Helping Others Helps Us

program entrance. There were two diseased trees that had to be removed, and upon completion of the hardscape, the entire area needed to be seeded with new grass. The design was created by Dr. Steve Fischer and his landscape class students, and enhanced by NJLCA Service Project Committee Chairman Richard Andreu. The area will serve the entire college by providing space as an outdoor classroom, a place for students to gather and socialize as well as an area for their culinary program to hold outdoor entertainment. Further, it will provide students of the horticulture program with a place to learn, plant, and grow.

Adjacent to the area are gorgeous gardens created by Dr. Fischer and his classes throughout the past four decades. There is a native plant garden, a perennial garden, secret pathways through the area, and a variety of trees that Dr. Fischer uses to give his students hands-on lessons.

The project included 20 feet of seat wall, a 6-foot planter, and walkways to reach the gazebo. Donors of materials for the project included Cambridge Pavers, Downes Tree Service, Horizon Landscape Co, Mr. C Fence, SiteOne Landscape Supply, Victoria’s Nursery, Viola Brothers, as well as materials from the volunteer companies that provided the employees to help install the project. Volunteers included Al D. Landscaping and Tree Service, Exclusive Stoneworks, Green Meadows Landscaping, Kodiak Landscape & Design, Native Fields Landscaping, Yellow Wagon Landscaping and NJLCA staff. Working in conjunction with the staff and students of Bergen Technical High School’s has a concave shape.

Adiantum pedatum is a very long-lived fern when properly sited. Typically, it is an uplands plant requiring moisture retentive, yet not boggy, soils high in organic matter. In Warren County NJ, the plants frequently appear along the northern sides of wooded hillsides. Plants are adaptable to soil pH, although they thrive best in neutral to slightly alkaline soils.

Despite its very delicate appearance, Northern Maiden Hair Fern is a tough garden plant more than worthy of a home in a ‘green garden’. I was always attracted to the horseshoe appearance of the fronds and its incredibly fine texture. Far from a Maiden in distress, this Maiden will hopefully lead the charge in creating more beautifully textured gardens featuring the color green!

Editor’s Note: Bruce Crawford is a lover of plants since birth, is the Manager of Horticulture for the Morris County Parks Commission, and a Past President of the Garden State Gardens Consortium. He can be reached at BCrawford@ morrisparks.net and everyone, although working hard, has a wonderful time.

If anyone has an idea for a future service project in New Jersey, please feel free to reach out to me at gwoolcott@njlca.org.

Environmental Design program added a new and exciting addition to the service project this year. Students assisted with the first day of the project and were able to work alongside professionals in learning the “whys and hows” of grading, drainage, paver cutting and more. It was so exciting to see these young people excited about the landscape and horticultural industry. It gave us such hope for the future of landscape and horticulture.

It is so rewarding to take part in these projects. It is amazing to see so many people come together to create them. This industry, like none I have ever seen, is willing to put aside that they are competitors and work together for the greater good and to enhance their industry. Onsite at the projects, employees learn different techniques and ways of doing things from other employees, there is camaraderie,

Editor’s Note: Gail Woolcott is the Executive Director for the New Jersey Landscape Contractors Association. Gail received the New York State Turf & Landscape Association 2022 “Person of the Year” award on December 1, 2022. Gail also received a proclamation from the Westchester County, New York Board of Legislators proclaiming December 1, 2022 as “Gail Woolcott Day” in Westchester County. Gail has also been presented with a community service award from the Borough of Fairview, New Jersey for her assistance in leading the 9-11 Memorial Park project and the Legislative Champion of the Year award from the Federation of Employers and Workers of America. She can be reached at 201-703-3600 or by emailing gwoolcott@ njlca.org.