Join two Master Gardeners from the Essex County's Speaker Bureau to learn about the value of meadows and how to build them using, as an example, the Caldwell Pollinator Garden.

 A meadow is a field of grasses and wildflowers that supports pollinators and other wildlife.  It also acts as a natural infrastructure, playing a role in water management and climate change mitigation.  A lawn provides little to none of these benefits.  There is a movement in gardening to create meadows in place of lawns.  

Warren Marchioni’s work experience has included working early on as a fishery biologist and later as a science educator at the secondary school and university levels as well as at Liberty Science Center.  Since retirement, he has been involved in photography, gardening, and trying to learn to play a musical instrument after a lifetime of just being a listener.  He is a member of the Essex County Master Gardener program and the Essex Photo Club.  Combining his love of plants with photography has been very rewarding.

Ann Marchioni taught science at the Middle School level and has been active in environmental education throughout her adult life.  She has been the environmental commissioner of Caldwell for over 30 years. In that position, she has been instrumental in initiating the open space program and creating community recycling and Earth Day programs in the borough.  One of her proudest accomplishments was the establishment of the Caldwell Pollinator Garden.  Ann is an Essex County Master Gardener.