Loretta Fontaine Castagna has held an interest in native plant life since she was a young girl.
Her first experience studying the subject was part of a project in Girls Scouts. One of her leaders lived next to a forest and the girls were given supplies to help identify native trees and plant life.
“That’s something I’ve always remembered and since then I have tried to have the knowledge to identify local species,” said the Delmar resident.
Castagna admits she still doesn’t know as much about local plant life as she’d like. She’s done research on the topic but often found it hard to track down certain resources and link up with people who share her interests.
Until recently, her love of native species has been a side hobby. Castagna is a jewelry designer, blogger and advocate for eco-friendly architecture and home design. She’s since decided to share her interest with the greater region through the newly launched “EcoHappy Native Tree Project.”
“I had been writing my blog, but I decided I wanted to do something more specific and concrete,” she said. “It was my brother-in-law’s idea to start the project. There was this thought that I as one person could just start and I didn’t need a bunch of other people before something could happen.”
At first, Castagna didn’t have a focus or clear goals lined out for her project. She started by purchasing 100 bare root white flowering dogwood trees and gave them away to interested people throughout the Capital District for free. When people came to pick up the trees, she spoke with them about her ideas and asked if they would be interested in joining her new online community.
Castagna finally decided she wanted to start a regional database for people to look up local arboretums, parks and native plant nurseries. She also wants to develop a list of books and online resources to help people identify and propagate trees.
The database would be used to help visitors to her website to participate in challenges like, “Can you visit a nearby arboretum or park and identify one fabulous new native tree or shrub?”
“This information is hard to find and I know how frustrated I felt,” she said. “If there are already people who have done the work, it doesn’t make sense for others to have to do that same digging over and over again.”
Castagna said she is now working on beginning the database but is looking for those with information to contribute. She is hoping for the website to grow into a place where people can contribute articles about their experiences propagating trees and others with similar interest can compare notes.
“It is important to green your space and the earth,” she said. “A lot of focus is on plants but trees and shrubs are bigger, greener and provide more of a habitat for wildlife.”
Castagna said it also important for homeowners to know a little about native tree and plant life so they don’t unknowingly introduce non-native species into their yards that can cause problems for their gardens and forests, and become invasive.
“People often think of planting trees as a big project, but they start out small and it’s nothing harder than a tomato plant,” she said. “This is an exciting opportunity to me because I’m not a professional and I’m starting with my own little project.”
Castagna said she would soon have a table set up with information at the summer Delmar Farmer’s Market. More information can also be found at www.ecohappynativetree
project.org.