Sexy Native Plants for your Garden

with Bruce Crawford

There has been a tremendous surge in the use of native plants. Yes, these plants provide both attractive floral and foliar additions to the Garden, but the interest in these plants extends far beyond beauty that truly makes them sexy! These plants benefit our native insect population by providing food in the form of pollen, nectar or foliage that will in turn benefit the animals that feed upon these insects. Now that is sexy! Bruce will highlight numerous selections that will enhance your home and garden throughout the seasons while sustaining our natural environment! 

Bruce Crawford is a longtime proponent of unusual and fun plants, Bruce had his own design/build gardening business for nearly 25 years that specialized in plantings for year-round interest. One of those gardens was published in Fine Gardening Magazine! From 2005 to 2020, Bruce was the Director of Rutgers Gardens, the botanical garden for Rutgers University, and was the State Program Leader for Home and Public Horticulture with the NJ Agricultural Experiment Station from 2020 to 2021. He was also an instructor in the Landscape Architecture program at Rutgers University from 1987-2020. In 2021, he received the Award of Excellence from the National Garden Clubs. Currently, he is the Manager of Horticulture for the Morris County Parks Commission. He writes monthly for the Gardener News, a NJ based Horticulture Newspaper, as well as for the Garden Club of NJ Newsletter and for the National Garden Clubs quarterly journal (The National Gardener). Bruce lectures frequently to various horticultural groups. A true plant lover, he has yet to find a plant he does not like.

Areas of expertise: Teaching classes in woody and herbaceous plant materials as well as garden design. Strong interest in telling the story of plant evolution over the past 400+million years and how the impact of the environment, the changes in geography and the development of various animals impacted plant evolution.

Affiliations: Garden Club of America (honorary member), Garden Club of NJ, New Jersey, Nursery and Landscape Association, Association of Professional Landscape Designers, NY Hortus Club. Daffodil Society, Holly Society.

PLEASE REGISTER IF YOU PLAN TO COME.
hunterdon@npsnj.org