Rita Valley Local Gardener and Greg Lowenthal President of the Long Island Native Plant Initiative

Digging In The Dirt with Kevin Gallagher

Rita Valley is an artist and gardener living in Southbury Connecticut. Her passion for gardening started at an early age, nurtured by her Polish grandmother who tended an impressive vegetable garden. Valley’s love of gardening has persisted and blossomed into a penchant for writing about her gardening exploits as well.
Rita seems to have the same arrangement that my wife and I have: her husband's the veggie guy and she's the flower lady. She maintains that a good sense of humor is every bit as important as a nice shovel or a sharp pair of pruners.

Welcome to DITD Greg Lowenthal, Greg is President of The Long Island Native plant initiative and has served on the Initiatives board for over 4 years. The Long Island Native Plant Initiative (LINPI) is an all-volunteer cooperative effort of over 30 non-profit organizations, governmental agencies, nursery professionals, and citizens. The native plant initiative strives to preserve Long Island's biodiversity by cultivating ethically sourced ecotypic plants to ensure commercial availability of native plants for nurseries, communities, and habitat restorations.