Post-Conference Meet-up at New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill

Join ELA for a morning full of networking, refreshments, and a lecture by Nick Novick, Owner of Small Plant Landscaping. Registration is available through Eventbrite. ELA members and members of New England Botanic Garden can register for just $20; registration for non-members is $24. All participants will receive a discount code for 10% off an annual ELA membership! Enjoy the garden’s annual Orchid Exhibition: Pixels & Petals, following the lecture.

So, you want to make a meadow; Creating and managing native-plant meadows, and why they matter, Nick Novick, Small Planet Landscaping
In the face of habitat loss and given the high resource inputs often involved in conventional landscapes, property owners are increasingly looking toward more ecologically sound options. This reconsideration is further driven by water availability issues, concern over declining numbers of pollinators and other beneficial insects, and the worsening climate crisis. Meadows based on native-plant communities can be a valuable part of an effort to move our landscapes in a more sustainable direction. In this talk, we’ll look at some of the many benefits of meadows, things to consider when designing a seed mix, how to prepare a site, installation details, management considerations, ecological principles that affect design and management, and more.

Despite having a B.S. degree in environmental conservation, and after meandering through previous work lives in cooking, baking, publications production, and photography, Nick Novick has been playing in the dirt under the guise of Small Planet Landscaping for over 20 years now, and has been making meadows for almost as long. Along the way, he’s done a bit of everything from lawn care to dry stone work to invasive plant control, but fruit-tree care and meadows currently comprise most of his current field work. He served on the Board and edited the newsletter for ELA for about seven years. He supervised the original installation of Washington Tower meadow at Mount Auburn Cemetery as well as a number of other projects there. He has spoken at numerous conferences and workshops and is always open to developing collaborations with other eco-minded folks.

Thanks to the New England Botanic Garden for hosting this year. Register through Eventbrite!