West Windsor's Native Plant Exchange 2024
Note: Please CLICK HERE to view our handout about native plants and CLICK HERE for milkweed planting instructions!
Friends of West Windsor Open Space and Wild for West Windsor to Offer Native Plant Exchange at Community Day September 21, 2024!
Seedlings will be available for a donation!
Friends of West Windsor Open Space (FOWWOS) and Wild for West Windsor will be partnering for a Native Plant Exchange at West Windsor Community Day, Saturday, September 21, noon – 4 p.m., at Duck Pond Park in West Windsor. Members from both groups will be on hand to talk about Backyard Wildlife Certification in West Windsor.
Turning your yard, balcony container garden, schoolyard, work landscape, or roadside greenspace into a Certified Wildlife Habitat is fun, easy, and can make a lasting difference to our planet. Every habitat garden is a step toward replenishing resources for wildlife such as bees, butterflies, birds, and amphibians. By adding pollinator-friendly and Monarch butterfly-friendly plants when you certify your garden as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat through the National Wildlife Federation, your garden can address the issues leading to declining habitat for wildlife nationwide.
Wild for West Windsor, a Facebook group founded in 2020 by Julia Diez, Class of 2025 West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, seeks to educate the community about the benefits of native plant gardening, and to provide an exchange of native plants between gardeners. Native plants are adapted to the local climate and soil conditions where they naturally occur. These important plant species provide nectar, pollen, and seeds that serve as food for native butterflies, insects, birds and other animals.
West Windsor is registered with the National Wildlife Federation with the goal of becoming a Wildlife Habitat Community. Wild for West Windsor, working with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and West Windsor residents, has planted more than 175 native shrubs in private township properties, and has partnered with National Wildlife Federation, West Windsor Shade Tree Commission, and Girl Scouts to plant 200 trees at Duck Pond Park. With the West Windsor Environmental Commission, native plant exhibition gardens have been established in township parks and preserved open space.
“We have reached and are beyond our Community Outreach and Education points, as well as other categories for West Windsor to receive Community Wildlife Certification, but we do need private properties to provide wildlife habitats to complete our community certification,” said Diez of Wild for West Windsor.
In its nearly three decades, FOWWOS has preserved more than half of the Township’s land.
“While our primary mission is to encourage the preservation of open space, we believe that the township should be a good steward of the open space it owns, and set a good example to the rest of the township,” says co-founder and President of the Board of Trustees Alison Miller. “One of the purposes of our organization is to foster knowledge and study of ecological and natural resources conservation. To that end, we encourage use of our open space by species other than our own -- we want to see native plants and animals enjoying West Windsor as they have for generations!”
Please visit Wild for West Windsor on Facebook – an admin will approve you after you answer a few questions. Or, simply show up at Community Day – you can bring native plants from your garden or take plants home brought by other members on September 21. No registration required. There will also be liatris seedlings available for a $2 donation to FOWWOS.
Seedlings will be available for a donation!
Friends of West Windsor Open Space (FOWWOS) and Wild for West Windsor will be partnering for a Native Plant Exchange at West Windsor Community Day, Saturday, September 21, noon – 4 p.m., at Duck Pond Park in West Windsor. Members from both groups will be on hand to talk about Backyard Wildlife Certification in West Windsor.
Turning your yard, balcony container garden, schoolyard, work landscape, or roadside greenspace into a Certified Wildlife Habitat is fun, easy, and can make a lasting difference to our planet. Every habitat garden is a step toward replenishing resources for wildlife such as bees, butterflies, birds, and amphibians. By adding pollinator-friendly and Monarch butterfly-friendly plants when you certify your garden as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat through the National Wildlife Federation, your garden can address the issues leading to declining habitat for wildlife nationwide.
Wild for West Windsor, a Facebook group founded in 2020 by Julia Diez, Class of 2025 West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, seeks to educate the community about the benefits of native plant gardening, and to provide an exchange of native plants between gardeners. Native plants are adapted to the local climate and soil conditions where they naturally occur. These important plant species provide nectar, pollen, and seeds that serve as food for native butterflies, insects, birds and other animals.
West Windsor is registered with the National Wildlife Federation with the goal of becoming a Wildlife Habitat Community. Wild for West Windsor, working with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and West Windsor residents, has planted more than 175 native shrubs in private township properties, and has partnered with National Wildlife Federation, West Windsor Shade Tree Commission, and Girl Scouts to plant 200 trees at Duck Pond Park. With the West Windsor Environmental Commission, native plant exhibition gardens have been established in township parks and preserved open space.
“We have reached and are beyond our Community Outreach and Education points, as well as other categories for West Windsor to receive Community Wildlife Certification, but we do need private properties to provide wildlife habitats to complete our community certification,” said Diez of Wild for West Windsor.
In its nearly three decades, FOWWOS has preserved more than half of the Township’s land.
“While our primary mission is to encourage the preservation of open space, we believe that the township should be a good steward of the open space it owns, and set a good example to the rest of the township,” says co-founder and President of the Board of Trustees Alison Miller. “One of the purposes of our organization is to foster knowledge and study of ecological and natural resources conservation. To that end, we encourage use of our open space by species other than our own -- we want to see native plants and animals enjoying West Windsor as they have for generations!”
Please visit Wild for West Windsor on Facebook – an admin will approve you after you answer a few questions. Or, simply show up at Community Day – you can bring native plants from your garden or take plants home brought by other members on September 21. No registration required. There will also be liatris seedlings available for a $2 donation to FOWWOS.
“We have reached and are beyond our Community Outreach and Education points, as well as other categories for West Windsor to receive Community Wildlife Certification, but we do need private properties to provide wildlife habitats to complete our community certification,” said Angela Castano Diez of Wild for West Windsor. “West Windsor needs 250 property certification points for community certification. Each private residence earns one point, while each common area, such as parks, businesses, farms, and municipal buildings certified earn three, and schools earn five. West Windsor currently has 78 points in the property certification category.”
In its 26-year history, FOWWOS has preserved more than half of the Township’s land.
“While our primary mission is to encourage the preservation of open space, we believe that the township should be a good steward of the open space it owns, and set a good example to the rest of the township,” says co-founder and President of the Board of Trustees Alison Miller. “One of the purposes of our organization is to foster knowledge and study of ecological and natural resources conservation. To that end, we encourage use of our open space by species other than our own -- we want to see native plants and animals enjoying West Windsor as they have for generations!”
Please visit Wild for West Windsor on Facebook – an admin will approve you after you answer a few questions. Or, simply show up at Community Day – you can bring native plants from your garden or take plants home brought by other members on September 21. No registration required!
In its 26-year history, FOWWOS has preserved more than half of the Township’s land.
“While our primary mission is to encourage the preservation of open space, we believe that the township should be a good steward of the open space it owns, and set a good example to the rest of the township,” says co-founder and President of the Board of Trustees Alison Miller. “One of the purposes of our organization is to foster knowledge and study of ecological and natural resources conservation. To that end, we encourage use of our open space by species other than our own -- we want to see native plants and animals enjoying West Windsor as they have for generations!”
Please visit Wild for West Windsor on Facebook – an admin will approve you after you answer a few questions. Or, simply show up at Community Day – you can bring native plants from your garden or take plants home brought by other members on September 21. No registration required!
