Native Plant Gardening Will Be Explained At Free May 14 Virtual Meeting

The benefits of native plants on water quality will be extolled at a virtual meeting on Thursday, May 14, co-hosted by the Peconic Estuary Partnership’s Citizens Advisory Committee and the Group for the East End.

Rusty Schmidt, the president of the Long Island Native Plant Initiative, will explain how to start a native plant garden and how to integrate native plants into an existing garden.

The Peconic Estuary Partnership, one of 28 National Estuary Programs across the United States, is dedicated to protecting the Peconic Estuary, which consists of more than 100 harbors, embayments and tributaries spanning more than 125,000 acres of land and 158,000 acres of surface water between the North and South Forks. Toward that end, the partnership has a Homeowner Rewards Program that will reimburse homeowners within that watershed up to $500 for the costs of installing a native plant garden and/rain garden. The program will be explained during the meeting.

The May 14 virtual meeting will begin at 2 p.m. via Zoom, and registration is required. Visit cornell.zoom.us. The meeting ID is 912-0422-8999.