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Bee Safe, Grow Well: Pollinator-Safe Nursery Practices with Full Circle Gardens
Across the country, innovative nursery growers are implementing practices that protect pollinators while still keeping pests at manageable levels. In this webinar, Xerces is proud to feature Sarah Salatino, owner of Full Circle Gardens, a native and perennial nursery located in Essex, Vermont.
Salatino, winner of the 2013 Environmental Awareness Award by the Vermont Nursery and Landscape Association, will discuss her varied methods for pollinator-safe production of hardy perennials and Northeastern natives. Xerces staff members Sharon Selvaggio and Emily May will discuss a new video produced by the Xerces Society that covers pollinator-safe growing principles, and practices nursery growers use to help proactively detect and manage pest buildup and avoid unintentional negative impacts if pesticides are used.
This webinar is suitable for nursery owners, growers, and IPM leads, as well as for anyone who finds themselves purchasing plants for a garden, park, or restoration site.
This webinar is a collaboration between Xerces Society and Full Circle Gardens, and is supported by the Carroll Petrie Foundation.
This webinar will be recorded and available on the Xerces Society’s YouTube channel. Closed Captioning will be available during this webinar.
Emily May – Agricultural Conservation Lead, Pesticide Program – Xerces Society
Sarah Salatino – Owner and Head Grower – Full Circle Gardens
Sarah Salatino is the owner and head grower of Full Circle Gardens in Essex, VT. This nursery grows over 350 varieties of sustainably grown Vermont hardy native and pollinator perennials. The nursery serves as an educational site to promote gardening for pollinators and habitat restoration. Sarah has been fascinated by plants since her first memory at age 3 of ripping apart her grandmother’s bleeding heart flowers to see what was inside. Her interest in native plants was sparked at age 9 by her purchase of the Golden Guide to Flowers. Sarah immersed herself in horticulture and botany beginning at Cabrillo College’s fledgling Horticulture program in Aptos, California. Sarah then graduated from UC Santa Cruz after living in and researching fire following native endemic plants in a river drainage in Big Sur. After life took her in other directions, she finally started Full Circle Gardens in 2009 to conserve and grow non-branded heirloom and native plants which were becoming increasingly difficult to find in New England garden centers. Her nursery serves as an education site to promote pollinator gardens, and native plants, and to provide inspiration and education to gardeners of all abilities.
A Vermont Certified Horticulturist, she is a member of the Vermont Nursery and Landscape Association, Hardy Plant Club, Vermont Pollinator Working Group, and the Xerces Society, among others. Sarah has taught seminars at the Vermont Flower Show, Friends of the Hort Farm, Fort Ticonderoga’s Gardening Symposium, OLLI and many other gardening groups. This summer, 2025, Sarah was invited to return to Cabrillo College to participate in the 50th anniversary of the start of their horticulture program as one of the program’s “root” students from 1979. And, yes, it was a “full circle” moment.
To request a reasonable accommodation or for inquiries about accessibility, please contact [email protected].
