Boston Flora

Tag: ELA

  • Wednesday and Thursday, March 7 & 8 – ELA Conference & Eco-Marketplace

    Looking for New Ideas? Solutions? Inspiration? Immerse yourself in Ecological Landscape Alliance’s two-day conference on March 7 and 8 at UMass Amherst. From the practical to the inspirational, join them as they explore a range of topics, from designing and maintaining landscapes for maximum carbon capture to looking at the intuitive side of design.

    New this year, Food for Thought is a ticketed breakfast where you can nourish your body while you challenge your mind – all before the first session begins. Table topics will be hosted by experts who will be on hand to answer you questions and spark lively conversation.

    March 7 includes:
    * Two workshops: Designing for Carbon Sequestration and
    Ecological Methods of Maximizing Landscape Productivity and Potential
    * Keynote speaker: Darrel Morrison, ecologically-based landscape architect, whose talk is entitled Landscape Design as Ecological Art

    March 8 features eight Sessions, a Design Building Tour, and three Idea Exchanges covering a range of ecological topics. Session sampling:
    * Quest for Resilience: Adaptive Strategies for Sustainable Planting Design
    * Nature Integration – The Future of Design
    * Beyond the War on Invasive Species
    * Authentic, Whole, and Alive: Design Lessons from Wild Landscapes

    Hotel rooms at Hotel UMass are available to participants for $115 per night. Reservations will be taken no later than February 25, 2018. Register online or call (877) 822-2110 and specify the ELA group promotional code: ELC18C. The discount is NOT available at check-in. Register for the conference ($20 – $330) at http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/ela-conference-eco-marketplace-2018/

  • Friday, February 9, 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm – Green Up for Clean Up: Planting to Remediate Contaminated Landscapes Webinar

    When soil tests confirm the presence of site contaminants, cost-effective phytotechnology (phytoremediation) plantings can often be effective in mitigating on-site pollutants. These interactions are complicated, sometimes taking decades for remediation, and many times plant-based remediation strategies are not a good fit for environmental cleanup.

    Phytotechnology is the use of vegetation and their associated microbes to remediate, contain, or prevent contaminants in soils, sediments, and groundwater. The term ‘phytoremediation,’ where plants are used to remediate sites that are already polluted, is often used interchangeably with ‘phytotechnology,’ but is only one subset of the field. ‘Phytotechnology’ is a much broader term that includes techniques such as pre-emptive installation of vegetation to mitigate ecological problems before they actually occur, as well as stabilization of pollutants on site, beyond just contaminant removal. Green roofs, constructed wetlands, bioswales, bioenergy crop cultivation, and phytoremediation plantings are all forms of ‘phytotechnology,’ a term which encompasses all uses of plants to meet environmental and technological goals.

    Plants are a cost-effective method of tracking and mitigating contaminated landscapes. In this Ecological Landscape Alliance online presentation on Friday, February 9 from 12:30 – 1:30, Kate Kennen will explain phytoremediation (plants uptake and remove contaminants) and phytoforensics (plants detect and delineate pollutants). She will discuss some of the limitations of phytoremediation, how to integrate the science of phytoremediation into landscape design practices, preventative (phytobuffering) capabilities, and recommend plant species that can be utilized.

    Kate Kennen is the founder and president of Offshoots, Inc., a Boston landscape architecture practice focused on productive planting techniques and phytotechnology consulting. Ms. Kennen’s book PHYTO: Principles of Site Remediation and Landscape Design was published in 2015. Ms. Kennen completed her undergraduate studies in Landscape Architecture at Cornell University, and received her master’s degree with distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Having spent her childhood at her family’s garden center in Massachusetts, Ms. Kennen is well versed in the plants of the Northeast. She currently teaches a research seminar in phytoremediation and plant-based technologies at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

    Free for ELA members, $10 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/webinar-green-clean-planting-remediate-contaminated-landscapes/

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  • Thursday, February 1, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Landscape Maintenance Practices for Native Bees

    Pollinators (including honey bees, native bees, birds, bats, butterflies, and other species) are essential to healthy ecosystems. Pollinators support the success and vigor of flowering plants, making ecosystems stronger, more resilient, and enhancing the environment for human populations. Decades of stressors (including the loss, degradation, and fragmentation of habitat, reduction in the number and quality of food sources, reduction in the availability of sites for breeding, nesting, and roosting, and improper use of pesticides and herbicides) have severely and adversely altered the health and numbers of pollinator populations.

    Landscaping can be a powerful tool to help our pollinators. Equally important to creating pollinator habitat is the maintenance that follows. Pollinator habitats require a maintenance approach that may differ from conventional landscape efforts. Maintenance practices should be carefully considered in order to support the needs of the pollinators. To avoid potential conflicts between the needs of the pollinators and conventional aesthetic, education is key to setting expectations. For example, plants in a garden or habitat designed to promote pollinator health and food for caterpillars and other larvae are expected (and encouraged) to tolerate insect damage to plant leaves. In this Ecological Landscape Alliance webinar on Thursday, February 1 at 4 pm, Sam Droege will discuss pollinator-friendly maintenance strategies including proper timing for garden clean-up, cut-backs, and pruning, protecting pollinator habitats from disturbances and stressors such as pesticide use, establishing appropriate mowing practices, and more.

    Sam Droege is a Wildlife Biologist at the U.S. Geological Survey Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. He has been spent most of his career at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. He has coordinated the North American Breeding Bird Survey Program, developed the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program, the BioBlitz, Cricket Crawl, and FrogwatchUSA programs and worked on the design and evaluation of monitoring programs. Currently he is developing an inventory and monitoring program for native bees, online identification guides for North American bees at http://www.discoverlife.org, and with Jessica Zelt reviving the North American Bird Phenology Program. His group maintains high resolution photographs of insects an other macro natural history objects at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/. Sam is also the author of Bees: An Up-Close Look at Pollinators Around the World. He holds a B.S. from University of Maryland and an M.S. from State University of New York – Syracuse.  Free for ELA members, $10 for nonmembers. Sign up at http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/landscape-maintenance-practices-native-bees/

  • Wednesday, January 24, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Invasive Plants: What Are They? And What Can Be Done? Webinar

    What are invasive plant species and what harm do they do to an ecosystem? Invasive plant species are a threat to natural areas throughout the country. No habitat or region is immune from the threat of invasive species. They displace native plants, eliminate native food and cover for wildlife, and threaten rare plant and animal species.

    Nearly all landscapes, both private gardens and public spaces, have become the unwelcome home to many invasives. Ecological Landscape Alliance will sponsor a webinar on Wednesday, January 24 from 7 – 8 pm. Lecturer Bruce Wenning is an invasive plant specialist who will help to shed light on the invasive plant challenges that face most property owners. If you are a homeowner who wants to understand more about invasives, join Bruce for this webinar to learn:

    * How to identify different types of invasive plants
    * How to safely remove them your own landscape
    * How different invasive plants spread
    * What removal methods are effective on each
    * The importance of proper disposal of invasive plants once removed

    Bruce Wenning is a horticulturist at The Country Club, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, where he is responsible for garden management and design, invasive species management, natural history of the grounds; and frequently lectures on horticultural subjects. Bruce’s background includes formal garden design and installation as well as public space management. Bruce has nearly 20 years of experience working with exotic invasive plant species common to Massachusetts for both private and public clients. Bruce’s career has also included several years at Massachusetts Audubon and at Land’s Sake. In addition to his general horticulture expertise, Bruce specializes in plant pest diagnostics; insect taxonomy; invasive species management; ecological landscaping consultation and design; as well as natural history. Bruce is on the Board of Directors for the Ecological Landscape Alliance (ELA) where he has served since 2003 and is a regular contributor to the ELA Newsletter and a local publication, the Newton TAB. Free. Image from http://www.notablecharacters.wordspress.com. Sign up at http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/webinar-invasive-plants-can-done/

  • Wednesday, January 17, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Transitioning to Ecological Landscape Practices: Toxin-Free Landscapes Webinar

    The reasons to remove toxic chemicals from our landscapes are many and many homeowners are seeking landscape professionals who can deliver healthier landscape options. However, too often clients give up on pesticide- and fertilizer-free landscapes because their expectations are not met, the results are not what they had in mind, or the process is confusing to them. How do landscape professionals educate, manage expectations, and keep a client’s trust during the transition?

    Edwina von Gal from Perfect Earth Project will discuss solutions that are minimal in cost and aesthetically pleasing, in this Ecological Landscape Alliance webinar on Wednesday, January 17 from 4 – 5.. She will share her ideas on how to convince clients that a toxin-free landscape is worth pursuing, how to anticipate common problems, and how to communicate effectively.

    Edwina von Gal, Principal of her landscape design firm on Long Island since 1984, Ms. von Gal has striven to integrate simplicity and sustainability into her design of landscapes for private and public clients around the world. Her work has been published in major publications and her book Fresh Cuts won the Quill and Trowel award for garden writing in 1998. She has served on boards and committees for a number of horticultural organizations, and is currently on the board of What Is Missing, Maya Lin’s multifaceted media artwork about the loss of biodiversity. Ms. von Gal designed the park for the Biomuseo, a museum of biodiversity in Panama City and stayed on to found the Azuero Earth Project with like-minded friends and scientists. The process convinced her to extend the toxin-free message to the US and consequently, she launched Perfect Earth Project in 2013. Most recently, she was appointed as a Master Teacher at the Conway School for the 2015-2016 academic year. She is the Green Schools Alliance Site and Landscaping Expert.

    Free for ELA members, $10 for nonmembers. Sign up at http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/webinar-transitioning-ecological-landscape-practices-toxin-free-landscapes/

  • Friday, December 15, 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm – The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend: Using Biological Products to Fight Diseases and Pests Webinar

    The use of biological products for growth enhancement and disease and pest control has changed the treatment programs of many organic (and even non-organic) plant, turf and tree care professionals. Joe Magazzi, from Green Earth Ag & Turf, will discuss how advances made in biological products have resulted in effective treatments that target the pest and not the rest. This December 15 webinar begins at 12:30 pm and is sponsored by the Ecological Landscape Alliance. Free for ELA members, $10 for nonmembers. Sign up at http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/webinar-enemy-enemy-friend-using-biological-products-fight-diseases-pests/

    Joe Magazzi, MS, is the president and co-founder of Green Earth Agriculture, a company that provides eco-friendly products and consulting services to land care professionals and farmers. He has been involved in the research and development of microbial-based products for use in turf care and agriculture for many years. Joe Magazzi has a Master’s degree in genetics (with a microbiology focus) from the University of Connecticut-Storrs. His research has been published in scientific journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine.

  • Wednesday, November 1, 8:00 am – 4:30 pm – Season’s End Summit: The Plant Pollinator Partnership

    As native bees as well as European honey bees struggle for survival, their reduced numbers put natural ecosystems and agricultural systems at risk. And bees are not the only pollinators that are suffering. Beetles, butterflies, ants, birds, and bats all help with pollination. In response, landscape professionals and concerned homeowners across the country are learning more about the habitat needs of the creatures that pollinate plants – and using that knowledge to make planting decisions.

    In landscapes across the country, a movement is gaining momentum as landscape professionals and gardening enthusiasts learn more about the plants that support pollinators – and make planting decisions accordingly. Join us on Wednesday, November 1 from 8 – 4 for the ELA Season’s End Summit as four experts (Tod Winston, Annie White, Thomas Berger (his sculpture featured below), and Sam Jaffe) help us to learn what we can do to be part of the solution in support of pollinators. Program schedule can be found at http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/seasons-end-summit-the-plant-pollinator-partnership/ The summit will take place at the Community Harvest Project Barn, 37 Wheeler Road, North Grafton, and is $85 for ELA members, $110 for nonmembers.

  • Tuesday, November 14, 8:00 am – 4:30 pm – The Evolving Role of Urban Landscapes

    Increasing urban growth continues to raise concerns about biodiversity, ecosystem function, and ultimately, sustainability. Ecological designers are making some progress in developing semi-wild areas, landscape connectivity, and resilience. A variety of initiatives are creating green space in urban areas including canopy tree projects, preserving natural areas, encouraging rooftop planting, designing new green spaces, and promoting wild, successional vegetation taking root in unused lots. These green spaces, especially large tree projects and meadows, can cover large urban areas.

    Join The Ecological Landscape Alliance on Tuesday, November 14 at Winterthur Museum and Gardens in Delaware for a day to reflect on urban landscapes with author James Hitchmough from the University of Sheffield. Hitchmough will share insights from three decades of research including his work on planting design and horticultural consulting on the Olympic Park Gardens in London. Since the mid 1980’s Hitchmough’s main research interests have centered on the ecology, design, and management of herbaceous vegetation. While he has a strong interest in native, semi-natural herbaceous vegetation, increasingly he has re-interpreted ecologically based herbaceous vegetation in the cultural context of the public greenspace of towns and cities. This has resulted in a large volume of research on the creation of various native and non-native meadow, steppe and prairie vegetation from sowing seed in situ. This vegetation is designed to be much more sustainable than the traditional herbaceous plantings, however the main goal of the work is to produce ecologically informed herbaceous plant communities that are highly attractive to the public.

    And a local expert, Amy Highland from Mt. Cuba, will share a preview of their new tool to assess risks and benefits of native plant selection for landscape design projects.

    Creating Perennial Herbaceous Plant Meadows by Sowing Seed In Situ

    Sowing is potentially an attractive approach to establishing herbaceous meadows and similar vegetation in landscapes at relatively low cost, and has been the focus of much practice in restoration ecology, often in semi-rural locations. This approach is more problematic in urban places where people expect more instant results, and more control over species composition and performance than many conventional restoration ecology approaches can deliver. This presentation focuses on the creation of sown vegetation in these more cultural landscape settings and the techniques that we have developed to minimize the risk of failure in contractual situations, and to maximize the visual drama and long term sustainability of the resulting “meadows”.

    When does local matter? A new tool to assess risks and benefits when selecting native plant materials

    Loss of habitat and decline in many species (such as pollinators) has led to a growing interest in planting native plants and native plant restoration. Botanic gardens, local governments, ecological organizations, and even neighborhood gardeners are seeking the best plants for their projects. Selecting from available plant materials is not always easy and there is an ever-growing need for evidence-backed guidelines on sourcing native plant materials. To address this need, we convened a small gathering of experts from around the United States specializing in plant restoration, conservation, ecology, genetics, germplasm selection and environmental decision making. During the 2017 workshop hosted by Mt. Cuba Center in Hockessin, Delaware US, we developed a tool to assess options of plant provenance based on the goals and context of a given project. Plant traits change with their provenance, and determining the best choice in terms of genetic diversity, local adaptation, and ecosystem function is a complicated topic. Strict, hyper-local guidelines for sources of plant materials can lead to severe constraints on restoration practices, while long-distance or genetically selected sources can compromise restoration success. Given what we know about plant availability for small-scale practitioners and local citizens, we aim to guide decision-makers through currently-available selection AND help guide future development/availability of plant materials. Botanic gardens can provide leadership on this complicated topic by synthesizing current ecological theory and supporting the native plant enthusiasm seen in our audiences thus resulting in less confusion and more successful restoration of biodiverse systems.

    The Design Of Novel Planted Communities For Specific Roles In Urban Landscape

    Urban landscapes require vegetation to be able to look good and also provide specific functions at the same time, for example the provision of resources for native invertebrates or being able to deal with directed stormwater run-off. In some cases there are advantages to be gained in providing these “services” by adopting a more pragmatic approach in which useful attributes from a variety of different plant communities are “borrowed” and then re-assembled. These processes lead to the creation of new, novel communities that may have no direct equivalent in the natural world. This presentation will deal with the underlying philosophical and practical issues in doing this and how such vegetation can be conceived, designed, and managed in the longer term. The presentation will draw heavily on Hitchmough’s research and practice work over the past 15 years.

    Early registration: ELA members $119, nonmembers $139. Register online at http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/conference-evolving-role-urban-landscapes/

  • Monday, October 9, 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm – Artful Rainwater Design: Stormwater Designs that Enhance Aesthetics

    The concept of Artful Rainwater Design, a term coined by Dr. Sturart Echols and Ms. Eliza Pennypacker, is based on the premise that stormwater management can be designed such that new site amenities are created. These amenities result in greater user satisfaction and perceived value. Looking at rainwater-focused projects nationwide, the presenters  in this October 9 webinar will discuss how these designs transformed the treatment of stormwater into attractive landscapes with educational and recreational components. They will look at specific examples of built designs, explain the principles behind the idea, and discuss the barriers and challenges that need to be addressed for Artful Rainwater Design to become a typical approach to stormwater management. They will look at the work of other designers and offer ideas for future possibilities utilizing their creative, place-making approach to stormwater management.

    Dr. Stuart Echols, is an Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at Penn State University. His interests focus on integrating two aspects of stormwater design: utility and amenity. Through his research, Dr. Echols has developed a method of stormwater design that integrates the landscape and stormwater and that seeks to restore and preserve natural hydrology. He received his Ph.D. from Virginia Tech in environmental design and planning. He coauthored the book Artful Rainwater Design: Creative Ways to Manage Stormwater.

    Eliza Pennypacker has been a faculty member in Penn State University’s Department of Landscape Architecture since 1982 and is currently the Head of the Department. She has taught a wide range of courses, including the History of Landscape Architecture and all levels of design studio. Professor Pennypacker’s research focuses on what she refers to as Artful Rainwater Design: stormwater management that not only mitigates quality and quantity of runoff, but that also celebrates rainwater in a way that educates or entertains visitors. She has written and presented on this topic extensively, and in collaboration with Stuart Echols, recently published a book, Artful Rainwater Design: Creative Ways to Manage Stormwater.

    The webinar is sponsored by the Ecological Landscape Alliance and is free for ELA members, $10 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/webinar-artful-rainwater-design-stormwater-designs-enhance-aesthetics/

  • Monday, September 25, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm – The Liberated Landscape: Letting Nature Do the Work Webinar

    Over thousands of years plants have evolved to reproduce and proliferate on their own, yet we often go to great effort and expense to carefully place every plant in our designed landscapes. How can we capitalize on the reproductive abilities of plants and actively encourage planted as well as existing species to colonize our landscapes? In this lecture, well-known landscape designer Larry Weaner will discuss principles and protocols for creating dynamic, ecologically rich landscapes where nature does much of the planting.

    This Ecological Landscape Alliance September 25 webinar from 4 – 5 pm will include detailed case studies that demonstrate how practical plant proliferation strategies can be applied at diverse scales, from the intimate garden to large multi-acre landscapes. Larry Weaner has been creating landscapes focusing on native plants since 1977. His firm Larry Weaner Landscape Associates has a national reputation for combining ecological restoration with the traditions of garden design. The firm’s work has received numerous awards, been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Garden Design, and Landscape Architecture Magazine, among other publications, and been included on tours with The Garden Conservancy, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, and the American Horticultural Society. Larry lectures throughout the U.S., and in 1990, he founded New Directions in the American Landscape, a conference series with a national following. He recently coauthored Garden Revolution: How Our Landscapes Can Be a Source of Environmental Change.

    Free for ELA members, $10 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/webinar-liberated-landscape-letting-nature-work/