New England Wild Flower Society awarded its 2008 Education Award to Project Native. This annual award is given to an individual or a group for original and significant work that promotes public understanding and appreciation of temperate North American plants. In making the award, the Society noted Project Native of Housatonic, MA, is “not preaching to the choir.” It reaches people who would never have thought of planting natives. It does so, first, by providing plants that people love, that are more likely to thrive than most perennials available in the Berkshires, and that come with a catalog that informs people about the status of these plants in the wild.

The catalog alone is a great and wide-reaching educational tool. Project Native’s mission is to inspire the stewardship of natural resources by cultivating native plants and restoring our local landscape. Although Project Native focuses on local Berkshire Natives, it now offers a line of “Native Neighbors,” which include plants from Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut.