The Big Picture
By now hopefully, you have already decided that returning our neighborhoods and parks to natives is a worthwhile endeavor. If you still need more information, don’t worry we have you covered. Wild Ones provides a beautiful digital journal, but to get the first crack at it make sure you become a member! They will deliver it right to your email inbox and you can always visit the archives on their website.
Let’s Get Local
One of the big challenges of planting native is making sure you are doing right by our ecoregion. There is a lot of work in both removing invasives and then making sure native plants go in their place. Not to mention trying to avoid impostor native plants and any of the insecticides or herbicides. Our chapter will do its best to provide resources that are relevant to the New York Metro Region. Our ecoregions for Long Island (including Brooklyn and Queens) are Northeastern Coastal Zone and Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens, with Staten Island as part of the Northern Piedmont ecoregion. See this map for more information on New York’s ecoregions!
New York Flora Atlas
Use this website to check that a plant is native to the state of New York. This website was created and maintained by professionals who live in New York. They are the experts working on the ground and know for sure if a plant is native here.
Local Native Plant Nurseries
These local nurseries vary from permanent locations to pop up events. Some of these locations may have started as a traditional nursery and offer nonnative species or offer native to the USA in addition to New York Native plants. Make sure to use resources like the NYFA to ensure you are bringing home a plant that aligns with your ideal garden. See our list of local nurseries.
Partnerships
Life is better with more friends! Many of the resources highlighted are through partnerships with other organizations. As mentioned above there are a lot of pieces that go into this puzzle and we can’t be experts in all areas. Instead of this being a weakness we can lean on each other to maximize our efforts! We are proud to be in coalition with Forest for All NYC, and to be working through Partnerships for Parks.
Contact Us
Have you found an interesting book or other resources that you think should be highlighted here? Please let us know and we will get to work on including them!