Planting American Strawberry (Euonymus americanus) bushes

Bluebells (Mertensia virgininca) and Ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris)

Several years ago a RUtgers Ecology & Evolution student  (& EcoPreserve land steward) Josh Echols and NJ Conservation Foundation ecologist Emile DeVito found American Strawberry (Euonymus americanus)  growing in a patch of woods near the Edison Monument in Menlo Park. Emile collected seeds and grew them out with the help of Duke Farms staff at their greenhouses. This spring we planted ten of the native shrubs in various locations around the EcoPreserve. As American Strawberry are heavily browsed by deer (one of the reasons they are so rare now in Central Jersey woods), the shrubs were planted in deer exclosures.  The other photo shows some of the native wildflowers and ferns planted in our riparian restoration zone several years ago that have now established and are expanding.