Northport Native Garden Initiative takes root around town
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Photograph by Matt Gorman
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What happens when three Northport residents get together to plant a native garden off Ocean Avenue? A movement to create an entirely new habitat within our community.
Six months ago, Nicole Tamaro, Matthew Gorman and Sara Abbass joined forces to form the Northport Native Garden Initiative, a nonprofit focused on educating the community about the benefits of planting natives in yards, schools, villages and parks. They’ve already grown a large following and have gained the attention of many community groups, from Boy Scout troops to school environmental clubs. Their goal: get all Northport and East Northport residents to convert one 10x10 plot of land to a native garden. This would add up to acres upon acres of new habitat for pollinators, insects, birds and more.
How Did NNGI Get Started?
The group’s initial mission was to beautify the corner of Ocean Avenue and Dogwood Road with native plants. Because the plot of land was within Northport Village, they had to go through a process for approval, which included stating their intent to the Board of Trustees, meeting with a professional landscape designer, and providing a detailed plan to both the Village and Superintendent of Schools Robert Banzer (because it’s on school grounds). With the help of Village Board Trustee Mercy Smith, the group was able to move forward with their first native garden, which will begin blooming this spring.
“Our goal was to only do the garden, but then from there we were really surprised by the level of excitement and momentum from the community,” Nicole explained. After their initial donation drive to fund the garden was so successful, the group decided to go not-for-profit. Sara spearheaded that effort and after many hours of phone calls and paperwork, the NNGI became a 501(c)(3) organization that could accept tax-deductible donations, sell natives to the community, and work with groups on community projects within Northport and East Northport.
NNGI was also able to form a partnership with Lewis Oliver Farm Sanctuary in Northport, which will be used as the plant pickup location for its spring plant sale. The group is excited to work with the farm on several projects, including the installment of a pollinator garden, raised garden beds and educational programs for children.
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Why Natives in Northport?
“We don’t live in our own little walled-in world here, so what I do in my yard affects my neighbors’ yards and affects our water quality. One of the easiest things you can do as a homeowner in this town is reduce your lawn to provide a habitat for native animals and plants,” Matt suggested. This practice also leads to less chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides in the community.
Matt explained the difference would be noticeable very soon after planting natives. “There will be more bees, butterflies and birds, almost immediately,” he said. “In the perfect world, nobody would have a lawn, but even if everybody just took 100 square feet out of their lawn, we’d be talking about acres and acres of new native habitat that we are adding to our little ecosystem.”
“So much of our food crops and the plants around us depend on these pollinators,” added Nciole. “We really are directly linked to these pollinators and if we continue to dig up a little spot of woodland area and put up a building with a paved parking lot, or we continue removing natives out of our yards and put in cultivators that look super pretty and appealing at the nurseries, we are no longer providing the habitat and food that native pollinators thrive off of. Ultimately, they will have less production, less babies and they will die off.”
The Big Goal
The number one goal of the NNGI is education. They’ve established a Facebook group that offers tips on native gardening and welcomes followers to share their garden goals. The three founders have been fielding questions from the community and have become an excellent source of information on how to choose the right plants for specific yard conditions.
“There are people doing things to their yards that are harmful, but they have no idea,” Matt explained. “They’re completely innocent because this is always how it’s been. Spray your grass. Make it as green as possible, and don’t think about the side effects.” This mindset is what necessitates a focus on education before anything else and will, as Sara describes, “impact everything by trickling down to the water quality at the harbor and more.”
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Photograph by Matt Gorman
The NNGI is hoping to inspire community members to take action. Want to do your part to contribute to their mission? Here’s Matt’s advice on converting a small part of your lawn into a native plant garden:
Choose a 10x10 plot of your yard
Put cardboard down right over your lawn
Cover the cardboard with mulch
Dig away the mulch and cut away the cardboard to plant your natives
Within one year, the cardboard will kill the grass underneath and biodegrade. You’ll be left with a native plant bed that grows deep roots and contributes to a shared ecosystem.
If you can’t give up part of your lawn, simply adding five to ten natives to your garden will be beneficial. “It’s so impactful if you just do something small,” Sara explained. “Simply adding in will make a difference; you don’t have to change over your entire landscape.”
Finding and choosing natives can be challenging for newbies, but the NNGI has done most of the work. This spring and summer, they plan to sell Long Island natives and provide information on the most popular varieties. For more information on their plant sales, check out their Facebook page or email NorthportNGI@gmail.com.
In the meantime, this inspiring crew will be working to influence one resident at a time to improve our ecosystem. And we’ll be watching, not only their next steps, but the blooms around town as the community implements a more native landscape.
