By Debra Murray reporting for Native Plant News
The B.W. Wells Stewardship Fund is the North Carolina Native Plant Society’s most popular grants initiative. The fund supports community efforts to restore natural landscapes, install native plant gardens, and teach others about the importance of native plants. The fund’s popularity is due in part to increased public awareness of the beneficial role native plants play in our natural world.
The B.W. Wells Stewardship fund has the highest number of grant applications of all NCNPS grants programs, yet this fund has the lowest monetary value. The popularity of the grants results in high application numbers to our B.W. Wells Stewardship Fund, which coupled with the dearth of funding, results in a denial of funding for many high quality applications.
We can build on the success of our B.W. Wells Stewardship Fund and ask NCNPS members to join our work. Help us bolster this important source of funding by donating to our upcoming campaign. Watch for our fundraising emails starting November 19.
Below are recent reports from past recipients. Many volunteer hours are represented in these projects, and we are pleased to support their efforts to improve our natural world, one native plant at a time.
Native Plant and Pollinator Garden at Unity Park Community Garden

Unity Park Community Garden in Lenoir, NC was created to provide resources for community members, especially underserved communities, interested in gardening. Several beds are on site to demonstrate ways of growing fruits and vegetables. Unity Park also has a Native Plant and Pollinator Garden, installed in 2018, to showcase native plants homeowners can use in their yards. Education is a large component of the garden area, with the overall goal to encourage replacing lawns with native plants. In addition to QR codes that provide info, Unity Park regularly offers native pollinator garden tours to the public, providing information on plant-pollinator interactions and cultivation practices.
Using funds from a B.W. Wells grant, Unity Park Community Garden increased the number of native plant species in their demonstration gardens from 50 to about 90 species. One dedicated group of volunteers were the winter sowers who donated many of the plants. Growing from seed saved money, which allowed Unity Park to expand existing beds. Other volunteers helped extensively with planting, mulching, and watering. Volunteers have continued their educational events and plan more tours in the future to encourage more gardens and less lawns. The Native Plant and Pollinator Garden presents a valuable resource to educate communities in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Possum Rock River Access restoration at Foothills Conservancy

Foothills Conservancy has undertaken an ambitious restoration project along the Henry Fork River to convert a recently fallow agricultural field back to a native alluvial forest. With funds from a B.W. Wells grant and help from local Eagle Scouts, volunteers planted over 600 native shrub and tree seedlings, and livestakes on the 1.5 acre property. Also planted were 100 hybrid American Chestnut trees. Since the initial planting in 2021, Foothills Conservancy held numerous work days for site maintenance and hired an environmental services firm for herbicidal spot treatment of invasives that had started to arrive. Their efforts will not only enrich the soil and provide habitat for countless creatures, but will also protect against soil erosion and stabilize the bank along the Henry Fork River.
The Possum Rock River Access site also provides information to educate the public on the benefits of bottomland forests through signage created by Foothills Conservancy. Because the property allows river access, many visitors have seen and learned about the restoration efforts. Foothills Conservancy has also hosted numerous school groups out to the area. The planted trees and shrubs are almost three years old, check in again in ten years!
Learn more about Foothills Conservancy’s restoration efforts at the Possum Rock River Access.
One Eagle Scout, Aaron Grossman, received a Boy Scouts of America Distinguished Conservation Award for his work on this project.
Keep Durham Beautiful benefits new rain gardens at Durham high schools

Keep Durham Beautiful seeks to engage community members in stewardship activities, from litter removal to planting community gardens. One vital program focuses on stormwater mitigation and addresses this issue directly at two local high schools. The organization provided educational materials for targeted after-school workshops to engage students in water quality protection and the benefits of native plants. Using a grant from the B.W. Wells Fund, students installed rain gardens at two high schools in Durham. This support took the after-school program from classroom learning to a more impactful hands-on effort. The gardens provide stormwater mitigation at the schools, and the program creates a sense of environmental stewardship for the students.
Read more about the program and the positive impact on the student participants here.
Community Garden at Creedmoor Community Center

A once barren plot of land outside the City of Creedmoor’s new community center is now a thriving native plant garden thanks to a grant from the B.W. Wells Fund. Creedmoor is a small town of about 4,500 with few public gardens, making the restoration project a welcome sight and a boost to the landscape. The garden’s display creates an enticing show for those participating in workshops or other activities in the community center, and some catch glimpses of the creatures now inhabiting or visiting the area. This year, community events are planned to document the visiting wildlife, including a weekly birdwatching group in partnership with the senior center. Dedicated staff and youth group volunteers work on upkeep and plans for garden expansions.
Read more about Creedmoor’s community garden.
Beeloved Community Garden at West Raleigh Presbyterian Church

The Beeloved Community Garden (BCG), located on a tree-lined vacant lot owned by West Raleigh Presbyterian Church, is centrally located in Raleigh, a few blocks from NC State University. Begun in 2019, the public garden contains mostly native plants and is designed with picnic tables, seating areas, and pathways. While the church community provided much of the volunteer work for plantings and upkeep of the garden, other groups such as NC State faculty, extension agents, and Eagle Scouts, have also contributed support.
The inviting space in the heart of Raleigh attracts many visitors. One goal of the BCG is to inform visitors about the importance of including native species in home gardens and the different insects they support. Identifying the plants in the garden is one way to encourage people. With funds from a B.W. Wells grant, the BCG purchased and installed quality engraved signs depicting common and scientific names of the pollinator plants. It’s not uncommon to see visitors jotting down names of plants or snapping pics. The BCG also holds native plant sales and hosts an annual Honey Fair.
Native pollinator garden at Sylvan Heights Bird Park

Sylvan Heights Bird Park received a grant in 2020 to install a pollinator garden and educational signs adjacent to a parking area for the park. Their hard work produced an enticing and informative setting for visitors to enjoy. The garden supports native pollinators by providing a varied and high-value habitat, educating the visiting public about the importance of native plants and pollinators, and demonstrating the beauty of native plants to encourage their use in home gardens. Additional funds from a grant in 2023 allowed the park to expand the plantings, protect against invasive encroachment, and continue with garden maintenance.
Native Plant Garden and Seed Planting Workshops by Parkwood Neighborhood

Many large neighborhoods across the state have low value landscaping deserts, common spaces filled with exotic plants or highly manicured lawns. Residents can spur action within their communities to replace these exotics with native plants. One resident, Jeff Hawkinson, helped motivate a group of Parkwood Neighborhood residents in Durham, NC to do just that. With a grant from the B.W. Wells Fund, their initiative took a two-pronged approach. First, he and other volunteers from the neighborhood focused on one common area to augment with native plants, installing over 70 perennial natives in November. Second, to increase interest throughout the neighborhood in using native plants, they offered free seed-starting workshops with funds from the grant. That proved wildly successful. Nearly 50 participants started their own plants from a selection of 40 native species. Using leftover seeds, Jeff grew and then donated about 300 plants, including 80 to a local school for their native plant garden.
Garden and Outdoor Club of Wake Forest Boys & Girls Club
The Wake Forest Boys & Girls Club, established in 1986, offers a variety of after-school programs and services, from sports clubs to leadership programs. Recently, WFBGC started a Garden and Outdoor Club focused on improving the grounds around the clubhouse. One project they adapted was a wash area from stormwater causing erosion as it drained to an ephemeral stream. Youth members removed invasives and started planting native plants in raised beds. With a grant from the B.W. Wells Stewardship Fund, they expanded the garden area, installing four new beds constructed of various materials according to the amount of stormwater runoff the area received. They then planted native plants appropriate for each bed. These hands-on projects, tackled enthusiastically by the kids, are an excellent way to foster environmental stewardship.
Pollinator Garden at South Granville Rotary Club
The South Granville Rotary Club received a B.W. Wells grant to install a pollinator garden at the local Community and Senior Center. The garden has flourished and turned an unremarkable parking island into a beautiful centerpiece for the community center. Local high school students have volunteered their time in garden care, while also learning about the importance of pollinators. Future plans include hosting a scout troop at the garden and teaching a class about the benefits of pollinators and native gardening. The garden has not only been successful in attracting bees and butterflies, but also in attracting new members for the club.
By Debra Murray
Debra Murray is a research scientist at Duke University studying the genetics of fungal pathogens. Before coming to Duke, she studied the evolutionary biology of insects and spent several years in the tropics. She earned her PhD at Louisiana State University in Entomology and conducted postdoctoral work at Oregon State University and Florida State University. Throughout her scientific research, she has maintained her love of natural history, recently expanded to include NC native plants. She serves as chair of the Grants and Scholarship Committee for NCNPS.