Magnolia portoricensis and Magnolia splendens, are at the center of an ongoing conservation effort. Habitat loss, seed predation, and other pressures have made natural regeneration increasingly difficult, raising an important question for conservationists: how do you successfully grow more plants when traditional propagation methods are proving challenging?

Atlanta Botanical Garden is working with conservation partners to better understand how these rare plants can be propagated, protected, and preserved for the future. Their team has explored several methods, and grafting is another approach now being tested. That is where Heritage Seedlings has an opportunity to contribute.

Where Heritage Comes In

This week, our team is preparing to ship Magnolia grandiflora and Magnolia virginiana seedlings to Atlanta Botanical Garden for use in grafting trials.

Our seedlings are not the endangered Magnolias themselves. Instead, they will serve as rootstock, providing vigorous, healthy root systems that researchers can use to test whether material from the Puerto Rican species can be successfully grafted and grown.

For us, it is a relatively small shipment of seedlings. For the researchers, those plants become another tool in answering a much bigger question: how can these rare Magnolias be reliably propagated?

Heritage team washing Magnolia seedling roots — Before shipment, our team carefully washed and prepared the Magnolia seedlings for their next step.

Clean Magnolia roots being prepared for shipment — Healthy, vigorous root systems are exactly what make these seedlings useful as potential rootstock for grafting trials.

Why Propagation Matters

Heritage has spent decades propagating woody plants, but projects like this are a reminder that propagation is about much more than producing the next nursery crop.

The same knowledge our industry uses every day, understanding root systems, graft compatibility, plant health, timing, and growing conditions, can also become valuable in conservation work.

When an endangered species is difficult to reproduce from seed or through conventional propagation methods, researchers have to keep exploring new approaches. Developing reliable propagation methods can help preserve genetic material, maintain conservation collections, and support future restoration efforts.

Magnolia Grandiflora in hoophouse — Magnolia Grandiflora seedlings are ready to begin their journey from Oregon to Atlanta Botanical Garden.

A Part of a Much Bigger Effort

We’re proud to be a part of a much larger effort. The scientists, conservationists, and partners working with these Magnolia species are doing the long-term work of studying populations, testing propagation methods, protecting genetic diversity, and finding ways to preserve these plants for the future.

This work also reflects Heritage’s long-standing commitment to stewardship. From the beginning, Mark and Jolly Krautmann built the nursery with a deep respect for plants, native habitats, and the land around them. We’re proud to continue that legacy by supporting projects that reach beyond our nursery and contribute to the future of plant conservation.

A small shipment with a much bigger purpose.

We’re proud to support Atlanta Botanical Garden and look forward to following the project as the propagation trials move forward.