In today’s rapidly urbanizing environment, we have a unique opportunity, if not a duty, to create livable landscapes that are attractive, easily managed, and provide a rich complement of plants to support diverse ecosystems. Let’s adapt a naturalistic design aesthetic that allows us to use native plants in home gardens, reflecting our regional spirit of place.
Un paisaje accesible debe ser fácil de acceder físicamente y también ofrecer experiencias variadas a todos los visitantes. Los diseñadores ecológicos llevan el concepto de diseño universal aún más lejos y consideran cómo el paisaje, especialmente los jardines públicos y participativos, pueden beneficiar no solo a personas de todas las capacidades, sino también a la vida silvestre, los polinizadores, los microorganismos del suelo y las cuencas hidrográficas.
The term rewilding first appeared in the conservation world in the 1980s with a continental-scale vision to protect large tracts of wilderness and connect these areas with migration corridors. Maine’s Wild Seed Project considers rewilding to be not just for the large wilderness areas or charismatic megafauna like wolves. Instead, they focus on actions that people can take right outside their doors.
Our current economic downturn caused by COVID-19 and ongoing social and climate crisis demands a transformational change in everything from business practices to public policy, including how we approach stormwater management. In rebuilding our economy, the government must prioritize green stormwater infrastructure because it’s a tool that fosters job growth, public health, community well-being, and resiliency.
By Emma Marris
In October of 2013, I toured three miles of disused railroad line in Philadelphia. The entire line was covered with spontaneous vegetation alive with butterflies and ladybugs. Here nature was showing us her resilience and her wild beauty and offering to meet us where most of us live now, in the city. What is tricky about urban wildness is what I call the High Line Problem.
Hosted by Marie Chieppo
Avery Park, a busy commuter rail station park becomes a native plant oasis for people and pollinators alike. Follow Needham based landscape designer Marie Chieppo’s journey through a barren weed-infested plot to a popular garden gathering spot that is doing double duty during the COVID pandemic as a great place to socialize while staying six feet apart.
by Miho Connolly
The Challenges of Restoring Urban Native Habitat, presented by Dr. Steven Handel at the 25th Annual ELA Conference, centered around a modern reality: with population growth and the spread of urban areas, cities have become a new and important habitat type. While many might consider cities to be ecologically sterile sources of environmental problems, Handel sees environmental opportunity.
by Dr. Susannah Lerman
Trees and shrubs provide ecosystem services and societal benefits in urban and suburban environments. They also provide vital habitat for birds, pollinators, and other wildlife. A new tool correlates habitat requirements for songbirds, evaluates the bird habitat potential at ecoregion scales, and can guide habitat improvement plans.
by Julie Snell and Michele Adams
Albert Greenfield Elementary School in Philadelphia was the first school in the district to implement a “green schoolyard.” This project was an early example of how public landscapes in the city can offer significant connections to the natural world, benefiting students and the community.
A Pathway to Meeting Forest Sustainability Goals and a Vehicle To Get You There by Laurence Wiseman A few weeks ago, government officials from nearly 100 nations met to discuss progress on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. It’s fair to assume that most who attended the meeting were both committed, and professionally competent. Ordinarily, you’d…
by David Seiter The following excerpt from Spontaneous Urban Plants: Weeds in NYC is reprinted with permission of the author. Whenever travelling to a new city, I always want to understand its layout, its sequence of spaces, its edges and boundaries and the relations between urban landscapes and landmarks. While reading a map helps to…
by Darrah Cole The Greenway horticulture staff is excited to have new, innovative planting designs installed along the length of The Greenway in downtown Boston, MA. Two narrow parcels along Surface Road near South Station and two others in the North End Park along Cross Street have been planted to create the end points of…
