Dear Members,
When I meet members I haven’t met before, I like finding out how they got started in the movement. Many people read a book by Doug Tallamy, others found out about native plants while becoming master gardeners, others got hooked at an NPSNJ event, or on a wildflower trail somewhere. For me, it was picking up Rick Darke’s American Woodland Garden, which reminded me of my teen years living next to an old-growth Hemlock forest in Stockbridge, Massachusetts where red trilliums (Trillium erectum) bloomed in a sea of ferns and skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus). This place was a formative part of my life and I thought that maybe I could create a similar feeling on my 1/2 acre of hillside here on First Mountain in Montclair, even if in miniature.
It wasn’t that long ago that I started that journey and, even if now I can tell the difference between a Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum spp.) and Solomon’s Plume (Maianthemum racemosum), also known as False Solomon’s Seal or between an Ostrich Fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) and a Marginal Wood Fern (Dryopteris marginalis), I still have so much to learn. Working with native plants is a constant journey of learning. Regardless of your skill level, the Native Plant Society of New Jersey is here to help.
In this letter, I’d like to highlight two resources we offer you at the State level to help you learn: Wednesday Webinars and State Programs.
Back in 2020, the pandemic year, when face-to-face meetings were impossible, NPSNJ started a Wednesday Webinar series over Zoom. This proved so successful that we have continued it ever since with more than 18,000 live attendees since the first webinar. Every third Wednesday of September, October, November, as well as January, February, March, April, May, and June, our Webinar team, led by Recording Secretary Bobbie Herbs and Corresponding Secretary Michael Jacob (both also co-leaders of the Southwest Chapter) hosts another talk, free for everyone, member and nonmember alike.
We strive for a mix of introductory talks and more advanced talks and, when the speaker agrees, we upload the content to the NPSNJ Youtube channel and list the talk on our the webinar recording page on our site. Counting presentations at the annual meeting and fall conference, which roughly double the number of talks every year, we have over sixty videos to watch! And people do watch these videos. One ninety-minute lecture, Designing and Planting with Native Plants: Creating a Native Plant Garden by current VP of Chapters Elaine Silverstein has had over 16,000 views. I am so proud of the community that has built this incredible resource: not just the webinar team but also the speakers and the viewers who tune in every month and keep it going through their enthusiastic participation and questions.
This fall, we are resuming the Wednesday Webinar series with three talks, “All About Asters” by Mary Anne Borge (9/17), “Plant Invasions, Root Traits and Ecosystem Functioning” by Dr. Matt McCrary of Rice University, and “Four Years in the Life of Pollinator Garden” by Lucy Hooper from our Southwest Chapter. And, as I mentioned in my last letter, we are also hosting the Fall Conference on November 1, “Weird NJ Plants!”
Sometimes, though, we need more in-depth knowledge on a topic than one lecture can deliver. With that in mind, starting in 2024, the Society introduced a series of classes and workshops, some online and some in-person, with the best instructors we can find. These are only open to members and we do have to charge for these. We realize this can be tough for some folks, but it is essential that such subject matter experts be paid for their time. It’s only fair and many of these speakers have already done talks for NPSNJ’s webinars so you can get a good idea of what they will talk about in advance. NPSNJ keeps only $10 from every ticket to pay the 3% credit card processing fees as well as to defray the cost of administrative expenses such as accounting software, our Zoom subscription, and the Web site that makes all this possible.
This fall we have a in-person Fall Birding experience with Ken Chaya in New York’s Central Park, a course on Controlling Invasive Species by FoHVOS Invasive Species Strike Team leader Mike van Clef, and Nurturing Sensory Wildscapes, a course on creating resilient gardens with Nancy Lawson. In January, you can learn about Native Meadows, Sunny Glades, and other Habitats with Jared Rosenbaum. The first three classes are open for registration right now, so get your tickets! Classes have a tendency to sell out as the date approaches.
Finally, Jared also is leading a hike at Musconetcong Gorge next month. Although that free event is fully booked, it’s worth noting that this hike inaugurates a new relationship between us and the Torrey Botanical Society, the oldest botanical society in the Americas, which has a special focus on plants in the greater vicinity of New York City, including the Northern part of our state. For now, we are going to have some hikes in common, but we are excited about this collaboration in the future. Torrey has trained botanists and a fabulous archive of material, including over 100 years of trip reports of plants in our area. Not just individuals, but also organizations, can learn from each other.
One last thing, we’ve heard that the Invasive Species Management Act (A4137) is making its way to the Assembly for committee hearings and a vote. There’s still a way to go before this very important bill becomes a reality. Do contact your State Representatives (you can use The League of Conservation Voters site to find out who they are) and let them know this is urgent.
See you in the garden,
Kazys Varnelis, Ph.D.
Weird NJ is a trademark of Weird NJ LLC and is used by permission.