by Carol Gracie Our spring wildflowers, many of them ephemerals that grace our woodlands for only a brief period each year, are intricately tied to other organisms in the environment….
Planning for Succession in a Residential Landscape
by Daniel Peterson I often see new landscapes that look great immediately after installation, and continue to thrive for five to ten years. Beyond those five to ten years, I…
MV Wildtype: Acting Locally on the Island of Martha’s Vineyard
by Tim Boland This article first appeared in the Spring 2009 issue of Meristems, the newsletter of Polly Hill Arboretum. There are many good reasons for growing native plants: Native…
An Environmental Vision
MA Horticultural Society Wins 2014 Environmental Vision Award The Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s exhibit “Eden on the Charles” at this year’s Boston Flower & Garden Show (March 12-16, 2014) received the…
Re-Introducing Hedgerows to Residential Landscapes: Why We Still Need a Side Order of Messy
by Rebecca Lindenmeyr Thanks to the pioneering work of E.O. Wilson, Doug Tallamy, Jonathan Foley, Marla Spivak and many others, the public has begun to accept the need for native plants in the landscape in…
Native Plant Selection for Biofilters and Rain Gardens
by Catherine Neal Modern storm water management systems rely on vegetation to hold the soil, filter contaminants, absorb nutrients, intercept and transpire water, and support healthy and diverse soil biology….
Drip It!
by John Swaringen We’ve heard it all before, haven’t we? Drip lines clog and stop working. They take too much time and labor to install. It’s harder to complete bed…
Greywater Made Clear: The Basics
by Ken Foster It is called “greywater” for a reason, and whether you spell it greywater or graywater obviously it is not one of those black and white solutions to…
Landscape Water Sourcing for Irrigation
by Jeff Bowman Here in the northeastern United States, there are three commonly used sources of water for irrigation. These are domestic (city) water, surface water, and groundwater. Each of…
A Lesson on Connections: “Enhancing Ecosystem Dynamics for Trees” with Michael Phillips
by Emma Vautour As a student of ecology and an aspiring ecological landscaper, it was a privilege to attend the 2014 ELA conference and learn from many of the leading…
Share Your Project in ELA’s Ecological Landscaping Video
Discover Ecological Landscaping is a concise introduction to the concepts and practices at the root landscapes managed with an eye to long-term health and sustainability. Originally published in 2005, ELA’s…
Ecological Design along the Blackstone: Creating a Clean River…within a River
by Max Rome, Nick Bernat, and Lauren Valle In precolonial times the Blackstone River was a large and ecologically-rich tidal river. As it meandered 49 miles from present day Worcester,…
