Kazys Varnelis

Dear Members,

This month we are delighted to announce the 2026 NPSNJ Fall Conference, which will take place online on Saturday, November 7, starting at 9am.

Our theme is “Myths, Mistakes, and Lessons Learned”; all of our speakers are Society board members, and they will concentrate on gardening myths: things that everyone knows that are nonetheless wrong.

What gardening or native plant “truth” have you heard repeated so often that nobody seems to question it? Which rule has failed in your own garden? What claim about insects, trees, plant selection, propagation, or maintenance would you like our speakers to investigate? Send your myths, misconceptions, and questions to myths@npsnj.org. We will share them with the speakers to include in their presentations.

Randi Eckel, Ph.D., NPSNJ entomologist, vice-president for chapters, and founder of Toadshade Wildflower Farm, will examine common misconceptions about plants and insects. Randi established Toadshade in 1996 to sustainably propagate native plants and reliable knowledge about them. She has since given hundreds of lectures on ecology, insect identification, native plants, and garden design, and is a past president of the Society.

Jean Epiphan, NPSNJ arborist, Agriculture and Natural Resources agent with Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Morris County, will address myths and mistakes involving trees. Jean’s background spans forestry, ecology, landscape restoration, garden design, and land stewardship. She is an ISA Certified Arborist and a New Jersey Licensed Tree Expert whose work connects tree care with the long-term ecological health of our landscapes.

Jesse Connor, co-leader of NPSNJ’s Southeast Chapter, is a garden designer and educator who has spent more than thirty years transforming her property into one of southern New Jersey’s finest woodland native landscapes. Its canopy and understory trees, shrubs, woodland wildflowers, grasses, sedges, ferns, pond, and meadow reflect decades of knowledge, observation, and stewardship. Jesse, who is also one of Pat Sutton’s wildlife gardening mentors, will draw on that experience to discuss practical horticulture: what works, what does not, and how better information can save gardeners time, money, and aggravation. Look for a closer view of Jesse’s garden in Kim Correro’s article, “A Weekend Adventure in Cape May with Jack & Jesse Connor & Pat & Clay Sutton,” which you can read about in our Summer 2026 Newsletter.

Speaking of the Summer Newsletter, we’ll send out a separate e-mail to remind everyone about it next week, but it’s another great issue edited by Hara L. Rola and designed by Marissa Bauman. This issue includes article by Megan Stypulkoski on the Invasive Species Management Act and the environmental and financial benefits of going native; the NPSNJ Board’s statement on native plants and cultivars; Kim Correro’s tribute to conservationist John Landau; Hara L. Rola on invasive Tree of Heaven and, in the closing poem “English Ivy League,” invasive English ivy; Bobbie Herbs on interpreting plant labels; Jesse Connor’s summer gardening advice; Karen Walzer’s tour of Georgian Court University’s native gardens; and Monmouth Chapter News recognizing Jon Gibbons with the Above and Bee-Yond Award. Thank you to everyone who participated. Find it here.

This year, the Society is again helping fund work on the ground. Eighteen mini-grants, totaling $12,500, will help communities turn school grounds, library landscapes, municipal sites, pocket parks, and other public spaces into native habitat. The projects range from a demonstration garden in Brigantine and a pocket forest at Pershing Field Park in Jersey City to school gardens in Clinton, a rain garden and pollinator beds at Hopatcong State Park, and a public planting at the Waldwick Public Library. Three additional $2,000 conservation/science grants will support meadow restoration in Bergen and Essex counties and a Mercer County study of American ginseng populations. The forthcoming Summer newsletter will carry the complete list, or you can go to the NPSNJ site to read about the mini-grants. My thanks to everyone who proposed a project, assessed the applications, donated, or will help put plants into the ground. The list is in the newsletter and on our web site.

And one last thing: ANJEC (the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions) is accepting nominations for its 2026 Environmental Achievement Awards, which recognize exceptional projects carried out by environmental commissions, nonprofit organizations, and community groups. Maybe you know of one?

Eligible projects must have begun after January 1, 2024, and been completed by August 1, 2026; projects funded through ANJEC grants are not eligible. Categories include Environmental Commission Project, New Environmental Commission Project, Nonprofit or Community Organization Project, and Recurring Project. ANJEC is also accepting nominations for its Municipal Official Leadership Award. Nominations are due by 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 1, and the awards will be presented at ANJEC’s Environmental Congress on September 25. Submit an Environmental Achievement Award nomination or a Municipal Official Leadership Award nomination.

See you in the garden,

Kazys Varnelis, Ph.D.
President, the Native Plant Society of New Jersey

Dear Members,

When I last wrote to you, my garden seemed dead. A few Hepatica acutiloba (sharp-lobed hepatica) flowers were coming up, but little else was happening. I had hoped the cold, snowy winter—like the ones I remember from my youth, before the climate seemed to go haywire—would have been good for the garden, but the herds of deer that roam our town were ravenous and devoured my Rhododendron maximum (rosebay rhododendron) and Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel), plants that are toxic to them. The nets I hurriedly threw over the plants didn’t help once the snow weighed them down and the deer could reach the leaves again.

Today, the shrubs still look butchered, and some are bound to die, but at ground level, the garden is in full bloom. Thousands of spring ephemerals and ferns are reminding me that life comes back, so long as it is tended and protected. Mertensia virginica (Virginia bluebells) are spreading into blue drifts across my forest floor alongside Podophyllum peltatum (mayapple). Trillium spp. (trilliums) are blooming everywhere, while Sanguinaria canadensis (bloodroot) and Jeffersonia diphylla (twinleaf) have already had their brief blooms. Matteuccia struthiopteris (ostrich fern) is nearly full size, while Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern) and Osmundastrum cinnamomeum (cinnamon fern) are beginning to unfurl. This is the narrow window before the trees leaf out, when sunlight still reaches the ground, and the forest floor can flower—one of the most beautiful times in the native plant year.

The tragedy is that it would be hard to find anything like this in most forests and parks in our state. In too many places, the spring flora has been browsed down by deer and eradicated. Deer browse is a huge problem for native plants in our state, more immediately destructive to the forest understory than climate change. Climate change alters the conditions under which forests grow, but deer can turn the next forest into a veritable biodiversity desert, browsing down native plants while leaving invasive species behind. Due to the topography of my yard, I can’t build a deer-exclusion fence, but a maze of Orbit Garden Enforcer motion-activated sprinklers protects most of my plants during the growing season, allowing my garden to function as a small refugium in a state that now has more deer than at any time before European colonization. Without that protection, much of what is flowering here would simply be gone.

Sadly, the problem isn’t limited to New Jersey. On a recent trip to Japan, I saw how sika deer—native there, just as white-tailed deer are native here—have damaged forests and wetlands when their numbers rise beyond what the land can bear. In parts of Nikkō, deer browse has helped turn the understory over to Sasa nipponica (dwarf bamboo), a native plant that can form dense, persistent carpets and suppress much of the rest of the forest flora. The lesson is not simply that deer are a problem. It is that a species does not have to be non-native to become ecologically overwhelming. We have smaller warnings here—Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern), for example, can expand after heavy deer browse and disturbance—but Japan shows how severe native super-abundance can become when the checks on abundance disappear. I won’t usually promote my own website in these letters, but if you are interested in this topic, I wrote about it in greater depth on my blog.

Humans are part of this story, too. We are not outside nature looking in; we are a native species almost everywhere we live, and the most super-abundant native species of all. Super-abundance of deer is a crisis we created by exterminating predators and then avoiding difficult management questions for decades. If we care about spring ephemerals, birds, forests, and the future of native plants, we have to talk honestly about native super-abundance—and our role in creating it. Until then, all we can do is build refugia.

I also want to offer an apology about this year’s Native Plant Month BioBlitz. I had not realized that the project was set to exclude non-native and cultivated species. That was my mistake. Native-only data is valuable, but so is the broader record of what is actually growing in New Jersey—native, introduced, invasive, and cultivated. Next year, we will plan for two concurrent BioBlitzes: one focused on native species, and one open to all plant observations. Both kinds of data matter.

Thank you to everyone who observed, planted, taught, volunteered, and paid attention during this National Native Plant Month.

Happy gardening, 



Kazys Varnelis, Ph.D.

President, 
the Native Plant Society of New Jersey


Dear Members,

It’s still March for a few hours, so it’s time for my much belated President’s Letter. I had hoped to write to you after the Annual Meeting, but as those of you who watched may recall, I caught the flu and that knocked me out for a while. This was a meeting and conference I worked hard on and was proud of, so it was a real disappointment, but such things happen. I am so grateful to everyone who volunteered to help and to our speakers, who were just fabulous. Thank you to everyone who participated and everyone who attended.

James and Kathy’s talk will be on YouTube by the end of April. For now, you can see them (together with Larry’s talk which is only up for ticket purchasers and only for 3 more weeks) on the meeting portal if you bought tickets (if there is demand for folks to see Larry’s talk or you really want to see the other two, drop me a line and we can create a ticket for you).

After we recovered, we embarked on a long trip to Japan to visit our kid, who is studying at college in Tokyo. It’s my fourth trip to Japan, and my wife Jennifer and I visited gardens in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nikko. It was a fabulous trip, though also mixed with some concerns that the problems we have with biodiversity loss are common there, too. More on that next month. 

But I’m back in New Jersey now, and in these last hours of March, when my Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) and Toadshade Trillium (Trillium sessile) are coming up in my garden, and my Sharped-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba) are blooming, I am looking forward to April, which is once again Native Plant Month in the United States.

So, I have two announcements.

First, our third annual BioBlitz is underway. Throughout April, we’re asking you to photograph plants across New Jersey—in parks, backyards, roadsides, anywhere—and upload your observations to iNaturalist, a fantastic citizen science program. Search for “Native Plant Month – April 2026 – NJ” on iNaturalist or go directly to https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/native-plant-month-april-2026-nj.

Last year, 32 observers recorded 2,041 observations of 401 native species. Let’s beat that. Every observation contributes to our understanding of plant distribution and biodiversity in the state. iNaturalist runs on both iOS and Android. Don’t worry if you can’t identify a plant! iNaturalist has the best machine learning around, and you can use it to identify plants (a tip: I prefer the interface on iNaturalist Classic on iOS to the new one). If you’re documenting endangered species or private locations, use iNaturalist’s “obscure” feature to protect their exact locations, and mark if it’s captive or cultivated. If you’re new to iNaturalist, these two short Youtube videos will get you started: How to Make an Observation on iNaturalist using our Mobile App and How to prepare for a bioblitz: iNaturalist tutorial.

Second, I wanted to remind you that grant applications are due by 11:59 PM on April 15. We’re offering mini-grants of $500 or $750 for native plant gardens, conservation, and education projects, as well as two conservation/science grants of $2,000 each for large-scale projects led by scientists.

Details on our website at npsnj.org.

Happy observing, happy planting, and I’ll write you again soon!

Kazys Varnelis, Ph.D.



President, the Native Plant Society of New Jersey

Dear Members,

Happy Groundhog Day! I have two bits of good news for you. 
First, tickets for our Annual Meeting go on sale this Friday, February 6, at 10 am. The meeting is Saturday, March 7, at Ocean County College in Toms River, sponsored by Ocean County College, Jersey Friendly Yards, and Barnegat Bay Partnership, or online via Zoom.

This year’s theme is resilience—how we adapt to environmental uncertainty. Three speakers bring complementary perspectives from design, ecology, and hands-on horticulture: renowned landscape designer Larry Weaner, FAPLD, on ecological landscape design; Dr. James Shepherd of Yale on how biodiversity loss affects human health; and former NPSNJ president Kathleen Salisbury on the Ambler Arboretum’s recovery from a catastrophic 2021 tornado.

Whether you’re new to the movement, a seasoned practitioner, or a landscape professional, there will be something for you here: why ticks and Lyme disease are spreading (and why we need to plant more native plants), what catastrophic storms do to landscapes, and how to design native plant landscapes, big or small, for change rather than against it. In-person attendees will find informative tabling, the Nature of Reading Bookstore (including book signings with Larry Weaner and Wildstory co-host Ann Wallace), and time at lunch to meet others in the Society. We are trying a new caterer this year, so we hope the lunch options will be better.

Full details and tickets on our website. 

In-person tickets are $60 (members only); Zoom tickets are $30 for non-members, $20 for members. Membership is only $25, so be sure to sign up today.

We will have a large number of Continuing Education Units available for those who need them: Details and tickets at npsnj.org/event/2026-annual-meeting. In-person tickets are $60 (members only); Zoom tickets are $30 for non-members, $20 for members. Membership is $25. CEUs available for those who need them: 3 NJLTE/LTCO, 3 ISA, 3 NOFA OLC, 3 SER CERP, 2 Urban Forestry

Second, Governor Phil Murphy signed the Invasive Species Management Act on his final day in office, giving New Jersey its first law regulating invasive plants. I want to thank everyone who called or wrote—our continued pressure was essential.We were one of the only states without a list of prohibited species. Now we have one: 31 invasive plants to start, including familiar villains like Callery pear, Norway maple, Japanese barberry, winged euonymus, tree-of-heaven, and autumn olive. Pinelands Nursery made this excellent visual guide to the now-prohibited plants.

Critically, the New Jersey Invasive Species Council, originally created under Governor McGreevey in 2004, will also be reestablished. That Council produced a 220-page Strategic Management Plan, which documented a $290 million annual economic impact on agriculture and found that 30% of the state’s flora were nonnative. Governor Christie disbanded it in 2010, supposedly because of the financial crisis. The council will now have the authority to review the species list every three years and add emergent threats before they become the next barberry. Under the law, Acting Commissioner Ed Potosnak must convene the Invasive Species Council within 60 days, and the DEP must adopt implementing regulations within 12 months. He’s the former executive director of the NJ League of Conservation Voters and widely respected—so we have high hopes he will continue to advocate for the environment in his new role.

This victory was years in the making. In 2022, when Laura Bush and I were co-chairs of Advocacy, we worked with partners including John Landau of Foote’s Pond Wood, Mike Van Clef (Program Director of the Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space Invasive Species Strike Team), and the New Jersey Nursery & Landscape Association—whose president, Tom Knezick of Pinelands Nursery, helped bridge conservation and industry interests. The bill won bipartisan support, only to be vetoed by Governor Murphy. It again passed with bipartisan support, but Murphy only signed it on his last day in office, and the announcement came only after Governor Mikie Sherrill—a supporter of native plants during her time in Congress—was inaugurated.

Special thanks to our Advocacy Committee, former co-chair Laura Bush and current co-chair Russ Furnari, who represented NPSNJ throughout the legislative process and provided testimony in Trenton, and, once again, to all of you who reached out. 

One last thing. Larry Weaner will be speaking on the next episode of the Wildstory podcast. And if you haven’t taken the Rutgers Environmental Stewards Survey, please do. The team will be very grateful for more responses.

See you at the meeting,




Kazys Varnelis, Ph.D
President, Native Plant Society of New Jersey

Join us Saturday, March 7, at Ocean County College (or online via Zoom) for our annual symposium exploring restoration, resilience, and disease in a changing landscape.

This year’s speakers bring perspectives from ecological design, infectious disease ecology, and arboretum management: Larry Weaner, FAPLD, on integrating ecological restoration with landscape design; Dr. James Shepherd of Yale on biodiversity loss and tick-borne disease; and Kathleen Salisbury on the Ambler Arboretum’s recovery from an EF2 tornado. Go to the 2026 annual meeting page for more.

Tickets go on sale soon. In-person tickets include lunch, a Zoom link, and early access to conference videos. Zoom tickets will also include early access to conference videos. In-person tickets are for members only.

Participants (in person or online) who need Continuing Education credits can earn 3 NOFA OLC CEUs, 3 ISA Credits, 3 JLTE/LTCO CEUs, and 2 Urban Forestry CEUs by attending.

Our Weird NJ Plants conference was another success, with hundreds of members attending. If you missed it, view the whole thing at https://npsnj.org/event/fall-conference-2025/ or directly on our Youtube channel. I made a flub in my introduction to Kate’s talk. I said day lilies (Hemerocallis) are native and aquatic. They are neither. I meant American white water lillies (Nymphaea odorata), which are very lovely in my tiny forest pond. American white water lily (Nymphaea odorata) in my forest pond.

You may have noticed we have a governor-elect now. As a 501(c)(3), NPSNJ doesn’t endorse candidates, but we can advocate for native plant policies regardless of party affiliation. Mikie Sherrill promoted native plants in legislation as a congressional representative so we have high hopes for an improved situation in Trenton. If native plant advocacy matters to you, consider reaching out to her transition team here to encourage her to continue this work as governor.

We also have a great new benefit! Members will get a 10% discount on regional events in the Mid-Atlantic with New Directions in the American Landscape, starting with their 37th Annual Symposium at Kean University in Union, NJ (January 15-16 with virtual options available). The discount code will be in the member portal once you log into the website. Please do not share it! Larry Weaner, NDAL’s founder, will be speaking at NPSNJ’s 2026 Annual Meeting on March 7.

A new round of classes for members is starting up. All classes are on Zoom and are $160 with a max of 30 people so the students can engage more closely with the instructors. Everything but $10 goes to pay the instructors so you can get top quality classes.

January: Jared Rosenbaum
Native Meadows, Glades and other Sunny Habitats: Ecology, Restoration, and Gardens. 
Registration opens Nov 12th (that’s tomorrow!).

February: Sarah F. Jayne
Design Your Wildlife Habitat: A Hands On Workshop based on her popular book Nature’s Action Guide. 
Registration opens Dec. 1

March: Dr. Drew Lanhem in March teaching Cultural Ornithology and Conservation.
Registration opens Dec. 15. 

If you’re a PK-12 teacher or know one, Wild Seed Project is offering free native seed packets to public school educators through their Seeds for Teachers program. Each classroom receives bulk seeds for four easy-to-sow, pollinator-friendly species, perfect for hands-on environmental projects. The deadline to request seeds is very soon November 14th. Click here

Each of these letters has a theme and, in this letter, I want to address a question I hear often: What can I do to help the Society?You’re probably already helping more than you realize. Every time you choose native plants for your garden, share knowledge with a neighbor, or attend one of our programs, you’re advancing our mission. But for those looking to do more, let me share some concrete ways you can support NPSNJ’s work.

Volunteer Opportunities

We have openings for people who want to shape NPSNJ’s future. Our Corresponding Secretary position is perfect for someone interested in strategic communications—you’d help build partnerships with organizations like other native plant and conservation societies both in New Jersey and beyond, coordinate speaker invitations, draft press releases, and maintain media relationships. You’d be at the heart of how we connect with the broader native plant community. Plus, it is an executive committee position, and that is the heart of our state effort. It is a bit of work, but it’s a lot of fun, with a great team.

We’re also looking for a leader for our Highland Park Chapter in Middlesex County, and our Delaware Bayshore Chapter is seeking people to join their steering committee.

Financial Support

With Giving Tuesday on December 2nd, this is an ideal time to consider supporting our mission. As an all-volunteer organization, there are no staff salaries or administrative overhead. Unlike some organizations, we don’t send out junk mail asking folks to join. Our membership system is now electronic and free of paper for everyone except those who expressly opt out. If you need to renew your membership, now is the perfect time. We keep our membership fees lower than almost anybody else out there, but if you can afford to upgrade your membership, we would greatly appreciate it and it will go to good causes. And yes, your membership is fully tax deductible. Many employers will match your contribution (we are on Benevity if your workplace uses that).

Your contributions fund speaker honoraria for our Wednesday webinars, support our fall conference and spring meeting, support chapters, keep the web site running, help us with the grants we give out, enable us to print our publications, and help us keep most programming free.

Consider these two options:

Our Annual Fund supports core NPSNJ operations throughout the year.

Our Mini Grants and Conservation Science Fund provides crucial funding for local projects—school gardens, community plantings, and initiatives that often seed larger efforts benefiting entire communities. 

You can donate to NPSNJ at our donations page and direct your funds either way, based on your preference.

Estate planning through bequests of any size helps secure our educational mission for future generations. A generous bequest from Bruce Wands funded our mini grant program this year.

Contact president@npsnj.org for more information on any of these.

Beyond Financial Support

Perhaps you’re not in a position to give financially right now—that’s completely understood. Help comes in many other forms. Share our Wednesday webinar announcements with friends who might be interested. Volunteer with your local chapter. Offer to help with simple tasks. Post about what we do on social media.

Most importantly, keep learning and sharing what you know. Native plant advocacy happens one conversation at a time, one garden at a time, one neighbor at a time.As we head into the Thanksgiving season, I’m grateful for this community of over 1,600 members who understand that protecting New Jersey’s native flora requires both individual action and collective effort. Whether you volunteer, contribute financially, or simply share what you’re learning with your neighbors—your participation matters. That’s how movements grow.
Kazys Varnelis, Ph.D.President, NPSNJ