June Force of Nature: Gretchen Kish

photo by Benoit Cortet

Gretchen Kish was born and raised in Titusville, NJ.  She grew up in a house that backed up to the woods and her first job was as a gardener at Washington Crossing Park.  It was there that she learned that horticulture could be a college major.

Gretchen’s lifelong passion for both Hopewell Valley and improving its landscape made her an easy choice for our June Force of Nature.

Gretchen and her husband Jon founded Nectars Landscape & Design and in addition to helping our area improve its landscaping, she very generously gives back to the local community.

Her personal philosophy is in line with FoHVOS stewardship objectives. We both want to restore Hopewell Valley lands. Gretchen enjoys educating others on the importance of landscaping with native species and said that people are receptive if you come to them as a knowledgeable person.  

She shared, “People worry that larger beds require more maintenance, but that’s not true, because when the right plants are planted and allowed to mature, the bed space actually uses less maintenance and requires less resources to maintain.”

Applying these principles, Gretchen initiated an expansive design for Bear Tavern Elementary School to create a new outdoor classroom that will be implemented over several years at no taxpayer cost.

BT Outdoor Classroom rendering

As part of our Community Conservation initiative, FoHVOS is partnering on the first phase of the project by administering a very generous grant from Janssen Pharmaceuticals to include healthy habitats.

Gretchen has prepared a beautiful design and selected native plants and trees that will attract pollinators, butterflies, insects, and birds. She collaborated with FoHVOS Stewardship Director Dr. Mike Van Clef who advised on best practices to maximize the ecological benefits.

The Bear Tavern project will also rely on grant money from the BT PTO, The College of New Jersey, and the Hopewell Valley Education Foundation for the pond and classroom features.

New Pond at Bear Tavern

While Gretchen and Jon have a successful landscape and design business, they recently opened a home and garden retail location on River Road in Titusville.  Jon shared that it was all about that specific location. They had their eye on it for years.

Gretchen’s vision is to transform their amazing home and garden store into a community meeting place. They are beautifying the lot and creating shaded area to bring people in for networking, garden clubs, lectures, classes, and events.

Nectars is teaming up with the Hopewell Valley Arts Council and sharing their lovely space for events to further enrich the Hopewell Valley community.

Throughout her life, Gretchen has witnessed the significant growth of our Valley.  Past expansion has brought both positive and negative change. She believes that the right people representing our community can ensure new growth is done thoughtfully.   

Her commitment preserving the land and character of Hopewell Valley makes Gretchen Kish our FOHVOS June Force of Nature.

A version of this article appears in the June issue of Hopewell Valley Neighbors magazine.

Bringing Back the American Chestnut Tree - In the Hopewell Valley

by Tom Ogren

American Chestnuts

The Hopewell Township Environmental Commission and Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space (FoHVOS) teamed up in early May to plant 170 American chestnuts at the Fiddler's Creek Preserve (opposite Baldpate Mountain.) The preserve features a fenced in 40-acre former farm field which is the site of a large scale re-forestation effort by FoHVOS and the Mercer County Park Commission. Over 7,000 trees and shrubs have been planted by volunteers at the site since 2011.    

Chestnut planting at Fiddler's Creek

Environmental Commission member Mike Aucott initiated the chestnut planting project and directed the planting at several locations throughout Hopewell Township. The planting of the chestnuts this May at Fiddlers Creek Preserve was done by volunteers and FoHVOS Stewardship Director Mike Van Clef. The photo at right shows the location of where some chestnuts were planted. Similar groupings of planting sites were scattered throughout the enclosed area. The plastic tubes tied to stakes were placed on top of the chestnuts to protect them from being eaten by squirrels.                                                            

Stately American chestnut tree
from decades past

The American chestnut (Castanea dentata) is a large tree in the beech family native to eastern North America.  Before the species was devastated by chestnut blight, an invasive fungal disease, it was one of the most important forest trees throughout its range and was considered the finest chestnut tree in the world. It is estimated that between 3 and 4 billion American chestnut trees were destroyed in the first half of the 20th century by blight after its initial discovery in 1904. Chestnut blight is caused by an Asian bark fungus introduced into North America on imported Asiatic chestnut trees. 

Appalachian family with
American chestnut tree

The planting at Fiddler's Creek is part of a large scale cross breeding effort to plant thousands of chestnuts throughout the Northeast. This effort is spearheaded by The American Chestnut Foundation which has pioneered a backcross breeding technique in an attempt to restore the American chestnut to its original habitat. What was done at the Fiddler's Creek Preserve is the first time hybrid chestnuts have been planted in New Jersey using this technique. A second stage involves the planting of hybrid chestnut seedlings several years from now, which will cross breed with the trees planted from chestnuts.

Hopefully we can bring this prized hardwood tree back to the Hopewell Valley!

(Hikers can access Fiddler's Creek Preserve and a small parking area from Fiddler's Creek Road via a dirt driveway about a quarter mile east of the Baldpate Mountain entrance.  A small Fiddler's Creek Preserve sign marks the driveway entrance.)

Tom Ogren has been a FoHVOS Trustee since 2007 and is a former Pennington Borough Council member. In his free time, you'll find Tom planting trees and building trails in preserves throughout our Valley.