Ecological Landscape Alliance

Featured Events

Eco-Answers with an ELA Eco-Pro

Wed, July 28 @ 6:30 pm EDT - 8:00 pm EDT

Edible Landscapes: Member Event Dan Jaffe Wilder will provide answers to some common and some not so common questions dealing with edible plants including nut-producing trees, berrying shrubs, and annual vegetables in your gardens and landscape.

Sat, August 14 @ 1:00 pm EDT - 4:00 pm EDT

This shade gardening workshop blends site-specific assessment, design strategies, and plant options to help enliven your imagination.

Thu, August 19 @ 1:00 pm EDT - 3:00 pm EDT

In this workshop, we will build on the stakeholder collaboration processes to focus on vision-driven partnerships and fundraising.

Wed, September 15 @ 10:00 am EDT - 1:00 pm EDT

In this three-part workshop, learn to identify appropriate native plants and groupings for your site and create a personalized plant palette and design that is beautiful and enhances biodiversity.

Webinar: Designing for Dry Stone Walling in the Landscape

Wed, September 8 @ 3:00 pm EDT - 4:00 pm EDT

A Focus on Sustainability - Learn about the traditional dry stone construction methods with Daniel Peterson, HabAdapt Landscape Design, and discover the sustainability advantages of dry stone walls.

Wed, September 15 @ 12:00 pm EDT

A Focus on Sustainability - Ann English will explore strategies for increasing the carbon storage capacity of soil, including adding biochar, for increasing both carbon and infiltration capacities. She also will look at techniques for restoring degraded and eroded lands through planting and mulching.

Event calendar

Featured Articles

Can the Soil Seed Bank Save Us?

By Nathan Lamb

Imagine two woodlands. Both have deciduous, fire-adapted trees overhead. One has widely spaced trees, and sunlight reaches a diverse community of grasses, sedges, and forbs. The other has a dense thicket of invasive shrubs that shades out all but the earliest spring ephemerals. Will removing the invasive shrubs and exposing the bare soil trigger a profusion of native plants, restoring the diverse community that lived there hundreds of years ago?

By Victoria Wallace and Alyssa Siegel-Miles

Interest in native plants and sustainable landscaping has exploded over the last decade. Through our UConn Extension Sustainable Turf & Landscape program, we provide practical science-based information to support the sustainability goals of Connecticut green industry professionals and home gardeners. With that in mind, we developed a free online guide of 44 pages of plant lists for every location matched with vibrant photographs.

By Norm Helie

There is considerable decline, dieback, and death of many tree species in New England and throughout the country. Many professionals focus their attention on the final stages of a tree’s life, but tree health can’t be determined by outward appearance and general foliar analysis. Environmental and ecological studies must consider tree life history.

ELA News – July 2021

Learn about upcoming programs and find out what’s happening within the organization:

Volunteer with ELA
Eco-Answers with an Eco-Pro
Share Your Expertise

Reviewed by Sara Bothwell Allen

As the populations of the Monarch (Danaus plexippus) have dropped precipitously in size in recent years, public engagement towards saving the Monarch is increasing thanks to education programming. This book provides gardeners, both novice and experienced, the information they need to make their home gardens or community spaces valuable parts of the Monarch’s global support system.

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Join Our Community

Our Members Include

Landscape Professionals
Horticulturalists
Growers and Manufacturers
Conservationists
Restoration Ecologists
Wetland Scientists
Community Activists
Home Gardeners

Benefits

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Professional Membership

Student/ Community Membership

Free Webinars

Discounted Events

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Speakers Bureau Listing

Company Featured in Newsletter

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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

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

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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Introducing ELA

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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

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