Eagle scout project "clearing" project at Flemer Arboretum

Sunday, May 31st, 10 am-4 pm

Greetings Friends,

As many of you may know, the Flemer Arboretum, located in the Mapleton Preserve/D&R Canal State Park, 145 Mapleton Road in Kingston, has fallen into disrepair and dishevelment. This once beautiful swath of land, punctuated by tree rows, has become overgrown with weeds and undesirable plants.

I desire, as I am sure you do, to see this land returned to its original splendor. I have taken on the task of helping to restore the arboretum as an Eagle Scout project. I can not accomplish this on my own. Therefore, I request your help in assisting me in my eagle project and in cleaning up this wonderful piece of park land.

Please, join me and other volunteers on Saturday, May 31st from 10 am to 4 pm, and also on June 6th and 7th to help clear a row of flowering crab apples from their shroud of vines.

For more information call Brian Dixon at 732-940-3101. The project will be postponed for a reasonable amount of rain, if you have doubts call the number above. If you can attend please email me at b.bri5@verizon.net, and put 'Eagle' in the subject line.

Thank you,
Brian Dixon, Troop 90

FPNL Annual Meeting - Elegant Little-Known Native Plants

Virginia Bluebells - Photo by Anne Zeman

Wednesday, June 10th, 7:30-9 pm

Noted Princeton author, Patricia A. Taylor will present a slide talk on “Elegant, Little-Known Native Plants” at the Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands Annual Meeting. The presentation will be given on Wednesday, June 10th (7:30-9:00 p.m.) in the Education Building at the D&R Canal State Park Headquarters/Mapleton Preserve, 145 Mapleton Road, Kingston. It is free and all are welcome. Call 609-683-0483 or see http://www.fpnl.org/ for directions.

The speaker is the author of many gardening books and hundreds of articles that have appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, Horticulture, and Green Scene. Her talk will focus on elegant but mysteriously unappreciated native plants, especially those that can survive benign neglect and the presence of munching animals.

Bluegrass at Mapleton Preserve

Saturday May 9th, ~11 a.m. -1 p.m.

After the Hands Across the Canal event, come hear Central New Jersey’s favorite Bluegrass band, “Riverside” at Mapleton Preserve, at 145 Mapleton Road in Kingston.

Bill Flemer, Jerry Steele, David Olsen, and Steve Hendershott are longtime Princeton-area musicians, and central Jersey's favorite bluegrass band. The band’s collective experience in rock, country, and folk idioms gives Riverside a unique approach to traditional bluegrass music and adds a bluegrass flavor to songs by the Beatles, the Byrds, and to country and western swing favorites.

It’s free and all are welcome! This concert is sponsored by Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands, in the hope that participants in the Hands Along the Canal event (and others) will want to pack a lawnchair and a picnic lunch, and plan to make a day of it.

For more information, contact Karen Linder, Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands at 609-683-0483.

Hands Along the Canal

Saturday, May 9th at 10 a.m.

This year marks the 175th anniversary of the Delaware and Raritan Canal. To celebrate the Park and raise awareness of this important recreational resource, the Kingston Historical Society and East Coast Greenways are sponsoring Hands Along the Canal —a bold undertaking that will attempt to line thousands of hand-holding park users along the historic towpath from Millstone Aqueduct to Rocky Hill.

Those of you who love and use the D&R should mark your calendars, register at the website and plan to be a part of this show of support for the park!

Participants will link hands at 10 am, and you must plan to arrive early, in order to be in place at this time. If you plan to be a part of this "human chain", please register ASAP at the East Coast Greenways website (www.greenwaynj.org) so the organizers can keep track of where everyone will enter the park. The registration form is also available at the D & R Canal State Park website (www.dandrcanal.com/programs.html#hands).

Because there is limited parking at the entrances to the D&R Canal, organizers are asking bicyclists and runners to park a distance away and bike or walk/run to the park entrance of their choice (Rocky Hill at Rt. 518; Rockingham Historic Site at Rt. 603/Laurel Ave; Kingston Lock at Rt. 27; D&R Canal State Park/Mapleton Preserve at 145 Mapleton Road; Millstone Aqueduct and Footbridge at Mapleton Road). These locations highlighted in yellow on the map in the April 2009 newsletter at www.fpnl.org.

If you plan to enter the Canal at the Kingston Lock on Rt. 27, parking is limited. However, ample parking will be available at Mapleton Preserve/D&R Canal State Park at 145 Mapleton Road in Kingston – those who park there can follow a trail to the canal. Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands will be at the Preserve to provide directions to the Canal.

After the event, there will be a special bluegrass concert from ~11-1 at the Headquarters for the D&R Canal State Park (D&R Canal State Park/Mapleton Preserve, 145 Mapleton Road, Princeton, NJ 08540) by Riverside, Central New Jersey’s favorite bluegrass band. Its free, and all are welcome.