Since January, horticulturist Barbara Shaughnessy has been growing 19 native Rhode Island plant species in her South Kingstown backyard. For three days in early winter, volunteers gathered in her wooden shed — clutching their coats and chatting away the cold air — with a peculiar task: to help turn seeds of native plants collected in the wild into healthy plugs.  Read more of this article by Julia Vaz, Metro Editor of the Brown Daily Herald published on September 27, 2023