Featured NDAL Affiliate:
The Walkabout at Laurita Vineyards
The Walkabout at Laurita Vineyards is a non-profit corporation located on 250 acres of meadows, woods and wetlands in central New Jersey's ecologically diverse coastal plain. Sharing the lands with a vineyard, bed and breakfast, horse stables and an historic farmstead, it serves as a living example of the dynamic landscapes that result over time from the interplay of people and natural processes. Whether offering an overnight workshop or a leisurely stroll on the interpretive trails, The Walkabout seeks to educate and inspire all who visit.
The native flowers and grasses found in the open fields at The Walkabout appear to be naturally occuring, but were carefully planted with the guidance of NDAL. Some areas that were unsuitable for grape cultivation, were seeded as meadows, an increasingly rare habitat in the eastern United States.
Care was taken to analyze soil conditions, moisture levels and topography of each individual area to insure that the flowers and grasses selected were ideally adapted to the specific characteristics of each field.
Wet areas were planted with wildflowers that are typically found in this type of habitat to form a meadow. Some plants, such as Pink Milkweed, New England Aster and Joe Pye Weed, are crucial for the life-cycle of the Pearl Crescent, Common Buckeye and Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly.