Bayscape Blog 11/2/11
Native Plant List

What a great turnout today for our Littoral Society presentation on Bayscaping for Barnegat Bay that was held at Crestwood Village. As promised, here is the list of Native Plants that were recommended. Check out the previous blogs for additional information on these great plants and more.

Native Trees & Shrubs
Amelanchier canadensis- serviceberry
Aronia arbutifolia- chokeberry
Cercis Canadensis- redbud
Clethra alnifolia- sweet pepperbush
Fothergilla gardenii- bottlebrush bush
Hydrangea quercifolia- oakleaf hydrangea
Ilex glabra- inkberry holly
Itea virginica- Virgina sweetspire
Kalmia latifolia- mountain laurel
Magnolia virginiana- sweetbay magnolia
Myrica pensylvanica- northern bayberry
Prunus maritima- beach plum
Viburnum dentatum- arrowood

Native Perennials
Amsonia tabernaemontana- blue star
Aquilegia canadensis- columbine
Aruncus diocicus- goats beard
Asclepia incarnata- swamp milkweed
Asclepias tuberosa- butterfly weed
Aster novae-angliae- New England Aster
Baptisia australis- false indigo
Coreopsis lanceolata- lance leaf tickseed
Clematis virginiana- sweet autumn clematis
Echinacea purpurea- purple coneflower
Eupatorium coelestinum- hardy ageratum
Eupatorium perfoliatum- boneset
Gaillardia- blanket flower
Helenium autumnale- sneezeweed
Heliopsis helianthoides- false sunflower
Hibiscus moschuetos- hardy hibiscus
Liatris spicata- gayfeather
Lobelia cardinalis- cardinal flower
Monarda didyma- bee balm
Oenothera fruiticosa- sundrops
Penstamon digitalis- foxglove beard tongue
Rudbeckia hirta- black-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia triloba- brown-eyed Susan
Solidago sempervirens -seaside goldenrod

Another Successful "Bayscape for Barnegat Bay"

Native Plant Demonstration GardenProgram reduces water use, fertilizers, pesticides and creates natural habitats Supports Governor Christie's Goal for Public Education

Toms River, Ocean County: On Monday, October 31st, the American Littoral Society announced the completion of another "Bayscape for Barnegat Bay" native plant garden project.The Laurel Commons Condominium Association, located off Old Freehold Road in the Long Swamp Creek subwatershed of the Toms River and Barnegat Bay, unveiled 3 native plant demonstration gardens that will serve as natural landscape alternatives that can be replicated throughout their 22-acre, 220 unit community and also be used as models for other communities to follow suit.

The gardens were designed by the Society's native plant consultant and horticulturist, Judy DeFiglio of Garden Guidance. The installation and hardscaping were provided by Down to Earth Landscaping.

Helen Henderson, Policy Advocate said Laurel Commons is a leader in community stewardship for protecting and restoring Barnegat Bay. "From the Society's perspective, it is especially important for homeowners in the highly developed areas of the Barnegat Bay watershed like Toms River to see examples of good stewardship like this," she stated. "We are fortunate that the association's board wanted to be proactive in doing their part to protect and restore the Bay through their personal landscape choices".

On October 22nd at the Society's 50th Annual Meeting in Cape May, Laurel Commons Condominium Association was conferred the organization's Citizen Advocate Award.The condo association's Vice-President Paul Krauss contacted the Society 2 years ago amidst growing concerns he had about the declining health of the Bay."I was greatly disturbed by what I saw happening. Stinging sea nettles and algae blooms were causing my grandchildren to stop participating in 'Grandpa's Camp' which for years consisted of boating, water skiing and swimming in the Bay" stated Krauss. "My grandchildren simply didn't want to come in contact with the polluted water anymore so I was forced to sell my boat".

Mr. Krauss, currently Vice-President of the community's board, contacted the Society and took the lead in convincing his homeowner's association to take actions on their property to help restore Barnegat Bay. To that end, the community will be reducing their lawn areas by 20%; replacing ornamental gardens onsite with native plant gardens; and participating in stormwater basin studies and retrofits to reduce nutrient pollution in stormwater runoff (nitrogen and phosphorus) that are harming the Bay.

The gardens at Laurel Commons are the latest in the series of "Bayscape" gardens being installed throughout the watershed as part of the Society's Shore Stewards program. The program, aimed at reducing the need for fertilizers and pesticides; conserving water; and creating improved habitats for species such as birds, bees and butterflies supports the Public Education Action Item #8 of Governor Christie's Barnegat Bay Plan.

The condo association committed $10,000 of their own money to the "Bayscape" project, with help from matching funds the Society received from the Trust for Public Land's Barnegat Bay Environmental Grant Fund. The project will be identified with signage on the property.

Additional "Bayscape for Barnegat Bay" gardens have been completed in the Bay's watershed, including: numerous private homeowner residences; the Maris Stella Retreat and Conference Center in Harvey Cedars, LBI; the Morning Star Presbyterian Church, Bayville; and plans are currently underway for a garden at Jake's Branch County Park, Berkeley.

This year, the Society also enlisted its first official "Bayscape" retail nursery supplier at Hammett's Garden Center in Forked River.

For those interested in learning more about "Bayscaping", the Society will hold a workshop this Wednesday, November 2nd at the Hilltop Clubhouse, Crestwood Village 5, 325 School House Road, Whiting, NJ 08759 at 1:30 p.m. For more information, contact Helen Henderson at 732.575.5701

About the American Littoral Society: The American Littoral Society is a membership-based, coastal conservation non-profit organization headquartered on Sandy Hook in Highlands New Jersey. For more than 50 years, it has empowered people to care for the coast through advocacy, conservation, and education. To learn more, visit www.littoralsociety.orghttp://www.littoralsociety.orghttp//www.littoralsociety.org/.

About the Trust for Public Land: The Trust for Public Land conserves land for people to enjoy as parks, gardens, and other natural places, ensuring livable communities for generations to come. TPL has protected more than 24,000 acres in New Jersey, including over 11,000 acres in the Barnegat Bay watershed. To learn more, visit w.tpl.org/newjerseyhttp://www.tpl.org/newjersey.

About the Laurel Commons Condominium Association: The Laurel Commons Condominium Association represents the residents of Laurel Commons, a 22-acre community of 230 condominium units on Carnation Circle in Toms River, NJ that has been serving the community for over 20 years.

Beautyberry- Callicarpa americana


Bayscape Blog 10/7/11

The Fall Garden

by Judy DeFiglio

No one can argue that the flowers of spring and summer are gorgeous and plentiful, but if you think that your garden is done when summer ends, boy are you wrong! There is so much to see and enjoy in the fall garden, and if you’ve been including native plants in your landscape you will really get a beautiful autumn spectacular.

Many of our native perennials are bursting with colorful flowers. Deep, rich shades of purple, pink and yellow can light up your landscape. New England Aster (Aster novae-angliae) not only gives your garden beautiful late season color but also provides food for butterflies. Goldenrod (Solidago) add sprays of bright yellow to the scene. Another yellow fall bloomer with a unique blossom is Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale. For a wetter site, chose pink Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium fistulosum). These tall natives are a real focal point and also attract butterflies.

You can leave the seed heads of spent summer blooms to give additional texture and create interest to your garden bed. This will also attract a wide variety of birds to your yard. They are fun to watch and provide extra color. For instance, goldfinches absolutely love the seeds of purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). The sight of these bright yellow birds perched on the black seed heads makes your garden pop with color.

Don’t forget the autumn leaves. Fall color is an important part of your landscape design. Be sure to include leaf color when you plan your landscape. Lots of people know the leaf color of their trees, but, you can really extend your fall season of interest if you also include shrubs and perennials that have interesting leaf color.

While on the subject of leaves, don’t forget the evergreens. An evergreen tree or shrub will provide a green background for blooms all year long. It also gives you something colorful and interesting to look at when all the rest of the leaves are gone. A good choice for a versatile native, evergreen shrub is Inkberry Holly (Ilex glabra). Unlike traditional holly, the leaves are small and smooth. It is more “user friendly” no need to worry about getting stabbed by sharp leaves. Inkberry can be pruned or sheared to keep it more compact, or even shaped, if that’s your style. No flashy flowers, but it has interesting black berries in fall. It blends well with all other plant material in your garden and helps create winter interest.

Many native shrubs deliver a bonus to the fall garden with their berry displays. The American beautyberry (Callicarpa Americana) has dense clusters of violet berries, while the Red Chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) has abundant red berries that last throughout the winter. Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata) is not an evergreen holly. It loses its leaves, the better to see its dense bright red berries. The elderberries, black elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) with its purple-black fruit or red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa) are a worthy addition to the fall garden. These shrubs do tend to get large but if you have the space they make quite an impact.

No discussion on fall gardens would be complete without including ornamental grasses. This is certainly when they look their best. As may be expected, I recommend planting some of the great native ornamental grasses. If you want a large, impressive display, try Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), a 3 to 4 foot tall blue-green grass with attractive fall and winter color. If space is an issue, plant Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) and elegant bunch grass that grows 18 to 36 inches tall and turns a rich shade of red in the fall.

Fall is a beautiful time in the garden. In addition, all of these natives I’ve suggested not only add color and interest to your landscape, but also are low maintenance and good for the environment. You don’t need to fertilize them so there is no fertilizer run- off to pollute our waterways. Isn’t it great when everyone wins!

Remember to become a Shore Steward. You don’t have to live on the shore to make a difference in the quality of the water flowing into Barnegat Bay. Don’t landscape, Bayscape. Choosing native plants will give you a beautiful landscape that requires no fertilization, so there will be much less pollution flowing into the waterways. Go to www.littoralsociety.org for more information.

Bayscape Blog 09/07/11

Time to Tackle Your Garden

September has arrived, school is back in session, and all that’s left of summer is the 1000 photos you took on summer vacation. If you are a gardener that’s all good news! Fall is the best time of all in the garden. The weather is starting to cool, so you can tackle all those projects you tried to do in July when it was over 100 degrees. Summer flowers are fading and as you cut off the spent foliage look for any empty spots that could use additional plants. Take some time to assess your garden to see what worked and what didn’t work this growing season and also what plants made you work. Then, let the fun begin, and get some new plants for your garden.

Yes, fall is the best time to add new plants to your landscape. If you are buying plants there are lots of sales going on, because retailers don’t want to care for plants over the winter. If you are looking for “free” plants, try trading with fellow gardeners. Many are digging and dividing now and have lots of extras to trade or give away. The weather is good for planting and there is enough time before winter weather arrives for the plants to adapt to their new home.

No matter if you are starting a new garden or renovating an existing one, the hardest part is selecting new plants. Where do you start? It can be really difficult to limit your choices. There are so many worthy plants available and we gardeners want them all! Make the process easier by choosing native plants. Read through the older posts on this blog to get ideas. You are sure to find some sensational natives to add to your garden.

The goal of any garden should be to have at least three seasons of interest, another good reason to turn to natives. Many natives have multiple seasons of interest. A good example is the native shrub chokeberry (Aronia). It has clusters of small white flowers in the spring, followed by a spectacular display of red berries that last from late summer until the end of winter and great red fall color too. Try a viburnum dentatum, with white flowers in spring, dark blue-black fruit in late summer and sizzling red fall color. For flowers, choose native perennials with long bloom times, interesting seed heads and good fall color. For additional interest in your landscape select flowers that will attract butterflies or hummingbirds. Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberose) will guarantee monarch butterflies and hummingbirds love cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis).

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received for choosing plants is “don’t fight the sight”. In other words, choose a plant that works in your space instead of choosing a plant and then trying to change the space so that the plant will survive there. Put sun lovers in sun and shade lovers in shade. If the plant is drought tolerant don’t plant it in a spot that is irrigated. If you have a wet site in your garden go with plants that enjoy wet feet. Plants will be happier, healthier, look better and require much less of your time.

Remember to become a Shore Steward. You don’t have to live on the shore to make a difference in the quality of the water flowing into Barnegat Bay. So this month don’t landscape, Bayscape. Choosing native plants will give you a beautiful landscape that requires no fertilization, so there will be much less pollution flowing into the waterways. Go to www.littoralsociety.org for more information.

Bayscape Blog 8/10/11

The Beauty and Benefits of Native Plants

By Judy DeFiglio

I just returned from the vacation of a lifetime, a fantastic trip to Alaska. I expected breath taking scenery, mountains, glaciers and lots of wild life and it did not disappoint. It is a truly majestic place, where you feel the power of nature like nowhere else. What I didn’t expect, was the enormous amount of flowers. Native plants were blooming everywhere, from Fairbanks to Ketchikan. What a spectacular sight.

I had the opportunity to go on a nature hike up the side of Mount Roberts in Juneau, and there, at 1800 feet, I was surrounded by a sub alpine meadow full of blooms. What was even more amazing, I recognized most of them. There were many of the same wildflowers we have in New Jersey or close cousins. Imagine my surprise, to travel to the other side of North America and see the same plants I have been growing in my garden! Of course they were blooming at a different time. Many of our spring bloomers were blooming in late July.

The difference I noted was that in Alaska not only do these native plants spring up all over in the wild, but also, everyone grows them in their gardens as well. Alaskans seem to understand the beauty of native plants and the benefits of including them in their landscape. The growing season is short but the summer days are long with eighteen to twenty hours of sunlight. You do see lots of container gardens filled with traditional annual bedding plants to provide constant color for those few short months, but for their gardens they choose natives because they know that the natives will survive the long, brutal winter and be back next year.

The Alaskan gardener also gardens for the wildlife. They are sure to plant natives that attract birds and lots of plants that produce berries to provide a food source for animals. Blueberry bushes are as popular in Alaska as they are in New Jersey.

Maybe we need to take a lesson from our 49^th State- accept the climate we live in and grow the plants that are happy here, instead of importing non natives that will never grow properly or become invasive and threaten our environment. We all need to do our part to save our waterways. Planting native plants in your garden is an easy, beneficial, and beautiful way to help. No fertilizer= no fertilizer runoff.

The natives in my garden are thriving despite the weeks of 100 degree weather, not so the few remaining exotics. I was fortunate to miss the heat wave will I was in Alaska, needing hat and gloves to visit the snow and ice covered glaciers. Since I wasn’t home, my garden was on its own. I’m happy to say that flowering in my garden right now are:

Perennials: Black-eyed-Susans (Rudbeckia), Blanket flower (Gaillardia), Blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica), Gayfeather (Liatris), Joe-Pye weed (Eupatorium maculatum), Phlox (Phlox paniculata), Purple coneflower (Echinacea), Rose mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos), Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale), Threadleaf tickseed (Coreopsis verticillata)

Shrub: Sweet pepper bush (Clethra alnifolia), Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) Many other native shrubs are starting their berry display.

Bayscape Blog 7/11/11

The Butterfly Bonus

by

Judy DeFiglio

Last week I shared with you, my joy at watching a family of hummingbirds visit my Monarda all day long. Today, I want to keep the (garden) party going and add the bonus of butterflies. As I walked around the garden yesterday pulling some weeds and seeing if anything new was blooming, I was delighted by so many different butterflies gliding around my garden. What a sight! The flowers were gorgeous, so plentiful this year, but the extra splashes of color from the butterflies just added the crowning touch. What did I do to create this masterpiece of nature? I just planted the native plants that butterflies need and love.

Back in the blog of 9/27/10, Butterflies in Your Garden, I described what a butterfly needs to make your garden its home. This blog I want to focus on the flowers that you can grow to attract the butterflies. These plants are mostly for sunny spots because butterflies need the sun to be able to fly. Grow a variety of plants that bloom at different times and you will provide food for the different butterfly and their larvae throughout the season.

Spring blooming Bluestar(Amsonia tabernaemontana), has pretty, light blue star shaped flowers on 3 foot tall stems. It is an early nectar source for several butterflies. The foliage has good yellow fall color.

Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) tops the list if you want to attract monarch butterflies. This bright orange flowered plant loves it hot and dry. It grows 12 to 30 inches tall and thrives in our sandy soil. Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnate) is another milkweed that attracts monarchs. It grows 2 to 3 feet tall and as the name implies, likes a wetter site. The flowers are pink.

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) grows 2 to 3 feet tall with large, dark pink flowers and provides nectar for a wide variety of butterflies (pictured above). It blooms all summer long. Another summer bloomer that looks good with coneflower in your garden and attracts many different butterflies is blazing star (Liastris spicata). The 3 to 4 foot tall spikes of pinkish-purple flowers add a great accent to your landscape design.

Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) are the workhorse of any summer garden. The long lasting, bright yellow flowers are drought tolerant. Butterflies love them and so do I.

If you have the space, Joe-Pye weed (Eupatorium maculatum) will bring monarchs and swallowtails to your garden. This great plant with pinky, fuzzy flowers can grow up to 8 feet tall and like moist soil.

Asters (Asrer novae-angliae) are a great choice to attract butterflies later in the season. They can grow up to five feet tall, and the violet flowers look great in a fall garden. Another late bloomer that butterflies love is goldenrod (Solidago). The abundant, golden yellow flowers add a burst of color when most everything else in your garden has given up (and no they don’t cause hayfever).

Try some of these native plants in your garden. Not only will you get beautiful flowers, but also the added bonus of butterflies. Isn’t it wonderful that doing something so good for the birds, bees, butterflies and Barnegat Bay can bring such beauty and joy to ourselves too.

One of the jewels in my garden. Happy 4th of July