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Featured Events

Webinar: Engaging Landowners in Sustainable Stewardship

Wed, January 26 @ 12:00 pm EST - 1:00 pm EST

A Focus on Sustainability - This presentation will share experiences and lessons from a multi-year landowner outreach project in the MassConn Woods, a rural, largely forested region on the border of central Massachusetts and northeastern Connecticut, as well as region-wide efforts to unite rural and urban communities in implementing natural solutions to climate change.

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Class: Plant Nutrients

Sat, January 29 @ 10:00 am EST - 12:00 pm EST

In this Plant Nutrient class, you will learn some mineral nutrient basics through an overview of soils, chemistry, and plant anatomy.

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Webinar: Regenerating Suburbia One Garden at a Time

Wed, February 9 @ 1:00 pm EST - 2:00 pm EST

A Focus on Sustainability - Landscape design professionals can play a key role in regenerating our monocultural suburban landscapes. Understanding why this work is so vitally important and how we can create beautiful (even luxuriant) landscapes that capture carbon, create habitat in support of our native pollinators, and contribute to the cooling of the earth’s atmosphere.

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28th Conference & Eco-Marketplace

Wed, February 23 @ 8:00 am EST - Thu, February 24 @ 5:00 pm EST

Join ELA on February 23 & 24, 2022 for the 28th Conference & Eco-Marketplace – all online.  We’ll energize your practice and prepare you for spring with two full days of research and field-tested expertise, as well as innovative case studies on a wide range of topics.

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Upcoming Events

Class: Climate Change and Native Plants

Tue, February 15 @ 6:00 pm EST - 8:30 pm EST

This class will cover a brief history of climate change and address carbon and hydrological cycles, the earth’s heating and cooling systems, and the importance of wise landscape design, construction, and agriculture to mitigate climate change. We will also discuss the role of native plants in the climate change conversation.

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Class: Finding Your Environmental Ethic

Thu, February 17 @ 6:00 pm EST - 7:00 pm EST

In this introductory webinar, you will learn four philosophical models of human relationship with nature in order to gain deeper understanding of your own and others’ environmental ethics.

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Event calendar

Featured Articles

Q&A: How Data Helps Close The Park Equity Divide

Interview with Linda Hwang

Parks are essential for public health, climate resilience, and strong connected communities; however, 100 million people in the U.S.—including 28 million kids—don’t have a park within a 10-minute walk of home. We have the data to pinpoint where parks are needed the most. Linda Hwang, the Trust for Public Land’s director of research and innovation, talks about how data is helping to close the park equity divide.

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    Winning Community Support for Green Infrastructure

    by Sandra Albro

    In this adapted excerpt from Vacant to Vibrant: Creating Successful Green Infrastructure Networks (Island Press, 2019), author Sandra Albro shares lessons from a multidisciplinary project team that built nine green stormwater parks on small vacant lots in three post-industrial cities—Gary, Indiana; Cleveland, Ohio; and Buffalo, New York. The project, “Vacant to Vibrant,” replicated similar processes across three Great Lakes states with the goal of discerning site-specific considerations from more generalizable lessons.

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      Healthy Plant Metabolism

      By Micheal Phillips

      Healthy plant metabolism begins with a molecule of water, a breath of carbon, and light energy from our nearest star. The tangible science behind all this unlocks the righteous way to farm and garden, give honor to trees, and plain do right by this earth. Nothing has ever excited me more.

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        Finding Mother Earth

        By Suzanne Simard

        Working to solve the mysteries of what made the forests tick, and how they are linked to the earth and fire and water, made me a scientist. I watched the forest, and I listened. I followed where my curiosity led me, I listened to the stories of my family and people, and I learned from the scholars. I poured everything I had into becoming a sleuth of what it takes to heal the natural world. 

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          Recent Articles

          Mycological Strategies for Surviving

          By Paul Stamets

          Today, we only have 10-15% of the forest debris that nature has needed to build the food webs for sustainable ecosystems. Widespread deforestation, factory farming, population expansion, industrialization, and concomitant pollution are ongoing threats imperiling our ecosystems and the foundation of our food webs at a time when unprecedented waves of humans walk the Earth needing water, sustenance and shelter. What do I recommend?

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          Creating Wildflower Meadows from Scratch  Or by Simply Changing Mowing Regimes

          By Alina Harris

          When someone asks for help to increase pollinators in their landscape, many times the initial request is to start a pollinator meadow from seed. We love successful wildflower meadows started from scratch—but they can take several years of work. In the right place, just reducing mowing can result in improved conditions for pollinators.

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          Conferences

          Conferences

          ELA’s one- and two-day regional conferences offer cutting-edge knowledge, useful information, CEU’s, and invaluable opportunities for engagement with fellow professionals. Conference sponsors present their ecologically-focused products and services while supporting ecological education.

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          Webinars

          Webinars

          A Focus on Sustainability – This Fall/Winter series is geared to landscape professionals and anyone who stewards the land. Webinars are taught by nationwide experts on ecological landscape topics.
          Wednesday Walks in the Garden – This free Summer/Spring webinar series was begun in 2020 and offers a wide range of topics to engage and educate garden enthusiasts on ecological principles.

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          Classes, Eco-Tours & Workshops

          Classes, Eco-Tours & Workshops

          ELA programming offers classes, tours, and hands-on workshops to expand your skills from design and soil management to incorporating edibles and managing rainwater.

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          I just wanted to let you know I thought the conference was fantastic. It was so informative and the speakers where great! Thanks so much.

          Kim H. Kim Hoyt Architect & Landscape Architect P.C.

          I am an avid consumer of your web information and webinars. Keep up the excellent work!

          Judy P. Connecticut Sea Grant

          I wanted to thank you for an excellent Walk in the Garden series. The webinars were all-around professional, fact-filled, and pertinent presentations. I've learned a lot and am inspired to implement some changes!

          Margaret R.

          I especially enjoyed the Conference and felt like I learned quite a bit. I plan to make attending an annual event, either for me or one of my work colleagues.

          Michele A.

          I learned so much from David Seiter’s webinar.  I love the scientific approach and thinking differently about some plant species in terms of services, design, interaction with people, etc. Thank you!

          Missy F

          Thank you everyone for the energy you put into ELA. These programs shine from your involvement, expertise, and love of nature. I’m excited for what the next year will bring.

          Mark H.

          Thanks so much for organizing a great informative Mid-Atlantic conference. The speakers were all excellent and very enlightening, I came away with lots of new knowledge. I also enjoyed meeting and networking with lots of like minded professionals.

          Mark E. MSE Landscape Associates, LLC

          Laura and I were just talking about how much we get from all of the ELA events and webinars…. The good "vibes" abound at ELA events.

          John K, Land Design Inc.

          Thank you for a full day’s worth of insightful material! Thank you for organizing this great event every year.

          Karen C.

          Speakers were very good, but meeting landscapers at the talks & in the lobby was best.

          Cathy B.

          Thank you Penny for making this delightful series available to members of the GCFM. [A Walk in the Garden webinars] have been one of my favorite hours each week this springtime. The speakers have been top notch subject experts who have excellent teaching skills to boot. Their photo presentations have been beautiful and informative. All around an excellent series!

          Linda N

          Thank you for a lovely and informative conference at BBG this past December. [It was] very well run and a joy to attend.

          I salute you on the excellent conference today at BBG! It's cheering and edifying for my staff and me to be among so many people, old friends and new, who value horticulture and ecology.

          Thank you for offering...courses via webinar - it really helps to save the professional development budget & travel time from my job. I find these information sessions very interesting, inspiring and informative.

          Thanks for providing the great professional society that I have been long searching for.... I am definitely a better, more informed practitioner for it.

          I am really enjoying all the webinars that the Ecological Landscape Alliance is offering. Thank you so much for organizing them and making them available for FREE! I spread the news about them on my Constant Contact page for the NJ Native Plant Society. 

          Susan H.

          Just want to say again how very much I appreciate the “Walk in the Garden” series. The quality of your programs is tops! A “Walk in the Garden” is so much more than a series of slideshows. It is a celebration of how all life is connected. It is great to have this positive reminder amidst the scarier reminders!

          K.R. Watkins

          Being an ELA member has allowed me ready access to resources that inspire and inform our new coastal landscapes initiative. I'm very thankful they exist!

          Gloria P, North Carolina Sea Grant, North Carolina State University

          I love the new website. It’s clean and clear and the articles you highlight have great, inspiring content.

          Meg H Plant Me a Rainbow

          THANKS FOR THIS WEBINAR EVENT -- and to the author for the links to the Rodale Institute. To-the-point, compact (but not compacted!), memorable and motivating!

          Joeth B.

          I thoroughly enjoy being a member of ELA. In fact, I get the most out of my membership from your organization than from any other professional organization I belong to. Your educational opportunities are fantastic, I have enjoyed every webinar I've ever attended, and your newsletter is always informative and helps me do my work. Thank you!

          Nancy H. Little Eden Gardens