Southeast Chapter Native Landscapes Tour

Thanks to our Chapter’s volunteering gardeners, we have lined up five landscapes for members to explore – each different from the others, and all featuring native plants. You will be able to go at your own pace to the gardens you’d like to see.  This event is open to members and non-members.  To select and indicate the gardens you plan to visit, please RSVP below.

In Sand & Shade

Jeanine Apgar

Egg Harbor City, NJ

I started gardening the property when we moved here twelve years ago and have been focused especially on adding native plants for the last three years. Many mistakes have been made along the way, and I am still working to correct what I can.

The landscape is about three-quarters of an acre, and extremely sandy and dry. I consider it a work in progress as I continue experimenting to find out which plants work best in sand and under shade (from large oak trees). Most of my foundation plantings are native pinelands plants: mountain laurel, inkberry, bayberry and sweet fern, with under-plantings of foamflower and Mayapple. I’ve recently been experimenting with shrubby St. John’s-wort, Carolina sweetshrub, and Itea. I am always testing which plants browsing deer will avoid, but I also have added a large deer exclosure.

I have also recently added beach plum, paw paw, silky dogwood, hazelnut, and hackberry trees. Senna, partridge pea, spotted horsemint, and various goldenrods are well-established and numerous

Inspired By Pat Sutton

Mindy Curran

Malaga, NJ

I learned about native plants around ten years ago when my .38 acre lot was devoid of wildlife. I had come across one of Pat Sutton’s lectures and was inspired to read Doug Tallamy’s books and to visit Triple Oaks Nursery. I have since added a wildlife pond with lily pads and pickerel weed, and have added several dozen native species throughout the yard.  These include Culver’s root, Phlox, wood aster, Canada goldenrod, obedient plant, pussy willow, witch hazel, Viburnum, coral honeysuckle, Dutchman’s pipevine, Senna, Canada anemone, goats beard, New York ironweed, bush clover, Monarda, common milkweed, false nettle, and others.

A Landscape For Birds & Other Wildlife

Mary Ellen Filippone

Mays Landing, NJ

Our property is a one-acre lot on a residential street, and it has gone through many transformations over the thirty-four years we have lived here. Our backyard has been a playground for our four kids and their friends, with a pool, a swing set, volleyball net, and more recently, a fire pit. During the derecho of June 2012, we suffered the loss of many large oak trees, especially in the front yard.

The notion of native plantings only came to me a few years after that derecho – about eight or nine years ago. A little late to the game, I hit the ground running. We had invasives that needed to be removed, and a front yard that needed to be replanted.  We have since built out the perimeter of our yard little by little, by eliminating grass and adding plantings that now attract and support wildlife.

Goldfinches love munching on the seed-producing perennials outside my window – and I love watching them. The bluebirds nest regularly in our bluebird box. The nearby patch of native pussytoes, host plant for the American lady butterfly, supplies the birds with caterpillars to feed their chicks. We also have berry-producing shrubs to support the bluebirds, robins, and other fruit-eaters in the winter months. We have added soft landings under the trees so the insects have a safe place to spend the winter. In summer our bee balm attracts hummingbirds, our Senna attracts various butterflies, and I love watching my three-year-old granddaughter chase lightning bugs when she comes to visit.

Our property remains a continuing process but now holds more than 100 species of native plants. I don’t really have any special favorites. They all seem to bring a sense of joy and purpose.

Second-Year Success

Janine Gerety

Mays Landing, NJ

I must admit that I am a novice gardener. I had a stone (and weedy) driveway removed two years ago, then had fun imagining what to do with the cleared area of approximately 10’x40′. To encourage butterflies and bees, I planted smooth blue aster, golden alexander, blazing star, black-eyed Susan, seashore mallow, spiderwort, great blue Lobelia, cardinal flower, blue vervain, bergamot, cut leaf coneflower, and Joe-pye. The two garden spaces are approximately 8’x10′ with stones in between and with three raised beds where I’m growing tomatoes, potatoes, tomatillos, peppers, and herbs. 

This is only my second year, but I’m very pleased with the results. And it’s aesthetically pleasing. 

Unruly But Lush

Carol Jones and Bill Stuempfig

Woodbine, NJ

Our property is 50 feet wide (with a 14-foot elevation) at the road edge then drops toward the Tuckahoe River for 250 feet where it ends at a width of 125 ft.

We have been landscaping here for eleven years. Our main native garden is in the backyard and covers about 200 sq ft. We also have a native grass garden, a small bog, a frog pond, and about fifty native woody plants. There are two other garden areas with native perennials. Some of our plants include silky dogwood, black gum, sweet gum, several Viburnums, eastern red cedar, various Phlox, beach plum, bayberry, and more than three dozen native perennials.  It is unruly but lush and full of pollinators and other wildlife.