2019 State of the College

21 Westchester Community College Native Plant Center A s it looked toward its future, The Native Plant Center also honored its past, celebrating twenty years of teaching and inspiring students about native plants. The Center was founded as a program of the Westchester Community College Foundation and the first affiliate of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Mrs. Johnson wrote at the time: “What you are endeavoring to do here to educate people about the benefits of using natives in planned land- scapes and how to grow and care for them gives me great joy. I hope all who come here will find their pleasure in our living world enlarged and enriched.” The Native Plant Center has been privileged to uphold her legacy and to be a community resource and education center for the use of native plants. In recognition of its twenty-year milestone, and in keep- ing with its mission aimed at expanding both services and resources, the Center renovated one of its teaching gardens on the campus. The New American Cottage Garden features native plants in familiar elements of a home garden so that others can learn from and replicate it in their own landscape. The garden is a draw for students, staff and visitors who find peace and a sense of place within the natural-design setting. The Center offers relevant, compelling instruction in native plant use through the college’s Workforce Development and Community Education division, and featured a daylong Understanding Pollinators workshop. At the annual land- scape conference, The Future of Native Trees, land managers discovered the importance of native trees, evaluated the threats they face, and discussed efforts to protect them from negative impacts. The 19th annual native plant sale again attracted hundreds of community members to the campus and moved more than 10,000 native plants into area gardens. Students from the College Steps Program, Pleasantville Lab School, and the Philosophia Honors Society helped with sale preparations by unloading delivery trucks, pricing plants, and pulling orders. As the Center moves to expand its scope, new and continuing partnerships with other community organizations will be key. Free field walks led by Center volunteers at local nature pre- serves were especially popular over the past year, as were the co-sponsorships with Westchester County of a workshop on pond and lake management, and with the New York Natural Heritage Program for a pollinator survey training session.