Last week, at the 19th annual Plant-o-Rama, a symposium and trade show held by the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, the keynote speaker, an ecologist, told the crowd that beauty is not enough.

“We have to raise the bar on our landscapes,” said Mr. [Douglas] Tallamy, a professor and chairman of the department of entomology and wildlife ecology at the University of Delaware. “In the past, we have asked one thing of our gardens: that they be pretty. Now they have to support life, sequester carbon, feed pollinators and manage water.”

I’ve been part of the NJMC’s Parks Group for more than 20 years and this has always been our mission. From the earliest days at DeKorte Park, we have carefully selected plants to attract and support wildlife, control erosion, teach environmental education, be self-sustaining, AND be beautiful. It wasn’t easy back in the late 1980s when many native plants were simply not available in nurseries. Natives have gained a lot ground (pun intended) since then, and it’s great to know that the nursery industry is hearing the message.

Read the full NYTimes article.