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