- I sound like a proud parent because I am.

Your woodland poppy is coming up.

It's got a bud on it.

Ah!

Look.

Oh my gosh, it's got one, two, three, four, five, six different-- oh!

seven, eight, nine, ten buds!

That's exciting.

(Upbeat Music) Living in New Jersey is so incredible because it's the best kept secret.

It is nicknamed the Garden State.

There's a lot of magic in my life because of nature.

Sometimes being a gardener is just seeing things the way they should be, not the way they are right at this minute, and having a lot of patience.

When I first came to this neighborhood, and I saw Canco Park, it literally looked like La La Land.

But it took a team of professional landscapers constantly tending to the park.

Without that type of attention, the park died.

The plants that were here in place were not native plants.

They were ornamental.

They just couldn't survive.

My organization is the Canco Park Conservancy.

It's a nonprofit organization that was created as a steward group for Canco Park.

We've done some really incredible work here, amazing volunteers, just doing back-breaking work.

Native plants, they're strong.

They belong here.

They evolved millions of years with all of the insects and birds in this area.

They're beautiful.

They aren't at Home Depot.

And little by little, we're building the habitat stronger, and thicker, and more diverse.

You know, that's magic.

(Upbeat, pensive music) The seeds that lay, they get rain, snow.

They just get abused, and they sit and they sit, and they make a plant, and it's like a miracle!

What we don't realize is, that abuse that they take over the winter is what makes it possible for them to grow.

And they'll be waiting for their perfect moment to be brave.

The Monarch Butterfly has four wing parts.

One, two, three, four.

They're called winglets.

Here, hold your hand out.

That is just like a Monarch Butterfly.

It's very tough to acquire new park spaces in Jersey City.

The space doesn't exist anymore.

So even a concrete plaza with a bench is considered a park.

But this is the only public green space for the entire neighborhood of Journal Square.

Like, this park is a gift now.

In an urban environment, you need just a little bit of respite.

You need just a little bit of relaxation.

Park open space is the most equitable use of space.

Rich, old, poor, we can all just come together in a beautiful open green space in an urban environment and just be together.

We've had movies, poetry, yoga, just about anything you can imagine.

So when we're together in nature, having a visceral, like emotional connection with what we see, it builds a bond.

Hi!

- (Girl) Hi!

- (Sue) Hi, thanks for coming!

Nice to see you.

Green spaces remind us of our humanity, and they remind us that we're connected to each other.

I think that█s why green space is important.

In urban spaces especially, it helps us to remember to take care of each other.

New Jersey, it's a great, great state because you can be in nature one minute, be in an urban environment another minute.

Everything in between, suburbia, it's got it all.

I feel like around the corner, there's adventure everywhere.

It's beautiful.

That's why it's called the Garden State.

(Upbeat Music)