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Read current monthly articles from ecological professionals or browse through our archived articles.

Ecological Amenity or Weedy Pit?

Ecological Amenity or Weedy Pit?

By Kate Cholakis and Eliza Pennypacker

Rain gardens, a type of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI), can provide habitat while reducing the amount of polluted stormwater runoff leaving a property. Why might a rain garden in the front yard be problematic? Acknowledging key differences between rain gardens and the residential “landscape norm” is key to changing perceptions.

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Wild By Design

Wild By Design

By Laura J. Martin

Native wildflower gardening is more popular than ever. But a century ago, this was not the case. Wildflowers persist in the numbers they do today because of the activism and research of a group of women ecologists who in 1901 defied gender norms and founded the discipline of ecological restoration. 

 

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Lawn to Meadow Season Three

Lawn to Meadow Season Three

By Leslie Duthie

This gardener decided to kill part of her lawn two years ago when we were encouraged to stay home due to the pandemic. Now in its third spring, follow the journey from surprises to successes to lessons learned. The barren lawn has been replaced with a shade and sun meadow with straightforward, easy steps that even a novice garden can copy. 

 

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The Northeast Native Plant Primer

The Northeast Native Plant Primer

By Uli Lorimer

Do you want a garden that makes a real difference? Choose plants native to our Northeast region. The rewards will benefit you, your yard, and the environment—from reducing maintenance tasks to attracting earth-friendly pollinators such as native birds, butterflies, and bees. We must envision a future in which wild creatures of all shapes and sizes are afforded space in our built environment.

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ELA News

ELA News – August 2022

ELA News – August 2022

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Written by: ELA Newsletter Editor-in-chief, Leslie Duthie The Ecological Landscape Alliance is growing, just like the field of ecological landscaping. Last month we introduced you to…

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ELA News – June 2022

ELA News – June 2022

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

  • Message from the Board of Directors
  • Farewell with a Note of Appreciation
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ELA News – May 2022

ELA News – May 2022

Share Your Expertise! As ELA begins scheduling fall and winter virtual conferences, we’re reaching out to our community for speakers. Our members have thousands of years of combined experience designing,…

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ELA News – April 2022

ELA News – April 2022

Volunteer with ELA Want to share your talents and expertise as an ELA volunteer? Our member-driven organization is always looking for your expertise, guidance, and help. We are looking for…

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Gleanings

Gleanings from Headline News – June 2022

Gleanings from Headline News – June 2022

We’ve scanned the media – in print and online – for items of interest to ELA’s ecologically focused audience:

  • Living Tree Bridges
  • The Dark Side of Light Pollution
  • Best Mulching Practices
  • How to Manage Weeds on Your Farm
  • Efforts to Save North America’s Most Endangered Bird Species Are Succeeding
  • A Difficult Site Becomes a Lovely Garden
  • Amazon vs. Rusty Patch Bumblebee
  • USDA Kills Thousands of Native Species
  • Piet Oudolf Designs New Garden
  • Olmstead’s 200th Birthday
  • Iconic Wildflower in Peril
  • Invasive Toxic Hammerhead Worm Found in Rhode Island
  • Native Garden Tours MetroWest Boston
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Gleanings from Headline News – May 2022

Gleanings from Headline News – May 2022

We’ve scanned the media – in print and online – for items of interest to ELA’s ecologically focused audience:

  • Saving the World’s Threatened Trees
  • Skills for Bees in Scotland’s Cairngorms
  • Birds inspire Art, Awe, and Action
  • Noticing What’s Going On
  • Navigating Nurseries this Spring
  • For Gen Z, Climate Change Is a Heavy Emotional Burden
  • No Mow May
  • Superbloom in Tower of London
  • Support Spring Pollinators: Think Big
  • Improvements Still Needed in Lawn Care
  • Bringing Controlled Burns
  • Developer Buys 10,000 Suns Property
  • Are Nature-Based Solutions on Climate Being Overlooked?
  • Shop Your Garden First
  • Organic Farming Podcast
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Gleanings from Headline News – April 2022

Gleanings from Headline News – April 2022

We’ve scanned the media – in print and online – for items of interest to ELA’s ecologically focused audience:

  • Spotted Lanternfly and Nursery Stock
  • Become a Xerces Kid!
  • How to Tell Apart Sound-Alike Warblers
  • Deadliest U.S. Bird Flu Outbreak in 7 years
  • Does the ecosystem Hinge on a Single Keystone Gene
  • Now for Something Completely Different
  • Leave Stems for Native Bees
  • Why Gravel Gardens Are Better Than They Sound
  • Tree Equity
  • Plants in the UK Flower a Month Earlier Due to Rising Temperatures
  • Hush, Hus, Listen to the Soil
  • Growing Greener Podcast
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ELA Article Archive

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.

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

[R&R] was such an informative and interesting conference. Thanks to you all at ELA for hosting such an undertaking. I'm looking forward to using more of ELA as a resource going forward.

I want to thank you and ELA for having such a wonderful speaker [Heather Holm] talk about our native bees and plant partners. It was fantastic. Great photos. 

Virginia K.

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

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 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

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.