Community Canopy Project
I first met Andrew Conboy on iNaturalist a few years ago, when he consistently helped me with my tree identifications. In doing so, he indirectly taught me how to get better at identifying them myself. Then it turned out he lives just around the corner from me. We connected on our shared passion for identifying, reporting and eliminating invasive species and gardening with native plants, and logging everything on iNaturalist in general. It’s rare to find someone so dedicated to cleaning up and restoring our natural spaces.
Mission: “The Community Canopy Project is a non-profit organization focused on ecological restoration in lower Montgomery County, PA. With the help of our volunteers, we remove invasive plants, restore native species, and steward our parks and remaining natural areas. We aim to educate, build community, and inspire ecological literacy and advocacy.”
Journeywork
Paige Menton, the founder and president of journeywork, is a new acquaintance of mine. She joined WNF&GA Ambler-Keystone in 2024, which is how we met, while working on preparations for the 2025 native plant sale. We hadn’t had a chance to really connect until after the sale, which is when she told me about what she’s been doing with her nonprofit. Their work is very similar to that of Community Canopy Project, except that they also focus on helping with private properties. Inviting her team of volunteers (with a paid donation of course) to come pull Japanese honeysuckle on my property sounds very appealing right now, since I’ve been very busy getting this nursery running.
“We work in neighborhoods, schools, and congregations to give people the tools to enhance the ecological value of their landscapes. We grow and source plants, provide design guidance, and engage volunteers to help people improve the habitats they steward. We foster community dialogue, education, skill-building & sharing through workshops, consultations, and client work. We meet people where they are as we seek to revitalize the land, one lawn at a time.”
Mission: To restore the land together, joyfully.
Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens
I owe a lot of gratitude to the board and staff of this arboretum for taking a chance on me and hiring me as a horticulture intern in 2024. I had no prior experience working for a formal garden, beyond my volunteer work at the Twining native plant education garden. Also, since I’m entirely self-taught, I had no formal education on horticulture or native plants. Whenever asked, my response is “nature is the best teacher.” Everything I’ve learned is through experience. I have many years of experience under my belt at this point, but that’s not easy to prove on paper.
While working there, they took that experience to the next level. I’ve continued to maintain a relationship with the staff at the garden and volunteer whenever I get the chance. The whole reason I even applied was because they promote gardening with native plants in a formal setting and design. They also show off quite a range of habitat, not just the popular prairie plants. Best of all, no entrance fees means more money for plants (and they’ve got a lot of great native plants to buy). A native plant nursery promoting another native plant nursery? Absolutely – I shop there myself. Since they encouraged me to start my own nursery, I’d say the feeling’s mutual.
Mission: Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens celebrates the wonder of plants and place as a destination for education, conservation, and community connection.
Additional statement on plant conservation: “Jenkins serves as living repository for many endangered, rare, and exceptional native plant species. By carefully maintaining these plants within a garden setting, we preserve the genetic material needed to aid with possible future conservation efforts, while also celebrating the diversity of native plant species.”