Conservation Bouquet with Invasive Plant Purple Loosestrife A deep appreciation for native plants usually is cultivated in a person's mind or heart once education about invasive plants really sinks in. Once I understood a little bit about how noxious, introduced invasive species can crowd out natural areas and prevent our wildlife [...]
Sky View of New Construction Gardens This year we had the honor of being asked to do the design and installation landscaping for a new home built by the construction company Halfmoon Construction. The new home will be net zero for meeting and exceeding the highest energy efficiency standards. Creating a habitat garden [...]
New Woodland Garden in Saratoga Springs, NY This summer we designed and installed a new woodland garden in Saratoga Springs, NY, in the neighborhood near Saratoga Lake. Shade gardens are one of the easiest places in the property to landscape sustainably, because of the rich and diverse body of available native plants that [...]
Privacy Landscaping in Saratoga Quick, don't think about it just answer: what do you think of your neighbors? Do you secretly cringe when they catch you at the mailbox? Or do you like them enough to comfortably share the neighborhood without overthinking it? I'm asking because "landscaping for privacy" is brought up [...]
Archimandrite Athanasy in the Monastery Gardens This fall I had the delightful opportunity to design and install a new butterfly garden at St. Tikhon's Orthodox Monastery in South Canaan, PA in the yard for Archimandrite Athanasy. Butterfly Garden for St. Anna The monks at the Monastery keep honeybees and sell the [...]
Diane Donato interviews Jesse from Jessecology about native plant gardens in Saratoga Springs, NY.
A Native Plants Walk in Saratoga Springs, NY In Saratoga Springs, NY there's a public access trail right in town where people can walk, run, take their dogs and view some native plants in the wild at the same time. Having access to nature trails in an urban area like this exponentially increases the [...]
On August 9th there will be a Habitat Benefit Garden Tour in Saratoga Springs from 4pm-7pm. The tour is self guided, consisting of ecosystem friendly, sustainable gardens designed by Jessecology. Tickets are $10 and will support the Saratoga Code Blue Shelter. They are available at 2 locations: the help desk of the Healthy Living [...]
Celebrating Earth Day at Healthy Living Market This Thursday, April 24th, join me in celebratation of Earth Day at the Healthy Living Market in Saratoga. I am teaching a class about the benefits of using native plants in our landscaping and gardens, with a slideshow of about 20 of my favorite native plants. Let's celebrate [...]
Over the winter and early spring, we've been updating the website. If you've tried to send an email and haven't recieved a response, please try again. Chances are that I never recieved the email as we've experienced some website construction problems. Happy spring everybody!
Snowy Holiday Gardens The beauty and stillness of the winter holidays is upon us, and though winter solstice is still eight days away we've already had multiple snow storm events, often lasting days on end. The effect of the snow on the outdoors in general and our gardens in particular is just sheer beauty- quiet, [...]
Dear friends,I have so enjoyed the gardens that I've had the pleasure of creating - the habitats they provide, their impact on our local eco-systems, and the humans that I've been able to make happy with their beautiful, healthy new garden living spaces. I love them so much that I knew I needed to share [...]
Love, love love these green garden-related products and services. If you're anything like me, you dream of green while the world is cold and covered in white. This holiday season, why not do as I do and bring the garden into your home? I've curated a list of some of my favorite products, including a shelf-load of books [...]
This summer, being the landscape designer for the gardens at the Saratoga Springs Healthy Living Market has been full of lots of colorful and joyful surprises. Developing Saratoga Spring's first urban shopping mall parking lot Monarch Butterfly Waystation was a delightful adventure to be a part of, and more lovely experiences continue to unfold as [...]
This week, to coincide with the first snowfall I had the delightful privilege of planting a butterfly garden with a homeschool group. The children in this homeschool group happen to be the progeny of my best friend from childhood, so this butterfly garden planting adventure was extra special for me. A few weeks before we [...]
This summer I had the privilege of doing ecological garden renovations at a farm in Saratoga. The farm is located in quintessential farm country, heading east on the way to Schuylerville, surrounded by miles on all sides of wild beauty. It's a dream location for this exact kind of project: planting dozens of native plants [...]
This summer a longtime landscaping dream crystallized into reality for me: I was called on to be the landscape designer at a new Saratoga County construction site. The homes are located in a new subdivision in Clifton Park and use a lot of high end, eco-friendly building materials from the Saratoga Springs based Green Conscience [...]
Giant Ironweed (Vernonia gigantea) is a gorgeous New York state native species plant that's listed as endangered and rare in New York, and is noteably difficult to find for sale, even at specialty native plant nurseries. NY Ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis) is another native Ironweed species that's easier to locate at nurseries. Both Giant Ironweed and [...]
Imagine my delight to see a Monarch caterpillar at the Saratoga Springs Healthy Living Market's certified Monarch Waystation during a visit this week! When I initially wrote about the Monarch waystation project, I mentioned I didn't expect to even see butterflies this year; I definitely didn't think we'd see Monarch breeding success in the waystation [...]
Last year I did a landscape renovation for an urban client that I felt crystalized a wildlife corridor in Saratoga Springs, NY through the positioning of multiple individual local properties with eco-savvy landscape design. This habitat renewal space is located in front yard gardens by the Oklahoma Track, on East Avenue in Saratoga Springs. The [...]