Prairie Nursery, Inc.
Prairie Nursery, Inc. is a privately held Wisconsin-based native plant nursery, founded in 1972, that grows and sells greenhouse-propagated North American native plants, seed mixes, and pre-planned garden kits direct-to-consumer via its e-commerce site to home gardeners, landowners, landscape designers, and restoration project managers across the contiguous United States.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1972
- HeadquartersWestfield, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Prairie Nursery, Inc. does
Prairie Nursery, Inc. is a privately held native plant nursery founded in 1972 in Westfield, Wisconsin, that grows and sells North American native plants, seeds, seed mixes, and pre-configured garden kits for ecological landscaping. The company is one of the earliest U.S. nurseries to commercially propagate native plants, and all of its plants are greenhouse propagated rather than wild-dug. Its catalog spans native wildflowers, grasses, sedges, ferns, shrubs, and ground covers, alongside thematic seed mixes (Classic Prairie, Clay Soils, Dry Sandy Soil, Pollinators, Monarchs, Erosion Control), Habitat Creator Kits (Monarch Sanctuary, Hummingbird Haven, Pollinator Habitat), pre-planned gardens in 32- to 96-plant configurations, and a No Mow Lawn product line. Prairie Nursery is differentiated by 54 years of documented neonicotinoid-free production, Pure Live Seed (PLS) testing under AOSA standards, FSC-certified shipping boxes, and compostable packaging.
The company operates an exclusively direct-to-consumer go-to-market through its e-commerce site prairienursery.com and a toll-free phone line, with no retail storefront or wholesale channel. Plants ship twice yearly (spring and fall) and seeds ship year-round to the contiguous United States, with shipping excluded to Idaho, Oregon, and Utah due to agricultural restrictions. Pricing is unit-based with tiered quantity discounts, including a 33% discount on pre-designed kits versus individual plant prices, and the company also offers e-gift cards in denominations up to $1,000 and an onsite consulting service led by Co-owner Neil Diboll. The customer base spans home gardeners and landowners (primary), landscape designers, and project managers engaged in prairie, wetland, and woodland restoration.
Revenue streams consist of plant sales, seed and seed mix sales, custom and pre-planned garden kits, consulting services, and gift cards. Ownership is independent, with co-owners Neil Diboll and Brian Bader having assumed control from founder J. Robert (Bob) Smith in 1982; no private equity, venture capital, or parent company involvement is disclosed. The company employs between 11 and 50 staff including seasonal greenhouse labor, and supports its commercial operations with a content-led Learning Center, white papers, an annual print catalog, email marketing, and social media presence on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Prairie Nursery, Inc. firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Prairie Nursery, Inc.
- Legal name
- Prairie Nursery, Inc.
- Website
- https://prairienursery.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1972
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Prairie Nursery, Inc. is a privately held Wisconsin-based native plant nursery, founded in 1972, that grows and sells greenhouse-propagated North American native plants, seed mixes, and pre-planned garden kits direct-to-consumer via its e-commerce site to home gardeners, landowners, landscape designers, and restoration project managers across the contiguous United States.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Prairie Nursery, Inc. industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Native Plant Nursery
- NAICS
- Nursery and Floriculture Production (11142), Greenhouse, Nursery, and Floriculture Production (1114), Nursery, Garden Center, and Farm Supply Retailers (44424)
- SIC
- Agricultural Production-Crops (100), Retail-Building Materials, Hardware, Garden Supply (5200)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Nursery Production (Woody Ornamentals: Trees, Shrubs, Roses) (AFAGAHAF)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Landscape Plant & Nursery Stock Wholesalers (Grower-Wholesalers) (AFAGAHAM), Plant Breeding & Variety Development (Conventional) (AFAGAIAF)
Keywords
Where Prairie Nursery, Inc. is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Westfield
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices3 records
Markets served
Prairie Nursery, Inc. business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Plant Sales: Direct sales of native plants including wildflowers, grasses, sedges, ferns, shrubs, and ground covers. Potted plants in 3" and 4" pots, plus bare root plants. Individual plant prices decrease with quantity purchases.
- Seed and Seed Mix Sales: Native seed mixes including classic prairie mixes, habitat mixes, and environmental solutions. Sold by weight with tiered pricing. Custom seed mixes available.
- Custom Garden Kits: Pre-designed plant kits including 32-plant, 40-plant, 64-plant, and 96-plant gardens. Also includes specialty kits for Monarchs, hummingbirds, and pollinators.
- Consulting Services: Native landscape consulting services offered by Neil Diboll, Consulting Ecologist. Onsite consultations available.
- Gift Cards: E-Gift cards sold in denominations from $25 to $1,000. Gift codes expire after 5 years.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Plant shipping: $9.95 flat rate for orders $0-$50; 20% of plant cost for orders $50.01+ |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Seed shipping: tiered percentage (3%-10%) based on order total |
| Other | One time | Gift cards available in $25, $50, $100, $250, $500 increments, or custom amount up to $1,000 |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Woodland Edge Seed Mix: $115/quarter lb to $199.50/lb for 10+ lbs |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | 32-Plant Pollinator Powerhouse kit: $149.00 (33% off individual plant prices) |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels6 records
Prairie Nursery, Inc. product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Prairie Nursery is a direct-to-consumer native plant nursery that propagates and sells North American native plants (wildflowers, grasses, sedges, ferns, shrubs, and ground covers), native seed mixes, pre-planned garden kits, custom plant kits, and No Mow Lawn alternatives. All plants are greenhouse propagated and never wild-dug, and all seeds are sold on a Pure Live Seed (PLS) basis with independent lab testing for purity and germination. Supporting services include native landscape consulting by ecologist Neil Diboll.
Product overview
Prairie Nursery is a native plant nursery offering a comprehensive portfolio of North American native plants and seeds. The core offerings include native wildflowers, grasses, sedges, ferns, and shrubs sold individually; Custom Plant Kits in various configurations (Gardener's Choice, Habitat Creator Kits for Monarchs, Hummingbirds, and Pollinators); Pre-Planned Gardens in multiple sizes (32 to 96+ plants) for different conditions; Native Seed Mixes for prairie restoration, habitat creation, and environmental solutions; and No Mow Lawn alternatives. Supporting services include native landscape consulting with ecologist Neil Diboll, downloadable planting guides and expert white papers, and gift cards. All plants are greenhouse propagated and neonicotinoid-free. Plants ship twice yearly (spring and fall), while seeds ship year-round.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Native Plants
Quantifiable outcome
- All plants guaranteed to arrive alive and healthy, and to thrive when planted in appropriate conditions
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Prairie Nursery, Inc.
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Prairie Nursery, Inc. technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature1 record
Prairie Nursery, Inc. partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators3 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Prairie Nursery, Inc. competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Roundstone Native Seed Company: Roundstone grows and sells regionally adapted native seed mixes for prairie restoration and habitat projects. It directly overlaps Prairie Nursery's restoration-seed business for project managers and conservation buyers, with comparable PLS-quality seed offerings and tiered bulk pricing.
- Ernst Conservation Seeds: Ernst grows, processes, and supplies native seed mixes for restoration, conservation, and landscaping projects in the eastern U.S. It directly competes with Prairie Nursery's seed-mix business for landscape professionals and restoration buyers, with overlapping product lines including habitat and erosion-control mixes.
- American Meadows: American Meadows is a direct-to-consumer retailer of native plants, wildflower seeds, and seed mixes sold online nationwide. It is the closest like-for-like competitor to Prairie Nursery in native-plant D2C e-commerce, target customer (home gardeners and small restoration projects), and product mix of plants plus seed mixes.
- Outsidepride: Outsidepride is an online retailer of native grass and wildflower seeds, with extensive native seed-mix SKUs and direct shipping nationwide. It is a direct peer to Prairie Nursery in the seed side of the catalog, particularly competing on price and seed-mix breadth for homeowner and small-project buyers.
- High Country Gardens: High Country Gardens is a mail-order/online retailer specializing in native and drought-tolerant perennials, ornamental grasses, and habitat plants. It is a direct peer to Prairie Nursery in native-plant D2C retail and pollinator/habitat-focused product curation, serving a similar home-gardener customer base.
Broad incumbents
- Nature Hills Nursery: Nature Hills is a large online nursery selling trees, shrubs, and perennials nationwide via e-commerce. It is a broad incumbent in online plant retail that increasingly carries native selections, overlapping Prairie Nursery's plant-kits and pre-planned garden buyer but at a much wider portfolio scale.
- Midwest Groundcovers: Midwest Groundcovers is a wholesale nursery supplying landscape professionals with perennials, grasses, and native plants across the Midwest. It is a broad incumbent serving landscape designers and contractors, an overlapping buyer segment for Prairie Nursery but with a wholesale-only model rather than D2C.
- Bluestone Perennials: Bluestone Perennials is a mail-order perennial plant nursery selling a broad catalog of flowering perennials and grasses to home gardeners. It overlaps Prairie Nursery's perennial-plant retail offering and customer base, though without a native-plant specialization or restoration-seed business.
Others
- Native Plant Trust: Native Plant Trust is a conservation nonprofit focused on native-plant preservation, research, and education in the Northeast. It is an adjacent ecosystem participant rather than a competitor, but its Go Botany resources, seed programs, and certification work influence the same native-plant buyer that Prairie Nursery targets.
- Mt. Cuba Center: Mt. Cuba Center is a native-plant botanical garden and research institution in Delaware that publishes ecological landscaping research and trial gardens. It is an ecosystem participant shaping native-plant horticultural guidance that influences Prairie Nursery's customers and professional audience.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key highlights1 record
Customer concentration
Prairie Nursery, Inc. social profiles
Digital presencePrairie Nursery, Inc. financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Prairie Nursery, Inc. leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Prairie Nursery, Inc. funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Prairie Nursery, Inc. M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Prairie Nursery, Inc.
What does Prairie Nursery, Inc. do?
Prairie Nursery is a direct-to-consumer native plant nursery that propagates and sells North American native plants (wildflowers, grasses, sedges, ferns, shrubs, and ground covers), native seed mixes, pre-planned garden kits, custom plant kits, and No Mow Lawn alternatives. All plants are greenhouse propagated and never wild-dug, and all seeds are sold on a Pure Live Seed (PLS) basis with independent lab testing for purity and germination. Supporting services include native landscape consulting by ecologist Neil Diboll.
Is Prairie Nursery, Inc. a public or private company?
Prairie Nursery, Inc. is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Prairie Nursery, Inc. founded?
Prairie Nursery, Inc. was founded in 1972. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Prairie Nursery, Inc. based?
Prairie Nursery, Inc. is headquartered in Westfield, United States, in the North America region.
How does Prairie Nursery, Inc. make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Plant Sales are the primary driver. The others are seed and Seed Mix Sales, custom Garden Kits, consulting Services and gift Cards.
Who are Prairie Nursery, Inc.'s main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Roundstone Native Seed Company, Ernst Conservation Seeds, American Meadows, Outsidepride and High Country Gardens. Broad incumbents are Nature Hills Nursery, Midwest Groundcovers and Bluestone Perennials. Others are Native Plant Trust and Mt. Cuba Center.
Does Prairie Nursery, Inc. have an API?
No public API is recorded for Prairie Nursery, Inc..
What industry is Prairie Nursery, Inc. in?
Prairie Nursery, Inc.'s product category is Native Plant Nursery. Its primary akta.pro industry code is AFAGAHAF, Nursery Production (Woody Ornamentals: Trees, Shrubs, Roses), with a secondary code of AFAGAHAM, Landscape Plant & Nursery Stock Wholesalers (Grower-Wholesalers). Its NAICS code is 11142 and its SIC code is 100.