WHAT

The Native Plant Center educates people about the environmental necessity, economic value, and natural beauty of native plants of the Northeast.

HOW

The Native Plant Center offers relevant, compelling instruction in the importance and benefits of native plants through…

• Go Native U classes in the college’s Workforce Development and Community Education division
• An annual landscape conference that attracts home gardeners and industry professionals
• Collaboration with professors and students in sustainable topics and research
• Demonstration gardens on the Westchester Community College campus in Valhalla, NY, which inspire visitors to incorporate native plants in their own landscapes and increase biodiversity and wildlife habitat on campus.
• Among the largest and most respected native plant sales in the region, which moves more than 12,000 plants annually into area gardens
• Partnerships with organizations and other entities
• Extensive community outreach

WHY

• Plants native to the Northeast are those that naturally occur in the region. Having evolved over thousands of years, they are suited to the area’s climate, weather conditions, and soils, and are less susceptible to its pests and diseases. Once established, native plants often require little maintenance.
• Native plants provide valuable sources of food and shelter for wildlife and help protect water quality by filtering stormwater pollutants and reducing soil erosion. They also provide a regional identity, a geographic “sense of place.”

WHO

Steering Committee

Co-Chairs: Bob Finkelstein • Karalyn Lamb

Andrea Alban-Davies, Brooke Beebe, Jacquelyn Bergonzi, Jan Blaire, Bob DelTorto, Kim Eierman, Melissa Fabel, Barbara Fischer, Taro Ietaka, Ursula LaMotte, Catherine Ludden, Angel Morris, Anne Keesee Niemann, Dawn Orza, Heather Sandifer, Denise C.R. Santomero, Liz Silverstein, Carolyn Summers, Ken Uhle, Phillis Warden, Elizabeth S. Wattles, Lucille Werlinich

Staff

Founders

Marybeth Weston Lobdell*   •   Marie Smith Schwartz*   •   Betsy May Stern

*deceased

WHERE

The Native Plant Center is located on the Valhalla campus of Westchester Community College, 75 Grasslands Road, Valhalla, NY 10595

HISTORY