By Adam Grybowski, Staff Writer
This spring the Master Gardeners of Mercer County planted nearly 3,500 plugs of native grasses and wildflowers near their educational gardens in Pennington, transforming a near acre of ground into a meadow bristling with beneficial insects. Reed canary grass, an invasive species, had plagued the spot.
The meadow was Nancy Putnam’s idea. A Master Gardener since 2001, Ms. Putnam says the meadow has been “a wonderful change, a real transformation,” so much so that she wants to transform her home lawn into a meadow.
A homeowner obsessed with a perfectly manicured lawn may recoil at the idea of a front yard meadow. And there appears to be many homeowners obsessed with the perfect lawn. The Master Gardeners operate a free hotline to answer horticultural questions. No other topic receives more attention than lawn care.
Where does the desire for a perfect lawn come from?
”We were taught that by the people who sell us pesticides and fertilizers,” says Barbara Bromley of Princeton, Mercer County Horticulturist, who started their master gardening program in 1993.
Nineteen of New Jersey’s 21 counties now train Master Gardeners. Around 180 Master Gardeners are currently active in Mercer. Nearly 500 have been trained to date, volunteering almost 150,000 hours of their time.
”The Master Gardeners are incredible people,” Ms. Bromley says. “What they have in common is a love of the natural world and a desire to share that with others.”
This year’s training program begins on Sept. 21 and runs through March, offering each week a class on composting, vegetables, herbs, weeds, pests, and other horticultural topics. Teachers include Master Gardeners, county agricultural agents and Rutgers University professors.
Master Gardeners stress responsible gardening and pest management, a goal that has coincided with a growing interest in the community to reduce pesticide use. If residents wish to use fewer pesticides, Master Gardeners can advise them on selecting the best plant — a native plant, for example, one that doesn’t require all the inputs of a non-native. (Ms. Bromley’s advice on growing fruit trees: Don’t do it.)
At their educational gardens, the Master Gardeners don’t water their native plant garden at all, except when they first transplant seedlings. Native plants are adapted to the soil and climate and can withstand extreme bouts of weather. Knowledge of native plants, and horticulture knowledge in general, has dissipated over time with every farmland subdivision. People across the country now have enough questions that all 50 states boast a Master Gardening program. The first program began in 1972 in Washington State.
None of the dozen or so popular grasses Americans use for their lawns are native to this country. Still, it can be hard to change people’s assumptions about the ideal appearance and function of a lawn — lawn care is a multibillion-dollar industry. If the Master Gardeners told homeowners to grow a meadow that consists solely of native grasses, “they would tune us out in two seconds,” Ms. Bromley says. “We’re trying to ease them into the right way. If they’re going to have that perfect lawn, we try and make them be responsible with the lawn they have.”
A soil test is a simple way to begin addressing horticultural problems. “Soil is the basis of everything,” says Kathy Enquist, a Master Gardener since 2001. “People don’t see it, and they don’t think about it. But to have a healthy garden, one should embrace composting.”
To highlight the importance of soil and composting, compost bins are placed at the center of the educational gardens. In fact, the original vision for the gardens was a site dedicated to composting. Today more than 20 methods of composting are on display.
The educational gardens are a county park and designed for self-guided tours, although a gardener is usually around to answer a visitor’s questions. The site presents seven teaching gardens, including annuals, perennials, herbs, native plants, and even weeds.
Ms. Putnam, the driving force behind the meadow, is on the native plant committee. She notes that she has planted a couple species of “weeds” from the weed identification garden in the meadow. Weeds, after all, are a matter of perception, and by planting them or eliminating them, gardeners are doing what they do best: manipulating the environment.
While the meadow is a beautiful addition to the educational gardens, providing a habitat for scores of beneficial insects, nature, left to its own devices, would engulf it. Meadows are not native to the East Coast, Ms. Putnam says. If the meadow were not mowed, a deciduous forest would grow in its place.
”It’s amazing to watch nature at work out here,” Ms. Bromley says. “I could stay here all day.”
Mercer Educational Gardens are located at 431A Federal City Road, Pennington, open dawn to dusk. Master Gardeners of Mercer County on the Web: www.mgofmc.org.

