Candide's Garden

09/01/2026

CARBON MEN - Movie
Starring our own "Patchwork Bill" Young, from Point Pleasant!

Don't miss a special screening of
"Carbon Men Salvation: The Senator's Dilemma"
On Thursday, October 1, at 6 pm
Admission - $10.
SAVE the DATE!

Roger and Anne, Kelly runs this adorable The Little Point Bookshop in town. She has agreed to do a screening of Carbon Men.
The film stars local Point Pleasant resident, Bill Young, as Senator Dan Jones!
​
Synopsis:
The climate is boiling. Congress is frozen. A climatologist sounds the alarm for impending disasters. One Senator is the pivotal vote on a climate bill. Powerful forces work against them. Will help from the future arrive in time?

Come out and support local films and enjoy a great evening!

08/23/2026

Rewild New Jersey Community Cooperative~
Gardens are often thought of as carefully manicured spaces, but a growing movement known as rewilding is encouraging homeowners to replace portions of traditional lawns with native plants that provide food and habitat for pollinators and other wildlife.
For more info, visit: rewildnjcc.org
-> https://www.civicstory.org/civicstory-blog/nj-rewilding-native-gardens

08/23/2026

Rutgers Environmental Stewards Program
Master Gardeners of Middlesex County
FALL NATIVE PLANT SALE is open…
Online only.

Pickup day is Saturday, September 19th.

For more information visit:
-> https://go.rutgers.edu/NativePlantSale

07/31/2026

Don't Deadhead Flowers

A mid to late summer culling of blooms might seem beneficial, but there are several instances when leaving the flowers is the better option.

-- For new plants, removing spent blooms will encourage resources to be drawn up out of the roots to produce more flowers, thus taxing the plant. There is little else that’s more energy and resource intensive than flowering. If you have a young plant resist the urge to deadhead so the plant can focus on root development instead.

-- Leaving spent flowers means you’re leaving seeds for autumn and winter wildlife. Feeding the entire ecosystem should always be our goal.

-- The seeds that wildlife don’t get will turn into free plants for you. More plants means more flowers and more coverage on the ground so weeds can’t get a foothold. We design gardens with self sowing in mind — thinning seedlings is easier, and cheaper, than buying new plants and allows the garden to teach us what it wants naturally. Use plants natural tendency to spread and you can also eliminate the need for wood mulch.

-- Have you ever seen snow piled atop a coneflower or rattlesnake master? Winter interest isn’t just about tree structure or bark color or evergreens. So many of our perennial native plants offer outstanding contrast and architecture in winter — which is one reason of many not to cut down the garden until early spring.

07/05/2026

07/03/2026

Exciting news! Lambertville's rebate program for replacing lawn with native plants is now open to neighboring communities!

06/28/2026

Kudos to Red Bank Patchwork for Wildlife - providingt an example to emulate!

A new native plant garden and an ordinance requiring native plants in major developments could boost butterfly fortunes in Red Bank.

06/21/2026

Native Plant Society of New Jersey - Monmouth County Chapter
Annual Celebration - Welcoming Spring

ABOVE AND BEE-YOND AWARD 2026

Kim Rowe, Chair of the Monmouth County Chapter, welcomed about 80 members and laid out the amazing achievements of the past year, including adding new membership and hosting numerous events to advocate for native plants. She also shared the ambitious plans for 2026, among them the program to encourage garden centers to offer more native plants. With Sarah Galloway, producer of the “Wild in the Garden State” video, she then held the ever-popular Trivia Quiz, which resulted in a generous number of prizes and gifts.

One highlight was presentation of the First Annual “Above and Bee-Yond Award,” which Kim presented to Jon Gibbons, originator and facilitator of the “Patchwork for Wildlife” program.
Jon is President of Candide’s Garden & Friends, Inc., a 501(C)3 non-profit corporation, which runs Candide’s Garden and administers the Patchwork for Wildlife. The Above and Bee-yond” Award recognizes those whose native plant and environmental impact extends over a broad area.

Drawing on Candide’s Garden, a “Menu of Environmental Solutions,” the Patchwork for Wildlife program aims to create a significant area of environmentally-beneficial landscape and garden in the community – one yard at a time! The program also provides advice to homeowners on making environmental improvements. To recognize their efforts, the program confers Certificates of Appreciation at annual Award Celebrations, and hosts Environmental Garden Tours. There are now five communities participating in the program: Belmar, Lake Como, Point Pleasant, Point Pleasant Beach, and Red Bank. Notably, under Mary Warner’s leadership, with Kim and Jon’s support, Red Bank’s Patchwork has recognized over 30 yards in their first year!

For more information:
Kim Rowe [email protected]
Jon Gibbons [email protected]
Mary Warner [email protected]