Supporting Pollinators with Native Plants
Free How-To Guides!
Madison Resources:
Learn More:
Where to Buy Native Plants
Free How-To Guides!
- Going Native: A Guide to Landscaping with Native Plants in Northern New Jersey — highly recommended!
- Create a Jersey-Friendly Yard — interactive online tool
- Creating "Soft Landings" Under Trees
- How to Create Habitat for Stem-Nesting Bees — when to cut dead plant stems
- Lasagna Method (a.k.a. Sheet Mulching) to shrink the lawn and create more space for native plants
- Native Plants for the Small Yard: Easy, Beautiful Home Gardens that Support Local Ecology by Kate Brandes — includes a variety of garden designs (including container gardens), not just for small yards
- Selecting Plants for Pollinators — Eastern Broadleaf Oceanic Region (which includes New Jersey)
- Wild Ones Native Garden Designs — created by professional landscape designers for multiple ecoregions in the U.S.
Madison Resources:
- Community Garden
- Drew University Forest and Zuck Arboretum
- Friends of the Drew Forest
- Friends of Madison Shade Trees
- Garden Club of Madison
- Green Madison — Facebook
- Green Madison — Instagram
- Green Madison — Newsletter sign-up
- Madison Environmental Commission
- Madison, NJ Plant Sharing and Gardening — Facebook group
- Native Plant Gardening North Jersey — Facebook group
- The Nature of Reading Bookshop
- Pollinator Pathway: Madison NJ
- Rain gardens
- Shade Tree Management Board
- Sustainable Madison
- Tree Protection Ordinance FAQs
Learn More:
- Doug Tallamy on "Nature's Best Hope" — Madison "Noon Zoom" event (90-minute video)
- Foote's Pond Wood — Enjoy the wildflowers blooming (April to November) in this nearby Morristown park, an ongoing restoration by neighborhood volunteers
- Homegrown National Park
- Leave the Leaves by Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
- Native Plant Finder Discover plants that are native to Madison, ranked by the number of butterfly and moth species that use them as host plants for their caterpillars
- Native Plant Society of New Jersey
- Native Plants Database / Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- North American Butterfly Association — North Jersey Butterfly Club
- BONAP's North American Plant Atlas — Look up any plant by its scientific name to see its native region
- Rutgers Environmental Stewards training program
Where to Buy Native Plants
- Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve nursery (in New Hope, PA)
- Izel Native Plants (mail order; for flats of plant plugs)
- Pinelands Direct (mail order)
- The Pollen Nation (mail order)
- Toadshade Wildflower Farm (mail order and they are at many events)
- Wild Ridge Plants (mail order or on-farm pickup in Pohatcong Township, NJ)
- Be on the lookout for local native plant sales in the spring! They’re hosted by Great Swamp Watershed Association, Native Plant Society of New Jersey, and others.
- Locally, J & M Home and Garden, The Farm at Green Village and Great Swamp Greenhouses may have some native plants. Look for straight species, not cultivars. Cultivar names are indicated in single quotes (for example: Echinacea purpurea ‘pink double delight’ is a sterile cultivar that doesn’t produce pollen and its double bloom shape makes its nectar inaccessible). If you do not see what you are looking for, be sure to ask if they can get it for you! Customer demand can drive supply.