Market Scope

Recycling furniture,” says Kasia Lojewska, “is taking pieces from the past and incorporating them into everyday décor for use in the home and garden. I like to call them re-loved.”

Kasia, who is the owner of Behind the French Doors and the Old Lumberyard Antiques in Milford, PA, not only sells re-loved décor in her lovely shop, but also offers her decorating services.

“I like to get to know a home, see a person’s taste and combine their personality with the function of the house. It’s my pride to combine the past with the present and future. For example, I love to contrast cold marble with warm accent pieces of wood or sculpture, making a room less sterile and adding layers.

“I always think of myself as actually living in my client’s home. In the end, we should want a home to be comfortable, an oasis. I want to create a home that you don’t need a vacation from.

Behind the French Doors

“Five years ago, I purchased the Old Lumberyard Antiques, which is a co-op of 30 antique vendors, and about two months ago, I moved my business upstairs through the first set of doors and into a larger location in the back.” Kasia explains, “Each vendor has their own booth, but we come together as a team; it’s a symbiotic relationship.”

“We recently worked with a set designer for a movie starring Colin Bates that was shot in Milford. We supplied knick-knacks, figurines, and books. We also worked for the set designer for a scene from the TV series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. We are becoming a destination draw for antiques, and visitors are then discovering the great restaurants and hotels in town.”

Kasia’s dad and granddad were furniture makers. “Handmade things draw me in,” she says. “Someone’s energy and time went into that; then a stranger buys it and makes it the center of attention. We pass on pieces of the past to the next generation.”

Landscaping with Native Plants Wild Ones NJ Gateway

By Bob Chernow

Even a dead tree has life. It is a decaying piece of nature that is still giving,” says Gisela Ferrer. “Decaying wood is like a sponge. It holds water and stores carbon from the atmosphere. It provides food for fungi such as mushrooms and hosts larvae for birds such as woodpeckers.”

When speaking to Ferrer, I immediately sensed her energy and enthusiasm for native plants and the environment. Ferrer, an environmental advocate and retired teacher, recently established the first New Jersey chapter of Wild Ones LLC, a 501c3 national nonprofit organization that promotes environmentally sound landscaping practices with native plant communities in order to preserve biodiversity.

What are native plants and why are they so important? Ferrer explains that native plants were here before human settlers arrived. They have a “wonderful relationship with wildlife,” she says, “and provide the right amounts of fats and nutrition for caterpillars, bees, birds, and bears.” Today, these indigenous plants are no longer prominent in home landscapes.

Native plants provide feeding and breeding sites for beneficial insects that help with pollination and pest control. The serviceberry is an underutilized example that produces beautiful scarlet berries in summer, just as the shad are beginning to run in the Delaware River. Also known as shadbush, it provides edible berries for humans and wildlife.

Invasive plants, such as barberry and wineberry, are those that were brought by humans and provide no or little nutrition for wildlife. Other invasive plants include burning bush, phragmites, stiltgrass, Japanese knotweed, and garlic mustard. Over thirty percent of New Jersey’s flora is currently considered invasive.

Another over-utilized invasive plant is the Japanese red maple, which is a prolific seed producer. Ferrer discovered a volunteer tree growing from a soil bank seven years after the tree was cut down.

Wild Ones’ goal is to educate the public about the benefits of native plants and the harm caused by invasive ones. “At this point, we cannot get rid of all the invasive plants, but we can educate the public about damage to wildlife and soil caused by invasive plants and help control their spread,” states Ferrer. “When homeowners and businesses use invasive plants in their ornamental landscapes gardens, they are making matters worse.”

Ferrer cites the example of many ornamental non-native grasses, such as fountain grass, which have grown in popularity in recent years. These have no nutritional or pollinator value and are spreading to fields and woods, where they prevent ecologically productive native plants from flourishing. She suggests that gardeners learn to identify and avoid using the top 20 invasive plants that may be sold in garden centers.

Gisela Ferrer loves the beauty and surroundings of nature. As a child, she had planters on her windowsill and loved to visit her grandparents’ farm. She was a teacher in urban Hudson County where there was more concrete and fewer trees

Continued on next page and moved to Sussex County 20 years ago where there were more trees and less concrete. “I used to say that I sleep in Sussex County and live in Hudson County,” she jokes.

With her roots in Hudson County, Ferrer wants to “make a bridge between Sussex County and the urban counties” with her newly established Wild Ones New Jersey Gateway Chapter. There was no Wild Ones chapter in New Jersey until 2022, when Ferrer began one. ”I established the first chapter just so I could give back,” she proudly proclaims.

As an educator, she wants to leave a better world by educating our children to coexist with nature. “I want to educate everyone, both children and adults, that we should shift to native plants in our gardens. We need to garden for our future and our children’s future and shift the decline in birds and pollinators,” she states.

It’s OK to start small. “Even a single pot or planter with native plants can make a difference for a bee, butterfly, or bird.”

“What I see in foundation plantings often makes me sad,” Ferrer says. Barberry and butterfly bush provide minimum nutrients for native wildlife compared to beautiful native plants such as asters, purple coneflowers, and Virginia bluebells, which she cites as some of her favorite native flowering plants that provide food for wildlife.

Wild Ones NJ Gateway is looking for property owning partners who want to grow native plants and educate students. Wild Ones can provide the design and native plantings to interested municipalities, corporations, or non-profits; volunteer employees and/or students would maintain the garden. In the fall, the seeds from the native plants would be harvested and distributed to schools and youth groups in urban settings so that children could establish their own gardens and learn about native plants and ecology. Ferrer explains that these projects would help the ecosystem and create an outdoor learning classroom for students and teachers.

She stresses the importance of “right plant, right place,” according to the microclimates on a property. Each part of the property may contain varied amounts of sun or shade, different soils, and varying amounts of water. Each plant thrives in its own distinct conditions. While many people do not like to see moss in the shady areas of their yards, perhaps we should develop a new mindset about the soft, bright green, moisture-containing plant, which is effective at cleaning the air.

Ferrer suggests that we consider replacing part of the lawn with native plants. Native plants don’t need fertilizer, additional water, or special attention. They have evolved here with no special care. Not only will you add natural beauty and color, you will provide habitat for insects and butterflies.

Continued on page 34

In addition, you will also reduce the amount of fertilizer and weed killer chemicals applied to the lawn, and you will help clean the air by reducing fuel consumption, lawn mower exhaust emissions, and noise pollution.

Many of our landscaped properties contain invasive plants that provide no ecological services, which are defined as benefits to humans and wildlife that a healthy natural ecosystem provides. Examples of ecological services include food for native pollinators and wildlife, proper root systems to aid in water retention and erosion control, decomposition of organic material into soil, and climate regulation. Many invasive plants do not provide these benefits, and very importantly, by allowing invasive plants to take up garden space, the native plants have less space to flourish and provide benefits to the ecosystem.

Landowners may be familiar with the story of the emerald ash borer (EAB), which has killed millions of native ash trees throughout 30 states including NJ, NY, and PA. The nonnative beetle arrived in wood packaging materials from Asia and has been ravaging our forests. If you have a damaged ash on your property that is not in danger of falling on the house, Ferrer suggests that you consider leaving the tree to decompose naturally. The dead tree will store moisture, replenish the soil, continue to store carbon, and provide food and shelter for wildlife.

There are several ways a homeowner can get involved and learn more about native plants in the garden. Of course, Ferrer would encourage you to join a Wild Ones in your area, which have informational websites and host free webinars, live speaking engagements, and hikes.

The Wild Ones website (wildones.org) provides free landscape templates that include videos, designs, and appropriate plants for different regions. Ferrer also mentioned the Native Plant Society and the Xerces Society as excellent organizations with informative websites and local chapters that can provide resources.

To learn more about the importance of native plants and ecology, Ferrer suggests that you read any of Doug Tallamy’s books: Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Backyard, Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants and The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Trees. Tallamy is an entomologist and wildlife ecology professor at the University of Delaware and a leading expert on the decline of native plants and how to take on conservation as a personal mission.

This writer has read all three books and learned a wealth of information. Tallamy explains concepts in a very easy-to-understand way and also provides plenty of data, evidence, and examples. The red oak tree, native to our area, for example, is host to several hundred species of caterpillars. A chickadee feeds its offspring thousands of caterpillars per season.

Local governments may be slow to act in the native plants movement, so individual homeowners play a key role in conserving and expanding the use of native plants in the home landscape. “We need to take control,” says Ferrer who points to Tallamy’s Homegrown National Park grassroots organization that teaches homeowners how to plant more native plants and understand the role they have in the ecosystem.

With the increasing popularity of native plants, breeders have been developing specialized varieties known as cultivars, which may contain larger flowers, different foliage color, or reduced height. While these cultivars may appeal to people more than the original native wild or straight species, the cultivars often lose some of the original features that the insects found attractive. Therefore, when buying native plants, it is important to buy the straight species and not a cultivar. Cultivars also have no genetic variability and may not be able to handle the stresses of climate change.

How can you tell the difference? Go to a specialty native plant nursery with knowledgeable sales staff. Or learn how to read the label carefully. If it has a name in single quotations, it is a cultivar.

Ferrer proudly states that “Wild Ones wants to be a resource. Call us. Visit our website (wildones.org). Join our hikes or webinars, and volunteer to pull invasive plants. We are here to help.” As she increases the visibility of Wild Ones in NJ, she encourages people to go to farmers markets and green events and to bring the children. “We need to get the kids involved. Children need more contact with nature, and when kids get involved, so will the adults.”

Aries (March 20-April 19)

Jupiter’s ingress into Taurus will be a stabilizing influence, just when you need one the most. There is really just one question that you will benefit from focusing on: What do you want? People act like they know, but where is the checkpoint to align whether some new goal comports with one’s deeper values? The message of Jupiter in Taurus is being true to yourself. Despite the seeming hype, the reality of this is not exactly trending on Twitter.

Taurus (April 19-May 20)

You are in a situation where you have the opportunity to use what you know. This time in your life is about concentrating your influence — for a purpose that is not really self-serving. Jupiter and Pluto indicate you will have access to many assets and resources over the next year. If your first inclination is toward personal advantage, you’re missing the point.

Gemini (May 20-June 21)

The challenge you face, if you can call it that, is expanding your notion of what is “spiritual” into every facet of your life. There is something in your charts about exporting what may seem like it should be totally private, into something through which you relate to other people, potentially many. What you know is relevant. The essence of your personal religion involves participating in group evolution. The time has arrived.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

Let’s imagine you were to step in front of an audience and could say anything you want. What would you talk about? How would you handle the opportunity? What purpose would you serve — to everyone else? The most potent element of your astrology these days is about what you have to offer to others. This is happening in a time when nearly everyone is on the take. Your world is rapidly becoming much larger and more meaningful than this.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23)

To feel strong, and focused on a purpose, is a special kind of leadership in our times. Maybe it always was, but the insanity has not been this intense for quite a long time. Jupiter in Taurus will enhance your sense of visibility and presence in the world around you. People are likely to seek you out for assistance. At the same time, ask people in positions of power for the help that you need, and then offer them what assistance you can.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)

It’s tough times for over-arching principles. Many factors in your chart are encouraging you to take the wide view of your world, and the long view of time. You cannot see much, or think about much, staring into a little screen. The view you want is from the top of a mountain, a high building, or any structure that gives you a real view of the landscape around you. With Jupiter now in the angle of your chart representing potential, the thing to remind yourself of every day is what’s possible.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)

You’re in a fantastic position to ask for and receive help. This may happen without your intervention, though you can also be bold about stating your plans, your desires, and your needs. Emphasize mutual interests. They are under fantastic stars with Jupiter now in Taurus. This is the time to make sure your plans are designed to work for all involved. Everyone talks about this and it’s a great selling point, but it’s not usually true. To get the full benefits of your astrology, make it so.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)

Jupiter has arrived in your opposite sign Taurus. You haven’t had an easy time in your relationships the past year or so, and this represents an improvement. Yet you are, with any luck, evolving to the degree where you understand that most of your conflict comes from within you. Your relationships are, in some significant ways, a reflection of your awareness. This can be as satisfying as it is frustrating at times, though you will feel better when you understand the power of your own influence.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22)

Fuse your most creative endeavors with what you consider your ‘work life’ and you cannot lose. Yet work means collaboration; means service; means others utilizing what you do for their own purposes. These in some ways may serve your own. Meaning is always found in the context of purpose. If you want one, look for the other. This set of connections is indispensable, if you are to ever feel satisfaction in your work and allow the brilliance of your mind to have a role in the universe.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)

Pluto is heading back to your sign, after its first brief visit to Aquarius. In a sense, you are the keeper of a social constitution that far exceeds your own life and needs. It’s essential to your satisfaction that you recognize what you have to offer, and then do that nearly all the time. Our technology has become a substitute for connection, yet your life is the human experience. That means your connection to others, and to their connections beyond you. Pluto is teaching you to be a point of contact and a source of energy — and intelligence.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)

One’s emotions needn’t be a response to the perceived environment, but they usually are. Yet your emotional existence is a world of its own — of your own. And what happens within your deepest and most private experience has a strong influence in the expanded world of home, family and surroundings. Jupiter’s arrival in Taurus is a reminder that you have abundant emotional resources. All you need is to tap into them.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)

There’s good news coming, if astrology means anything. Your ruling planet Jupiter has entered Taurus, for a full year. The earth signs all provide Pisces with grounding in practical, physical and most of all, social reality. Taurus is a base of resources, including financial and intellectual. It’s your 3rd house, a well of ideas, which in turn connect to your immediate community. The planet that represents international culture and, in a sense, the world itself — comes to your little part of the world. As Jerry Garcia used to sing, “Don’t tell me this town ain’t got no heart, you just gotta poke around.”

Read Eric Francis daily at PlanetWaves.net.