Left to right: Extension agent Joel Flagler; Aki Liao, Yale Club president; and Ken Merz, president of Skylands.
Master Gardener Katie McEwan and Joel Flagler.
On May 13, Aki Liao, president of the Yale Club of North Jersey and Rockland County, along with Yale alumni and their families, joined Skylands representatives, and Rutgers Master Gardeners to help rid Skylands—the New Jersey State Botanical Gardens—of invasive mustard weed.
The idea was hatched by Katie McEwan, a Rutgers Master Gardener whose husband, Bob McEwan, is a member of the Yale Club of North Jersey and Rockland. They came up with the idea of partnering Yale’s “Day of Service” with working alongside Rutgers Master Gardeners to the benefit of Skylands.
Joel Flagler, extension agent for Rutgers Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources as well as a Rutgers and Yale alumnus, guided the work and then led the group on a tour of some of Skylands most wonderful formal gardens on a spectacular day.
Ken Merz, president of the Skylands Association, welcomed the group of approximately 30 volunteers and expressed the wish to make it an annual event, noting that the Yale-Rutgers Connection is a good one and well-worth cultivating. And Skylands was the perfect setting!
