Free Native Plants! TONH Rebate Program

The Town of North Hempstead has announced the 2022 Native Plant Residential Rebate Program offering up to $350 in rebates for residents who would like to add native perennials to their yard. Rebates are first-come first-served until funding is exhausted and for eligible town residents only.

The program works as follows:

• Apply for rebate approval with plant list, garden layout and photographs of location so as to score 34 points or higher on the TONH scorecard.

• Once approval is granted, acquire and install the garden.

• Send documentation of finished work to get the rebate.

Some residents have been challenged to create a garden design with a plants list, and are not sure how to acquire native plants in time to qualify for the rebate.

To that end, ReWild Long Island has created a “Native Garden Package” with plants list, design and ordering information to help with the rebate process. If you’re interested in applying, please follow the steps below. The last day to order through this program is Saturday, Sep 10, 2022.

step 1

Review details of the program on the TONH website and make sure you meet the conditions, and this program is right for you. If you are eligible and interested, let us know by filling the short form below. This will help us plan, and also to notify you if we change anything about this program. (For example, if we must change the plant list for some reason.)

Step 2

Pick a space for your new native plant garden. Anything from 100 square feet to 350 square feet will work with our designs. Taking a bite out of your lawn will get you extra credit on your application. Also, if you want to do a bit of research about how this will look, you could visit the Sustainable Garden Tour on June 18th.

The blog posts below also give you the basics of design and maintenance of native plant gardens.

step 3

The Town of North Hempstead has excellent guidelines on how to select plants for your garden. We selected a list of 10 starter plants that satisfy those guidelines, while providing coverage for a broad range of growing conditions in the TONH. (See here for detailed information on why we chose what we chose.)

Use our plant list and layout to design your garden. We encourage you to add plants to your list — visit the native plants list on the TONH page before you add. There are often plants like Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) or Black Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) that can be obtained from local garden stores. Also visit native plant specialists like KMS Native Plants or Dropseed Native Landscapes to see how they can help.

To create the final design, you can download the Google Presentation that you see below. Save your own personal version (Select File —> Make a Copy). Delete unwanted slides, add or modify as necessary to reflect your design. Save a printout (File —> Print —> Save As PDF) for your TONH submission.

Google Slides presentation with Plant List and Design

step 4

Apply for the rebate. Feel free to download a version of the application form at the TONH website, with plants from our list filled in. Please note that thetotal price for our Plants Package is $250. (With taxes, that comes to $271.56 — but note that the Town does not reimburse you for the taxes.) The maximum rebate the town will award this year is $350 — so remember to also list any additional plants that you’re getting.

Make sure you maximize the points on the scorecard. You need at least 34 points.

Step 5

Once approval is granted, come back to our site to order the plants on our list. Click on the picture below to order.

Note: If you are using a smartphone, use it in landscape mode and check that you can see the cart on the top right. Last date to order is September 10, 2022.

Step 6

By mid-July (or asap) cardboard and mulch the space you want to plant into. This will save you hours of maintenance next year. Also, send TONH an email letting them know that you will be planting in September or October, and not the heat of summer. Take a look at the blog post on the right for why this is a necessary step.

Also consider putting up a sign - for example, “Coming Soon: Native Plant Garden” - so that your friends and neigbors understand what is happening.

Step 7

Pick up your plants on Sunday, October 23, at 9 AM from the ReWild Garden @ Dodge (58 Harbor Road, Port Washington, NY 11050).

• Add any additional native plants you can get locally, per your design.

step 8

Install your garden in September. Take photos. Send documentation of finished work to the TONH before November to get the rebate.

Important notice

• ReWild Long Island does not guarantee that you will be eligible for the rebate if you use the above process. We have tried to abide by the guidelines of the TONH, but they make the final decisions.

• We cannot guarantee plants. If the nurseries run out for some reason, we will refund you the money for the undelivered plants.

• We are not responsible for final reimbursement from the Town. Please contact them directly.

About the ReWild 50 Native Plant Package

• Overall design: We selected 10 different flowering natives that would attract pollinators and be relatively easy to grow under most garden conditions. We will deliver 50 plants, 5 of each species, that can be arraged to create many designs for a new native garden bed.

• Space requirements: The “Spread” column in our list describes how different plants will look in maturity. The designs we provide range from a “Relaxed Design” to a more “Compact Design”. You can add additional plants into any of these designs, by increasing the space or by substituting plants. In addition to native perennials, you may also choose responsible non-native perennials or annuals.

  • The Relaxed Design would consume about 300 square feet, including 250 square feet of garden beds and 50 square feet of access space around beds to highlight groups of plants. We have increased the spacing between plants. Consequently, the garden will take till the third year to look “full”.

  • The Compact Design would consume about 150 square feet, including about 120 square feet of native beds with about 30 square feet of access space around beds to highlight groups of plants. This design will fill in by the second year after planting.

  • You can plant even more densely (1 to 1.5 feet apart) for a smaller bed that is 75-100 square feet (including borders and paths). This will give you a small meadow or prairie look with overlapping plants.

• Species Diversity: The guidelines encourage 8 or more species to be planted. We are recommending ten.

• Number of plants per species: A minimum of three plants provides good aesthetics. We have included five of each species.

• Plant List: All the plants we have selected are from the approved TONH native plants list. All of these are beautiful low-maintenance pollinator plants, that can be part of a “pollinator pathway” if planted in multiple gardens across town.

• Bloom times: The TONH Guidelines suggest including plants that bloom in Spring, Summer and Fall. We have included three Spring bloomers, four that bloom in Summer and two in Fall.

• Grass: TONH guideline suggest including native grasses. We have included Switchgrass.

• Milkweed: The TONH guidelines recommend milkweed for monarch butterflies. We considered Asclepias tuberosa, but decided on Asclepias incarnata as plantings near a lawn sprinkler will end up in wetter conditions. We encourage you to include both if possible.

• Height: All the plants in the package have a good “gardening” height of 2 to 5 feet. They can be pruned back if they get too tall.

• Light Conditions: Most plants provided work in Sun or partial shade found in typical lawn conditions. They are not shade gardens.

• Watering: All plants require medium watering. This means once or twice a week in summer. Water deeply and slowly when you do water as these are deep-rooted plants. All recommended plants will accept regular lawn watering schedules if your in-ground sprinklers have already been installed.

• Size: For ease of transport and distribution, we will be procuring these plants as plugs. These are “super-small” plants that are a few weeks old, and have a root system that is mature enough to be transplanted. These are fully viable and will come back next Spring.

• Time to Maturity: Plugs are super-small plants, but rooted enough to be viable through the first winter. The plugs that we deliver will mature in the third year after you plant. As they say about native plants, “First year they Sleep, Second year they Creep and Third year they Leap.” A good strategy for ensuring that your garden does not look bare the first two years is to plant some non-invasive annuals like Zinnas or Sunflowers that will look attractive, help pollinators and hold the space while the perennials mature.

• Commercial Availability: We checked with nurseries before selecting these plants. They will be available for planting this fall. We will let you know if there are surprises.

• Timing: Plants can be picked up on Sunday, August 28th from the ReWild Garden @ Dodge, 58 Harbor Road, Port Washington. We will be open from 9 AM to 1 PM. Alternative arrangements can be made by contacting admin@rewildlongisland.org

  • TONH requires that, “If a project is not completed by August 1, 2022, the applicant must provide an update on progress … and how the project will be completed by November 15, 2022.” Please include in your application the information that your project will be completed in Fall as that is a better time to plant natives than the heat of summer. You should send them an email in July to confirm this again.

• Questions: Reach out to admin@rewildlongisland.org