Brian Johnson answers customer questions at the Native Roots, Inc. stand, as his wife, Jennifer Johnson, chats about native plant growing in the background on Sunday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Thirteen years ago, sisters Jennifer Johnson and Sonia Bingham decided to start their own native plant nursery in Richfield, Ohio, after noticing a need in the restoration industry for native plant suppliers.

“We actually started this business for the ecological restoration industry, because they weren’t doing projects and restoring streams, and plants weren’t being sourced locally,” Johnson said. “My sister worked in that industry for a while, and saw how they were buying plants from Wisconsin to use in Ohio.”

The business was then expanded in 2022 with a second location in Mineral Wells, W.Va., a decade after Johnson and her husband Brian, a native West Virginian, had moved from their home in Ohio to the town.

“Two years ago, I had been here long enough to see that West Virginia needs native plants, too, even though you don’t think they do,” Johnson said. “It’s beautiful — it’s green, it’s lush, but when you get into the woods, it’s lacking in vegetation. There are a lot of woods that are browsed by deer, to where there is almost nothing native still growing in them.”

“A lot of West Virginia that could be accessed was clear-cut at one point, and so a lot of what has grown back into those areas has been invasives and less of the natives. There are still some really pristine places, but they are getting fewer and farther between. And, with the increase in development, the amount of native plants is only going to become less-and-less.”

On Sunday afternoon and evening, Johnson and her husband could be found selling native plants and sharing their insight into the value of native plants at a stand in front of Alma Bea. Johnson, who has a certificate of environmental studies from The University of Akron and is three classes away from earning a M.S. in environmental science from Marshall University, noted that she and her husband recently quit their jobs, to take on the running of Native Roots Inc. full-time. Bingham, on the other hand, has chosen to continue working full-time as a wetland biologist and part-time as the president of Native Roots Inc., putting her B.S. in biology from Hiram College and M.S. in environmental science with an emphasis in restoration ecology from Ohio State University to good use with both vocations.

“The pollinators are suffering — they’re recognizing that on a national and international level,” Johnson said. “In the butterfly community and the leaf-eating community, 90 percent of leaf eaters are specialists — they only eat one type or two types of native plants. So, when the native plants are gone, they are going to be gone, too.”

With the loss of these pollinators, the human food supply will be majorly impacted. Because of this, growing native plants rather than invasive plants should be a priority, according to Johnson.

“Each native plant feeds something, specifically. Some of them are not as pretty as others — it takes a mother’s love to grow them!” Johnson said, with a chuckle. “We try to push [growing] native plants for saving wildlife, but also for using in your lawns — natives can be the answer for planting in wet areas, super dry areas, shady areas and areas needing erosion control. Historically, we’ve tried erosion control with the cultivars and the tropicals, and now we have all of this invasive trouble from them. We’ve just got to get back to the natives and start learning them and using them.”

Native Roots Inc. sustainably hand-collects seeds from their natural habitats in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Currently, it offers over 100 species of perennials, shrubs and small trees. Hours of operation for the nurseries can be found online at https://www.nativerootsinc.com/.