Native Plant Outings Keep Getting Better
Looking for local, social, dirt-cheap outings? Look no further than your native plant chapters, societies, and clubs.
When it comes to getting outdoors and enjoying late-summer and early fall days, native plant gardeners are hitting it out of the park, which by the way, is filled this time of year with asters, goldenrods, and turtlehead if they have any say in the matter as to what’s planted inside it. And they often do.
Now’s a great time to get outside ahead of leaf-peeping season. Check out native plant events and field trips offered by your local native plant chapters, societies, and clubs. In my small state of New Jersey, there are 1,400 members across 15 chapters of the Native Plant Society of New Jersey. And don’t forget to check out your local municipality and friends groups representing nature preserves. These groups are also running native plant events.
Here are some events in my area. They’re more than likely similar to events in your locality. I hope it spurs you to check out these groups in your area. Chances are pretty good they’re running similar things.
I’m going on a self-guided garden tour this weekend of native plant gardens in Madison. For $10, I get a map that lets me visit nine gardens. My ticket includes access to a native plant sale with Toadshade Wildflower Farm. There’ll be booths with landscape designers, The Nature of Reading Bookshop, Great Swamp Watershed Association, Xerces Society of Invertebrate Conservation, and Friends of the Drew Forest. Did I mention it costs $10? This event is being held by the Madison Environment Commission, which raises the question: What’s your town or city government doing in this area?
My local chapter of the Native Plant Society of New Jersey is holding a meet-up at a member’s front yard garden on Saturday. Informal, educational, and a good way to meet members of this group, this event also promises iced tea and cookies, so there’s that.
I volunteer at a local nature preserve. This weekend, we’re holding an open house at our new native plant garden. Visitors are welcome to check it out, and bring gardening gloves to help plant some native plants, too. A friends group of another nature preserve is running a “walk and talk” tour on the trails to educate people about their efforts to remove invasive plants. What’s going on at your local green spaces?
There’re lots of fall plant sales this time of year. The groups that run them also tend to add field trips and other events such as guided nature walks and speakers. One native shrub sale and fall festival includes native plants for sale (of course), as well as a hands-on pruning workshop (bring your pruners!), and guided nature walks.
A guided meadow restoration walk at a 1,600-acre park will highlight the types of plants grown in meadows and how periodic burns improve meadow health. This one is co-run by a native plant chapter and the local environment commission.
A weekend retreat in Cape May, N.J., is the first of its kind being offered by the N.J. Native Plant Society. It’s shaping up to be so popular that I think you’ll be seeing more of these longer events in the future. Rooms were made available at the recently opened Cape May Point Science Center, built in 1889 at the most southern point of the state where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Delaware Bay. It sold out in less than an hour. The spillover will reserve rooms at nearby hotels and B&Bs. The retreat is mostly unscheduled, but does include tours of native plant gardens, and nightly speakers along with a wine and cheese reception. During the day, you can join monarch tagging at the Cape May Observatory where from the observation deck you can also watch raptors migrate. Or you can walk the trails at The Nature Conservancy’s South Cape May Meadows.
Keep in mind that many of the outings mentioned here often require registration, and they fill up fast—really fast. But it’s worth taking the time to research and register.
