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Adding Native Plants: One Garden at a Time

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Virginia N. Sherry

Virginia N. Sherry

There were no price tags; every item was free. Seeds, cuttings and potted plants from local gardeners filled the tables of Joanne and Joe Pentangelo’s spacious back yard in Clifton on Sunday afternoon, October 4, for the pre-autumn swap of the Native Plant Society of Staten Island.

The bounty was impressive, the variety of native species diverse.

Rooted wild ginger (Asarum canadense ) went fast, as did seeds from locally harvested swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) and common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca).

Other popular herbaceous perennial seeds included scarlet bee balm (Monarda didyma), purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea ), cup plant (Sylphium perfoliatum), Culver’s root (Veronicastrum virginicum), and brown-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia triloba). 

Pots of purple New England asters and white-flowering snakeroot (Ageratina altissima) were scooped up quickly, as was a healthy young black elderberry shrub (Sambucus canadensis). 

Elderberry.

Beautifully packaged seeds of the Allegheny chinquapin tree (Castanea pumila) and paw paw (Asimina triloba) were contributed, with growing instructions thoughtfully provided on the reverse side.

Camaraderie

Information was eagerly exchanged, as gardeners young and older mingled from 1 p.m. until 3:30 p.m.

Photo courtesy Juliya Goncharenko.

The subject of pollinator-friendly plants dominated some conversations.

Lively debates ensued about whether fall or spring is the best time for seed sowing. 

Homeowners discussed plans for digging up and replacing lawns with natives.

Others shared trouble-shooting tips with gardeners who bemoaned the loss of prized plants. 

One Society member wore  a T-shirt with a message reflecting a sentiment shared by all: Choose Native Plants.

NPSSI member Kevin Moriarty, with NPSSI president Joanne Pentangelo. Photo courtesy Juliya Goncharenko.

This was the sixth swap that NPSSI organized since the organization’s founding in 2019. Previous swaps were held indoors in January 2020  and October 2019 in Willowbrook;  outdoors in June 2019 in New Brighton and on Grymes Hill; and outdoors in May 2019 in New Brighton.

Born and raised on Staten Island, Virginia N. Sherry founded the Native Plant Society of Staten Island after a long career as a journalist and associate director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch.

 

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