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Catskill Native
Nursery specializes in
nursery-propagated North American
perennials, fruits, shrubs and trees.
Native plants are a natural choice for
woodland, meadow, and aquatic gardens.
Most are equally at home in the flower
borders around your house.
Native plants are
ornamental, easy to maintain and
provide food and habitat for birds,
butterflies, bees and other wildlife -
and yourself. Many natives are becoming
scarce in the wild - you can help to
restore biodiversity by adding native
plants to your landscape. Come and
browse - you might be surprised at the
unique beauty and garden worthiness of
our native flora.
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I grew up in the
next town over from the nursery - in
Marbletown, more specifically, the
hamlet of Lomontville. Before starting
Catskill Native Nursery, I was an
insect ecologist in academia. I have
degrees from Williams College (Biology
BA), the University of Iowa (Zoology
MS) and the University of California at
Davis (Zoology PhD). I did research
post-doctorals at the Australian
National University, Research School of
Biological Sciences in Canberra (5
years); the University of Hawaii,
Department of Entomology (2 years); and
the University of South Carolina,
Department of Biological Sciences (2
years). Most of my research involved
insects that feed on plants so I was
always growing plants to feed my
insects. Other than that I've had no
formal horticultural training or
experience. As an ecologist though I
've had a long interest in the flora of
whatever place I happened to be living
in at the time. And as a child, nature
was a hobby - I was mostly interested
in birds and woody plants. So, I grew
up learning Catskill Mountain plants, I
know the California flora pretty well,
the Australian flora not as well as I'd
like, the Hawaiian flora a little bit
(most of it is overrun with invasive
exotics) and the southern Appalachian
flora pretty well. Started building the
nursery in 1997, opened for business in
1999
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Zoe (on the right)
is a mixed-breed with some chow-chow
somewhere in her parentage because she
has a purple tongue. She was rescued
from a shelter at Newburgh New York in
1997.
Brynja is our new
puppy this winter of 2008. She is an
Icelanding Sheepdog - friendly, smart,
energetic and a bit of a barker.
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In Memoriam
Sandy died 9
October 2007. Here she is in my
mother’s backyard next to double
bloodroot (Sanguinaria
canadensis ‘Multiplex’).
Sandy was a
mixed-breed dog, probably beagle and
collie, that I rescued from a shelter
at Columbia, South Carolina in 1994.
She had heartworm and they were
thinking of euthanizing her, but gave
her a chance when I indicated I would
adopt her. Over her lifetime she
walked, I would guess, a few thousand
miles with me.
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If you would simply
like to learn more about gardening with
native plants, feel free just to visit
the display gardens around the 150 year
old farm house where we are located in
semi-rural upstate New York, such as
the Well Garden shown here.
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Most of our gardens
are a mix of native and non-native
plants. We also have a native-only dry
shade garden, the beginnings of a
wildflower meadow between the zig-zag
fence and Samsonville Road, a
native-only butterfly garden (pictured
below), and a native fruit orchard
featuring pawpaws, a
‘Meader’ persimmon,
blueberries, dwarf lingonberry,
serviceberries, and an ‘Illinois
Everbearing’ mulberry.
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Green Witch Herbs
& Garden Design was founded by my
partner, Diane, in 2001, as a natural
progression of growth in our nursery
business. This allowed us to compliment
our stock of native plants with a
variety of garden favorites, including
herbs, and take advantage of
Diane’s ability and training
to create very special gardens.
Diane’s background includes
studies in fine art, drawing, painting
and architecture while living in New
York City. She earned a BA in Art
History from NYU, and has studied at
Art Students’ League. Her
practical experience in gardening began
as an apprentice at Peconic River Herb
Farm on Long Island. She has studied
horticulture at The Brooklyn Botanical
Garden, and herbalism in the Catskills.
Diane has had a long-time passion for
plants, even when it could only be
satisfied by tending a roof garden in
Brooklyn (it takes dedication to carry
50 lb. bags of compost up three flights
of stairs). She considers her official
title to be Professional Peasant. You
may visit her (sometimes weedy) display
gardens at the nursery and marvel at
her vegetable garden that has learned
to take care of itself, since Diane is
mostly off working in other
people’s gardens.
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Just below the
upper parking area is a Catskill rocky
summit plant community we started at
the 2005 Wildflower Festival. It features mountain
laurel, bush honeysuckle, lowbush
blueberry, sweet fern, common juniper,
bearberry, three-toothed cinquefoil,
Pennsylvania sedge and little bluestem.
Like most gardens it’s still a
work in progress and we hope to add
scrub oak, woodland sunflower, pasture
rose, and others. Look for pictures
amongst others under
“Gardens”. Our inspiration
for the garden is the flora of South
Mountain in the Catskills, especially
along the Escarpment
Trail.
There is easy access to the trail from
the North-South
Lake campground and the trail is not too
strenuous - so check it out if you
enjoy camping and hiking. If you just
want to do the hike, free parking is
available at a parking area off Schutt
Road, just before the entrance to the
campground.
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