Native Medicinal Garden

2024 - The garden was closed in May after the town beautification committee told us we were not doing ‘enough’ to keep it up to their standards. The contract we signed with the town said our job was to keep litter out of the space, and we went above and beyond by creating a beautiful native plant garden oasis that was used for medicine by many residents and out of towners.

We were asked to mow and keep the lines of site for cars clear. We were asked to look the other way when locals wanted to park their trucks there. We were asked to look the other way when they came and mowed down endangered plants on the sides of the garden. We were expected to do nothing when they came and destroyed endangered plants and full plots of plants inside the garden.

The neighbors didn’t understand that a medicinal plant garden can look like ‘weeds’ growing in very organized beds. For some of them, it looked unkept instead of what it was - wild medicinal plants being grown, harvested and used for plant medicine.

The committee that originally asked us to ‘heal’ this abandoned spot, were not interested in what we were actually doing, in what the garden was, nor did they provide any collaboration o support when neighbors complained. We offered to educate, bring people to the garden, showcase it for the town, and help the neighbors understand what we were doing, and learn what they needed to feel good about what was happening - but the committee said no to all of it.

After 15+ years of harassment, and a contract that says nothing about doing anything other than cleaning up the litter on the space, we have packed up and left the site. Medicinal plants have found new homes in many places in town that appreciate them and will utilize their beauty and medicine.

If you decide to take on a ‘beautification’ project in town, be sure to read the fine print as what you signed up to do, and what is expected can be miles apart - as it was with us.

Native Medicinal Garden

2023 Garden and Learn Days are here! You can look forward to spending one Sunday a month learning about the healing properties of countless native species. Karen is a Master Gardener with an extensive amount of knowledge and experience in this field. For any other Master Gardener’s out there, this is a registered Project Site in Passaic County so please join us and you can add hours worked to your annual requirement for volunteer hours. We will be taking necessary precautions to promote social distancing guidelines while gardening. We hope to see you there! Happy Gardening!

Seed Sale

You can start your own medicinal garden with seeds harvested right here in West Milford. Karen has been harvesting seeds for the past two years. In addition to individual packets, Karen has also created seed bombs- just toss and water!

These seeds should be cold stratified, which means they need cold, moist conditions to germinate. We recommend planting them in the fall so that they germinate during the winter. If you prefer to wait until Spring, store the seeds in the refrigerator and cold stratify prior to planting.

Black Cohosh - Cimicifuga Racemosa

• Perennial

• Part shade, full shade

• Most, acidic, rich soil

• blooms June through September

Evening Primrose - Oenothera Biennis

• Night-flowering biennis

• Full sun, part shade, full shade

• Well-drained soil

• Blooms July through September

Echinacea - Enchinacea Purpurea

• Perennial

• Full sun, part shade

• Well-drained soil

• Blooms June through September

Milkweed - Asclepias syriaca

*Host plant for every stage of the Monarch butterfly

• Perennial

• Full sun

• Average to dry soil

• Blooms June to September

Motherwort - Leonurus Cardiaca

• Perennial

• Full sun to partial shade

• Moist, fertile soil

• Blooms July through September

Yarrow - Achillea Millefolium

• Perennial

• Full sun, part shade, full shade

• Well-drained soil

• Blooms from June to September

If you would like to order one or more packets of seeds, please email sustainablewm1@gmail.com. Packets hold about 25 seeds and cost $3 each, or 2 packets for $5.

History

Douglass Memorial Garden, aka The Native and Wild Medicinal Plant Garden, offers free outdoor herbal medicine education and is now in its 13th year. The medicinal garden began after Sustainable West Milford ‘adopted a spot’ at the triangle intersection of Clinton Road and Warwick Turnpike. The garden has developed into a medicinal sanctuary free of fertilizers and pest controls.

The plot is home to an abundant number of medicinal herbs and native plants marked by handmade stone tiles describing each species and medicinal use for the plant. The tiles are accompanied by a map of the garden and a hand-crafted bench for hard-working volunteers and visitors alike, both pictured below. The 2010 installment of the water catchment system provides natural rain water for the plants, allowing the garden to thrive between volunteer events. Our partnership with Robin Rose Bennet, master herbalist and author, and Wise Woman Healing Ways has enabled us to maintain this property as an educational garden. Our current garden leader, Karen Longo will offer outdoor hands-on learning opportunities in 2023. Visit our calendar for up-coming events and learning days at the garden. We hope to see you there soon!

The garden is located at the intersection of Clinton Road and Warwick Turnpike in Hewitt, NJ 07421.