The Native Plant Society of New Jersey is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2026 grant programs. This year’s awards support public gardens, school landscapes, municipal plantings, library programs, park restorations, pocket forests, rain gardens, pollinator habitat, and conservation research across New Jersey.
At a Glance
- 18 mini-grants for public-facing native plant projects
- 3 conservation/science grants for larger ecological and research-oriented work
- Projects include public demonstration gardens, pollinator beds, school gardens, library gardens, rain gardens, municipal plantings, and meadow restoration
Each project gives New Jersey residents a practical way to see native plants at work: cooling and beautifying public places, supporting pollinators and birds, managing stormwater, restoring habitat, and teaching communities how to care for the living landscapes around them.
2026 Mini-Grant Recipients
NPSNJ mini-grants support smaller, community-based projects that bring native plants into public life. The 2026 recipients are listed below by county.
Atlantic County
- Native Plant Public Demonstration Garden, Brigantine — Brigantine Green Team and City of Brigantine Public Works. A coastal demonstration garden showing how native plants can be used in public landscapes.
Bergen County
- Garretson farm native plant garden — Garretson Forge and Farm. Replacement of non-native plantings with native shrubs and garden plants that support pollinators, birds, and visitors to the historic farm site.
- The Pollinator Garden — Garden Club of Teaneck. A public pollinator garden using native plants to support insects, birds, and community education.
- Waldwick Public Library Native Nature Project — Friends of the Waldwick Public Library. Native plantings at a public library to create a visible educational landscape for library visitors and the surrounding community.
Burlington County
- Evesham Library Free Seed Exchange — Garden Club of Marlton and Evesham Library. A library seed-exchange program paired with a native plant demonstration garden and educational materials for the public.
Camden County
- Pocket Park Garden, Haddon Township — Haddon Township Community Gardeners. A compact public park garden showing how small urban and suburban spaces can support biodiversity.
Hudson County
- Historic Reservoir #3 Pollinator Path & Youth Stewardship Garden — Jersey City Department of Recreation, Parks & Youth Development. A youth-led pollinator pathway and outdoor learning site at Historic Reservoir #3.
- Pocket Forest–Pershing Field Park, Jersey City — Pershing Field Garden Friends. A pocket forest planting that adds native habitat and shade in a dense urban neighborhood.
Hunterdon County
- Clinton Public School Native Gardens — Clinton Public School. Native gardens in a school setting, giving students and the public a living example of ecological planting.
- Hunts Mill Park in Clinton — Clinton Conservancy. Native plant restoration and public garden work at Hunts Mill Park.
Mercer County
- Name that Native in Hamilton’s Gardens — Green Team. Native plant identification and interpretation in Hamilton’s public gardens.
Monmouth County
- Native Plants DEMO Garden at Maclearie Park — Belmar Environmental Commission. A demonstration garden showing how native plants can be used in public landscapes along the shore.
- Neptune City Municipal Complex Native Planting — Neptune City Environmental Commission. Native plantings at a visible civic site, modeling ecological landscaping for residents.
- Township of Ocean Learning Gardens — Ocean Township Garden Club. Learning gardens connecting native plants with public education and community engagement.
Morris County
- Coleman Road Park Improvements — Washington Township Environmental Commission and Green Team. Native plantings that improve habitat and strengthen public awareness of ecological landscaping.
- Native Rain Garden & Pollinator Beds, Hopatcong State Park — Lake Hopatcong Foundation. Rain garden and pollinator plantings in a highly visible state park setting.
- Plant this not That — Shrubs — Morris Township — Ted Largman Community Garden at ValleVue Preserve. A public comparison of native shrub choices with less beneficial landscape plants.
Ocean County
- Native Garden Creation, Cloverdale Farm County Park — Cloverdale Farm County Park volunteers. A native garden in a county park setting, supporting public education and habitat.
2026 Conservation/Science Grant Recipients
NPSNJ’s conservation/science grants support larger ecological, restoration, and research-oriented work.
- Green Way Meadow Native Restoration
The Fyke Nature Association, Celery Farm Nature Preserve, Bergen County.
The Green Way Meadow Native Restoration is an all-volunteer habitat restoration endeavor that aims to transform a 24,000 sq ft area comprised of over 95% invasives into a biodiverse native grass and wildflower meadow that provides for the birds, bees, butterflies, and bugs. The Green Way Meadow is an upland meadow situated next to Phair’s Pond – between Trail Markers 18 and 19 – at The Celery Farm Nature Preserve, a 107-acre freshwater wetland in Allendale, New Jersey. - Native Plant Meadow Rehabilitation Project
Cora Hartshorn Arboretum, Essex County.
The project will restore the meadow garden at the Arboretum entrance by removing invasive plants, including periwinkle (Vinca minor), English ivy (Hedera helix), Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii), Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense), and Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), while improving soil health and reestablishing a diverse community of regionally appropriate native species. Building on existing native plants such as golden ragwort (Packera aurea), the renovation will strengthen habitat for pollinators and wildlife, improve ecological function and seasonal interest, and create a more attractive, accessible, and maintainable gateway. Grant funds will support native plant installation, wider natural-material pathways, educational labels identifying host-plant status and wildlife value, interpretive signage on the biodiversity benefits of native plants, and, if feasible, native-planted containers demonstrating how small gardens can contribute to conservation. - American Ginseng Population Survey and Modeling —
Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space, Mercer County.
This project will estimate the size of an American ginseng population in central New Jersey using a decade of monitoring data. From 2016 through 2023, the team tracked approximately 130 individual plants annually, recording leaf traits, height, reproduction, and herbivory; in 2024 and 2025, monitoring shifted to selected habitat patches and included about 200 plants. Grant funds will support staff time to apply population-modeling methods to this long-term dataset, accounting for the species’ uneven distribution, low visibility, and intermittent dormancy. Continued field monitoring will track population health over time.
Why These Projects Matter
Together, these projects show the range of native plant work now happening in New Jersey. They bring native plants into places people already know and use: schools, libraries, parks, municipal complexes, community gardens, and public trails. They also make native plant work visible, local, and repeatable, turning ecological stewardship into something neighbors can see, learn from, and join.
NPSNJ thanks all of this year’s applicants for their work on behalf of native plants and New Jersey’s living landscapes.