Boston Flora

Tag: Land Escapes

  • Wednesday, April 22, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm – Webinar: Save the Pollinators! Save the Planet!

    On Wednesdays at noon, ELA invites you on A Walk in the Garden, a virtual weekly diversion as we adjust to the restrictions that the COVID-19 virus has forced onto our lives.

    Presented as free webinars to gardeners everywhere, these presentations invite garden and landscape experts to share gardening tips, beautiful images, and inspiration. We hope anyone who is isolating, quarantining, or sheltering-in-place will find comfort and collective strength with a communal walk in the garden.

    On April 22 at noon, join Trevor Smith to Save the Pollinators! Save the Planet! Pollinator gardens are about a lot more than bees and butterflies. Regenerative landscape designer Trevor Smith will explain everything we need to know when it comes to designing and planting a pollinator garden. Beyond providing sustenance for our six-legged friends, Trevor will also describe how your garden can play a substantial role in rebuilding the local ecosystem and helping create climate resilience. Start planning your spring garden with pollinators in mind. Register at www.ecolandscaping.org.

    Trevor Smith is the owner of Land Escapes, a full service regenerative landscape design and build company based in the Boston area. Land Escapes specializes in green stormwater infrastructure, such as permeable pavers and rain gardens, as well as in landscapes designed to maximize Earth’s systems while balancing them with the needs and desires of her human inhabitants. Mr. Smith is equally driven by both the form and function of his landscape designs He is passionate about the natural world which inspires his commitment to ecological principles and practices and devoted to creating beautiful landscapes that provide clients with an oasis to reconnect with the natural world. Mr. Smith holds several landscape certifications, including MCH, NOFA AOLCP, LEEDGA, and IPCI, and he is also a past President of the Ecological Landscape Alliance and a current Trustee.

  • Tuesday, October 13, 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm – Natural Swimming Ponds: Beauty, Recreation, and Habitat with No Chemicals

    A low gurgle emerges from beneath the Mentha aquatica as clear water begins to make its way from the bog downstream between smooth boulders and over gravel. Liquid fingers catch the sun’s rays, bending them and throwing them in every direction. The blooms of iris, hemerocallis, and lobelia bob in the gentle breeze over the bog, where the water collects. The stream rushes over a broken slab of granite in a shimmering sheet adding its high-pitched notes to the chorus of gurgles above as it drops into the pond. Alighting on the edge, a female robin takes a drink, startling a small frog sunning on a warm boulder, while further along sparrows take turns flitting from a Dappled Willow to bathe. The splash of a Frisbee is followed by another splash as a dog wades into the water and momentarily disrupts the serene calm.

    This entire sensory scene takes place at a natural swimming pond designed and constructed by Trevor Smith in Massachusetts. It is the embodiment of residential ecology combining habitat creation and rain harvesting, along with human interaction. It is 100% chemical free, low maintenance, and provides year round interest unlike a regular swimming pool. And although a swimming pond costs more than a rubber lined pool, it costs less than a gunite pool of equal size and comes with a tremendous number of additional benefits.

    In this one hour Tuesday, October 13 Ecological Landscape Alliance webinar, Trevor Smith will explain design considerations, mechanical and bio-filtration options, water flow and circulation, rainwater capture for recharge, construction methods, and will Trevor will also discuss how to sell this new concept to your clients.

    Trevor Smith is the owner of Land Escapes, a full service ecological landscaping company in the Boston area that specializes in Garden Design, Eco-Rain Recovery, Water Features, and Living Wall Installations. Trevor is also the President of the Ecological Landscape Alliance. You can reach Trevor through his website: www.everydaygetaway.com.

    Register at: http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/webinar-natural-swimming-ponds-beauty-recreation-and-habitat-with-no-chemicals/#sthash.bxGi3G8S.dpuf.

  • Tuesday, January 7, 9:00 am – 11:00 am – Irrigation Tips for Landscape Designers

    The Ecological Landscaping Association and the New England Wild Flower Society will co-sponsor Irrigation Tips for Landscape Designers on Tuesday, January 7, from 9 – 11 (snow date Wednesday January 8), a panel discussion lead by Theresa Sprague and Trevor Smith, at Garden in the Woods in Framingham.  $20 for ELA and NEWFS members, $25 for nonmembers.

    The goal of most irrigation systems is to produce healthy landscapes while conserving water.  For landscape designers to achieve this goal, irrigation systems need to be well designed.  This panel discussion will held you understand the basics of irrigation systems in order to improve communication with irrigation contractors.  For more information email ela.info@comcast.net, or call 617-436-5838.  Theresa Sprague is the owner of BlueFlax Design in Mattapoisett, where she focuses on merging science with the fine art of landscape design.  She holds a Masters Degree from the Conway School of Landscape Design and is currently ELA’s Vice President.  Trevor Smith is owner of Land Escapes, a full service ecological landscaping company in the Boston area. He is currently ELA’s President.

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  • Thursday, April 4, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Watergardens: The Voice of Our Landscape

    Water is the key to life on this planet, yet it is the one resource we take most for granted.  Trevor Smith shows how we can add water to our landscape in both large and small ways to reduce urban noise pollution, create habitat, attract wildlife and create our own everyday getaway.  Join the Ecological Landscaping Association and the New England Wildflower Society on Thursday, April 4, from 6:30 – 8:30, at Garden in the Woods in Framingham,  to find out about different types of rainwater harvesting methods, and the many benefits of capturing and reusing storm water.  In addition, learn about natural, holistic swimming ponds and how easy they are to install in your garden.  Trevor Smith is the owner of Land Escapes, a full service ecological landscaping company in the Boston area that specializes in Garden Design, Eco-Rain Recovery, Water Features, and Living Wall Installations.  For more information email ela.info@comcast.net or call 617-436-5838.

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  • Saturday, July 14, 10:30 am – 12:00 noon – Verticulture: The Art of Living Walls

    Trevor Smith of Land Escapes will explain the benefits of living wall technology, the opportunities that Verticulture presents and how to incorporate the artfulness of living walls into your design repertoire, at this Tower Hill Botanic Garden class to be held Saturday, July 14, from 10:30 – noon at Tower Hill, 11 French Drive in Boylston. You will never look at a blank wall the same once you have the opportunity to “paint” with plants. Smith will discuss why living walls are not only an environmental benefit on a small scale by improving indoor air quality, or a large scale by reducing heat island effect, but also an innovative way to overcome landscape challenges in confined spaces with dynamic results.  Fee is $15 for Tower Hill members, $18 for non-members, and you may register by calling 508-869-6111, or visiting www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Thursday, November 10, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm – ELA Season’s End Summit

    Join the Ecological Landscaping Association on Thursday, November 10 from 8:30 – 4:30 at the Doyle Center in Leominster for two end of season panels, a locally sourced lunch, and networking.  The morning panel of Ecological success stories is “Hits and Near Misses” with landscape designers Julie Meyer, Rebecca Lindenmeyr, and Laura Kuhn, who will share their expertise and projects that demonstrate ecological landscapes with maximum aesthetic appeal, balancing ecological ideals and meeting client expectations, and lessons learned when obstacles occur.  The afternoon panel, “Hot New Services to Grow Your Business”, will be moderated by Risa Edelstein, and will feature Trevor Smith of Land Escapes on “Expanding Landscape Options with Living Walls,” Jessie Banhazl of Green City Growers (below) on “Taking Edible Landscapes to New Heights,” and Chris Rawlings of Waterhouse Pools and Ponds on “Natural Swimming Ponds.”  $55 for ELA members, $75 for non-members.  For more information, and to register, call 617-436-5838, or email ela.info@comcast.net.