Since 2005, this educational space has featured eight themed gardens, a pond ecosystem, and a greenhouse designed to connect visitors with local sustainability. Visitors can explore at their own pace to discover seasonal wildlife and learn about urban gardening, pollinators, and environmental stewardship.
Garden Hours:
Monday – Friday
8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Garden Hours: Monday – Friday 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM Check our calendar for updates on closures.
Interested in visiting with a group? Contact Suliama Elemam at suliama@greaternewark.org to schedule a guided tour.
Click any garden area to open a detailed view with photos and plant information.
Pollinator Garden
The pollinator garden supports bees, butterflies, and moths by providing nectar-rich plants that sustain pollinators throughout their life cycles. Many of these plants also serve as host plants for caterpillars and nesting habitats for solitary bees.
Woodland Garden
A peaceful collection of trees, shrubs, and shade-loving woodland flowers wraps around the Environmental Center, creating a cool and calming natural habitat. This includes the Nature of Newark Trail and the Wildlife Gallery.
Nelson Mandela Freedom Garden
Inspired by Nelson Mandela's time tending a garden during his imprisonment on Robben Island, this garden celebrates the connection between gardening, resilience, and freedom. Here you'll find vegetables once grown in Mandela's garden alongside flowers native to South Africa, creating a unique global botanical space.
Cistern & Rain Garden
Our 650-gallon rainwater cistern, installed by the Rutgers Cooperative Extension Water Resources Project, captures an estimated 10,000 gallons of rainwater each year. Overflow water is directed into a rain garden that helps manage stormwater and prevent flooding along nearby trails.
Green Roofs
Our green roof installations demonstrate how plants can be grown on rooftops to help reduce urban heat, manage stormwater, and support biodiversity in cities.
Demonstration Garden
The Demonstration Garden is used by the Conservancy's education team to teach vegetable growing techniques, composting, and sustainable gardening practices.
Chicken Coop
Greater Newark Conservancy's Chicken Coop. Remembering Ginger the Chicken.
Pond & Riparian Habitat
The pond ecosystem supports a variety of wildlife including fish, frogs, turtles, and dragonflies.
Surrounded by native moisture-loving plants, this habitat also provides drinking water for birds and small mammals.
Sundial Garden
The plants surrounding our functioning sundial thrive in full sunlight, featuring native grasses and meadow flowers that flourish in open environments.
Sensory Adventure Garden
This interactive garden encourages visitors to experience plants through sight, sound, smell, and touch.
Look for bright colors and unusual shapes, touch textured leaves and stems, and listen to grasses and seedpods move with the wind.
Herb Garden
This garden features a mix of annual and perennial culinary and medicinal herbs, offering a hands-on opportunity to explore how plants are used for cooking, wellness, and traditional remedies.
Green Roofs
Our green roof installations demonstrate how plants can be grown on rooftops to help reduce urban heat, manage stormwater, and support biodiversity in cities.
Woodland Garden
A peaceful collection of trees, shrubs, and shade-loving woodland flowers wraps around the Environmental Center, creating a cool and calming natural habitat. This includes the Nature of Newark Trail and the Wildlife Gallery.
Explore the Themed Gardens at the OLC. Each garden area at the OLC highlights a different aspect of urban agriculture, native plants, sustainability, and environmental education. Visitors can explore these spaces through the interactive map above.
Explore the garden through our Self-Guided Plant ID Tour.
Look for numbered markers throughout the OLC and discover a rotating seasonal selection of plants.
Each marker highlights a unique plant growing in the garden along with information about its characteristics, habitat, and role in the ecosystem.
If you are interested in learning more about any plants in the garden, send a picture to Suliama Elemam at suliama@greaternewark.org for more information.
1. Serviceberry / Shadbush
(Amelanchier sp.)
Look for this native shrub along the Woodland Trail. Related to roses and apples, it has many names reflecting its importance to people and wildlife. Its early spring blooms signaled seasonal change, while sweet June berries feed birds, mammals, and people.
2. Wild Columbine
(Aquilegia canadensis)
Find me in the Sensory Garden and throughout the garden. Wild Columbine is a native woodland flower with bright red and yellow blooms that attract hummingbirds, butterflies and bees. Its delicate foliage provides cover for insects and reseeds easily in shady spots.
3. Foxglove Beardtongue
(Penstemon digitalis)
Located in the Sensory Garden’s “Listen” , this non-toxic native perennial produces white tubular flowers that attract bumblebees. These bees use vibrations to release pollen from tightly closed anthers, a remarkable process known as buzz pollination.
4. Gray’s Sedge
(Carex grayii)
Featured in the Sensory Garden’s “Look” Gallery, Gray’s Sedge is a grass-like plant that belongs to the sedge family. It thrives in moist conditions and rain gardens. Its unusual spiky seed heads create striking texture and visual interest in early summer.
5. Fire Pink
(Silene virginica)
Bright red blooms make Fire Pink one of New Jersey’s most eye-catching native flowers. Hummingbirds are its primary pollinators, though bees and flies visit as well. Sticky stems help deter nectar robbers, while the plant thrives in sunny, well-drained sites.
6. Virginia Rose
(Rosa virginiana)
Growing near the Greenhouse, this resilient native rose tolerates road salt and other challenging conditions. Fragrant pink flowers bloom through summer, while nutrient-rich rose hips feed migrating birds and can be used to make teas, jellies, and jams.
Watch birds visiting the OLC in real time.
Our bird feeder camera provides a live look at the native birds that visit the garden throughout the year, offering a unique opportunity to observe local wildlife up close.
(Section coming soon)
This section will highlight the bees and pollinator habitats supported by the OLC and the important role pollinators play in our ecosystem.
