Kim Correro has made it her mission to plant native gardens across Jersey City. Photo: Jasmine Hsu
Three years ago, with 60 hours of volunteer work needed to complete her Rutgers Master Gardener certification, Kim Correro hit pay dirt just around the corner from her Jersey City house. There, in an overgrown corner lot owned by nursing provider Peace Care St. Joseph’s, she and friend Margaret Horan got permission to replace the overgrown vegetation with native plants.
“I’m proud that we’ve been able to bring in native plants that attract butterflies, moths and birds. It’s so necessary for urban dwellers,” says Correro, who volunteers as programs director for the Native Plant Society of New Jersey and cohosts the Wildstory podcast with Ann E. Wallace, 2023-2024 poet laureate of Jersey City. Plants for the Healing Garden came from a free habitat kit from Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, as well as grants from the Native Plant Society of New Jersey and PSE&G. The pair also raised money via Hudson Gives, an annual event that raises funds for local nonprofits serving Hudson County.
Still, the garden wasn’t easily accessible to St. Joseph’s residents. But the courtyard behind it was. With help from another Xerces kit and a Native Plant Society grant, Correro, Horan and additional volunteers restored the area with witch hazel, elderberry and more. Today, the garden is a wheelchair-accessible space for residents, family and staff. “I think about my own parents and how I would want them to have access to nature at this time in their lives,” she says. (The gardens are occasionally open to the public; last spring, two members of the New Jersey Symphony performed there.)
Photo: Jasmine Hsu
Neighbors took notice. One, across the street from Correro, asked about planting natives in her front yard, followed by one down the block, another around the corner, and two others near the PATH train. “It’s contagious,” she says. “You know that what you’re planting is healthy for the ecosystem, but also for the community.”
A short walk away, Correro saw an opportunity at the Museum of Jersey City History, a National Historic Landmark housed in a 1740 stone house. Along with museum board member and master gardener Jerome Choice, they applied for and received a habitat kit. “It’s a beautiful property right in the middle of a busy part of town where there’s hardly any green space,” she says. “Now, people walking by will stop and tell you how much they love it.”
Around the same time, Correro received a request from friend and native-plant advocate Kathy Krickovic to team up with Gisela Ferrer, president of Wild Ones New Jersey Gateway, to design a butterfly garden at James J. Braddock Park in North Bergen. “I choose my projects based on dedicated volunteers, and that community has a lot of people who want to get involved,” says Correro. “You need people you can count on to water it and take turns weeding.”
Despite three gardens to help maintain, Correro isn’t done. On her radar is a forested pathway in the park overrun with invasives. “It’s a daydream right now. But I like to make those daydreams come true.”
