Tag Archives: O’Hara Nature Center

October 19, 2025 · 8:41 pm

The O’Hara Nature Center’s CJ O’Reilly: What It Really Means to be an Influencer

If you’re not already a fan of CJ Reilly, meet the heart and soul of the O’Hara Nature Center and Irvington Woods Park.

With a passion for nature and a gift for teaching, CJ has been greening our community for the past five years. He’s not only an arborist, ecologist and plant scientist, he’s a mentor, leader, and friend to many.

CJ’s journey is as diverse as the land he cares for. As director of the O’Hara Nature Center (ONC) and Irvington Woods Park for the past five years, Charles J. O’Reilly III has been leading the stewardship of a 251-acre forest, selecting and caring for the trees and plants and supervising staff, contractors and volunteers. With grants from the New York State Department of Conservation, Harvard Forest, Cornell, and Westchester County agencies, CJ manages more than $500,000 for invasive species control, deer mitigation, tree planting and youth-led programs.

CJ in his ‘office’ at the O’Hara Nature Center

“My first — and continuing — passion is teaching,” he says. That’s evident in the many ways he’s teaching us how to take care of our planet and the living things growing on it. Consultant and project manager for the Irvington and Mamaroneck School Districts, he’s develops K–8 sustainability and climate education projects and alignins curricula to State and NextGen standards. In the Village of Irvington, he’s responsible for the street trees. At the ONC, he leads innovative, hands-on horticulture and land management programs, including monthly volunteer Stewardship Saturdays for adults and families.

Budding Naturalists conduct water-quality and wildlife surveys

Participants in the  2nd through 4th grade Budding Naturalists gain exposure to “backyard ecology” and learn about everything from the animals in the environment to the impact of climate change.

Changing Forest students with the Norway maple they helped take down

The 6th through 12th grade Changing Forest students are involved in projects like taking down invasive trees, making what now looks like “a messy pile of branches” into an area that in 30 to 40 years will be a sustainable host forest for varied bird and insect life.

“My family loves CJ, and the kids grow in so many ways under his instruction,” says Katherine Lark, mom of two high school students who participate in the ONC’s programs. “My husband Fritz and I couldn’t be happier with their experiences. The programs provide so many benefits, including learning about nature and environmental conservation, doing hands-on work that develops practical skills, and getting leadership, citizen-scientist and community service opportunities — welcome breaks from screen time!”

At the Old-Growth Network recognition ceremony last spring

CJ’s efforts have received many accolades, including the Old Growth Network Award for Community Forest Recognition; a Google Geo for Good Impact Award; and a Cornell Graduate Student Research Award. The Garden Club of America (GCA) awarded him the 2023 GCA Elizabeth Abernathy Hull Award for Youth Environmental Education.

Garden Club of Irvington members are longtime CJ fans; he’s been one of our most influential voices, leading us in workshops where we learned to propagate citrus trees using air-layering techniques. He’s assisted our members in planning hands-on workshops on topics like making bee hotels. Our club will be playing a growing role as ONC docents and community educators.

This past June, CJ was a keynote speaker at the GCA’s Zone III Meeting, where he shared with presidents and representatives of the 23 GCA garden clubs in New York State his successful strategies for partnering with parks departments, school districts, nature centers and community volunteers. Says Meeting Chair Anne Myers, “CJ’s training, experience and passion for forest ecology and community land stewardship captivated the audience and sent attendees home motivated to get more involved in their own communities.”

We invite you to visit the O’Hara Nature Center and Irvington Woods. “The grounds and woods are open every day from dawn to dusk,” CJ explains. “It’s a great place to come for hiking, walking and birdwatching.”

The O’Hara Nature Center is located at 170 Mountain Road, Irvington, NY 10533. Preregistration is required for the free Stewardship Saturdays. (The upcoming meetups this year are 10/25, 11/8, 11/22, 12/6 and 12/13.) The afterschool programs, have a fee. Much more information here.

Filed under Conservation, Family Events, Horticulture, Native Plants, Rivertowns Westchester NY

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April 10, 2024 · 1:29 pm

While the Forsythias are Blooming…

It was standing room only when members and friends of The Garden Club met recently to enjoy a demonstration by floral artists Miko Akasaka and her husband Yusuke of Seasons On The Hudson, Irvington’s local floral design and accessories shop. Miko was a wealth of new information, including advice on how to incorporate stems purchased at the florist with flowers from your own garden. She began with tall branches of forsythia, the yellow shrubs now in bloom everywhere—some in full bloom, others she called “really tight,” to open later and give the arrangement longevity. She then added branches of curly willow and pussy willow and stems of delphinium, clematis, bells of Ireland, and orchids. “We don’t force nature. We let nature do its thing,” she said. “This is English Garden style, not too symmetrical.”

Among Miko’s other advice: Use Japanese clippers to split-cut the base of hydrangeas and of other flowers with woody stems. Put the stems in a vase of hot water. Let the water cool a bit before adding other flowers.  Use hairdressers’ gloves to protect your hands. And “Go bold! It takes courage, but do it.”

It’s always a pleasure to watch artists at work. Here, Yusuke is demonstrating how to fold leaves to line a simple glass vase and make it special.

Seasons On The Hudson is located at 45 Main Street, Irvington, NY 10533.

Filed under Flower Arranging, Irvington Garden Club Events, Irvington NY

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November 1, 2021 · 11:22 am

Check Into a Pollinator Hotel

Perhaps the most fascinating exhibit on the grounds of the O’Hara Nature Center in Irvington is the “Pollinator Hotel,” a structure that supports cavity-nesting bees and wasps. Made of logs with holes drilled in them and of dried stems of perennial plants, it might be the ‘greenest’ recycled housing project ever: stems are saved from Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium fistulosum), Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), and Cup-plant (Silphium perfoliatum) and repurposed into nesting material.

It’s also a work of art.

Please watch this short explanation by the ONC’s resident horticulturist, educator, and designer of educational materials, CJ Reilly, in which he explains that bees and wasps that are solitary, that don’t live in colonies, are attracted to holes in natural materials, in which they lay their eggs and then fill with grasses and other nutrients. Up to a year later the eggs will hatch, creating a new brood of insects ready to pollinate native plants.

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Need to know more? Here is a link to some educational material. And you’ll just have to visit on your own.

 

Filed under Horticulture, Irvington Garden Club Events, Irvington NY, Nature Photography, NY and CT Public Garden Tours

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October 31, 2021 · 10:29 pm

A Tour of the O’Hara Nature Center

Early fall. It’s still warm and there are plenty of opportunities to visit the Rivertowns’ outdoor treasures. One of our most treasured is the O’Hara Nature Center, located in 400-acre Irvington Woods at 170 Mountain Road, just off the Saw Mill Parkway.

Over the last five years, resident horticulturists CJ Reilly and Peter Strom have worked with the Irvington Recreation and Parks Department to design the ten demonstration gardens that work harmoniously with the  environment, preserve water resources, and increase biodiversity by providing natural habitats for pollinators.

Members of the Garden Club of Irvington enjoyed a recent tour. Here are a few highlights:

After an introduction to the ONC’s history and programing, Barbara Defino, an active member and past president of the Garden Club, received an award for her devoted and ongoing support. Flanking her are CJ Reilly and Peter Strom.

The ONC building is a model of attractive, energy-efficient, green design. Custom bookshelves were made from a sassafras tree that grew in Irvington Woods Park.

Before the tour, Peter Strom carefully relocated a confused bumblebee to its rightful home, a Goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens).

The tour was led by the ONC’s Education Director CJ Reilly, a graduate of Teachers College, Columbia University, where his field of study was data visualization and educational development — skills he uses for the benefit of all visitors. “This is an example of true community partnership,” he said, explaining that the Village of Irvington, the School District, the Eagle Scouts, the Parks and Recreation Department, members of the Garden Club, and many volunteers have worked together to conceptualize, build, support, and maintain the facility and the grounds. It is also an example of bringing new life to a community devastated by a tragedy: the crash of TWA Flight 800, which killed three members of the O’Hara family.

This structure, a “bee hotel,” supports a diverse array of solitary cavity-nesting bees and wasps. Dried plant stems such as hollow Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium fistulosum), Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), and Cup-plant (Silphium perfoliatum) stems are saved from the gardens and repurposed into nesting material. Here is a link to CJ’s educational materials that explain the process in detail. (More photos and details to come in the next post.)

During our visit, a grass-carrying wasp (Isodontia Mexicana) returned to the hollow Joe Pye Weed it filled with grass and other reserves for its brood inside.

CJ described the 25 heirloom grafted apple trees in the ONC, including all nine varieties that were grown at Washington Irving’s Sunnyside.

He then introduced the step-by-step educational materials that guide ONC visitors through the apple-tree grafting process. Similar materials, which explain horticultural processes in detail, are posted throughout the site.

The ONC has two outdoor classrooms for the school and community educational programs it hosts.

You don’t have to be on a tour or in a program to enjoy these facilities. Just walk in, it’s free… and enjoy the beauty around you. (And perhaps stop to read the educational materials or admire an insect in its rightful habitat.)

Filed under Conservation, Horticulture, Landscape and Garden Design, NY and CT Public Garden Tours, Rivertowns Westchester NY, Tarrytown NY

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December 14, 2015 · 8:38 pm

Serving the Community

Thanks to a successful Plant Sale and other fundraising events, the Garden Club of Irvington is once again helping support organizations that improve and protect the environment, including the Center for Plant Conservation, Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct, the Garden Conservancy, Greenburgh Nature Center, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Irvington Land Trust, Native Plant Center, O’Hara Nature Center, Scenic Hudson, Untermyer Gardens Conservancy and Wave Hill.

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The O’Hara Nature Center on Irvington’s Mountain Road is one of the projects supported by GCI. This center features nine demonstration gardens that have curriculum-related content for educational programs—and are examples for beautifying your landscape. They include the Bird, Butterfly and Bee Garden, the Bog Garden, the Xeriscape and Rock garden, the Edible Forest Ggarden, the Shade Garden, and the Woodland Garden.

We look forward to an equally successful 2016, and wish you and yours a happy, healthy New Year.

 

Filed under Irvington Garden Club Events, Irvington NY, Rivertowns Westchester NY

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