Urban Heat Islands: Why Cities Are Getting Hotter and How Native Plants Can Help. If you’ve ever walked across a blacktop parking lot on a summer afternoon and then stepped into a shaded natural area, you’ve experienced the urban heat island effect firsthand. Urban heat islands are basically one of the fastest-growing environmental challenges facing […]
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Forest Succession: How a Forest Builds Itself Over Time. Forest succession is generally the ecological process that describes how a forest establishes, develops, and matures after disturbance. Whether the land has been cleared, burned, or simply left open, plant communities do not appear randomly. They arrive in a sequence. Each group basically prepares the way
Patience Makes Gardens In a culture that expects instant results, gardens quietly teach a rather different lesson. Healthy landscapes are not rushed. They are grown according to natural timing. When working with native plants, patience is not a nice idea. Patience makes gardens. Patience Makes Gardens: An Urban Pollinator Oasis Edition. Basically, the first year
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Pollinator Gardens in Albany, NY To be sure, in the past few years, many customers have reached out requesting pollinator gardens in Albany, NY. We love it! Native plants are exactly what we need for urban habitat restoration. Many of our clients live in the neighborhoods surrounding SUNY Albany or the College at Saint Rose.
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Chop and Drop Mulching for Biodiversity and Soil Health What if one of the best mulches for your garden was already growing there? Chop and Drop Mulching for Biodiversity. “Chop and drop” is a simple gardening technique where stems, leaves, and other plant material are cut down and left on the soil surface rather than
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Before, During, After: The Transformation of a Native Plant Garden Before During After. Every native plant garden begins with a view that appears a little underwhelming. The before stage is often bare, compacted, and unimpressive. Turf grass, invasive plants, or tired soil dominate the space. To the untrained eye, it can feel like nothing beautiful
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Early Blooming Natives. Most of the flowering native plants that grow in eastern US butterfly gardens and pollinator gardens trend towards late season blooming. The timing aligns locally perfectly with the Saratoga annual racetrack season. The horses race from July through September. And that’s exactly when area native gardens in sunny spaces are blowing up
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Climate-resilient corporate landscaping. Climate resilient corporate landscaping is a lot more than an exterior upgrade or capital gains. (Although those tangible gains are very welcome in most campuses.) After that, a strategic investment in the health of your property, your people, and the entire region can be realized. When a corporate campus chooses native plants,
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Edible Food Forest Gardens: Permanent Native Agriculture that Feeds People and Wildlife. At Jessecology, we’ve been building Edible Food Forest Gardens for over 15 years. These gardens nourish both humans, the wildlife and the neighborhood’s ecosystem. Food Forests mimic the layers of a natural forest. They feature fruit trees, berrying shrubs, herbs, vegetables, and beneficial
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Regenerative Landscaping Regenerative LandscapingHumans have a regenerative gear. We just need to use it. Most modern interactions with the land are quietly degrading. People mow, spray, strip, compact, bulldoze, and remove organic matter. Good intentions don’t annul the harm and fragmentation that results. Over time, the soil becomes depleted, water runs off instead of soaking
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Protecting Plants from Deer. The Mild Winter Affect. Altogether the mild winter this year gave way to an exploding mammal population in spring. Undoubtedly there are more chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, woodchucks, skunks and deer than normal. A seasonally typical year results in some natural checks and balances to wildlife populations. Conversely, a snowstorm absent winter
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From Roots to Radiance From Roots to Radiance: Story of a Native Garden in Development. Every lasting garden begins underground. Long before flowers catch the eye or grasses sway in the breeze, a native landscape is quietly establishing itself below the soil surface. Understanding this hidden phase helps homeowners appreciate the full journey of a
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Free Audiobooks in NYS: A Gift for Your Curious Mind PSA: Free Audiobooks in NYS. Did you know that free audiobooks in NYS are available to every resident? If you live in New York State, you automatically qualify for a free library card from both the Brooklyn Public Library and the New York Public Library.
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Sugar Maple Tree Sugar maple trees (Acer saccharum) are iconic North American trees known for their stunning fall foliage and sap used to produce maple syrup. Here are some key details about sugar maple trees: Sugar Maple Characteristics Size and Growth: Sugar maples can grow to heights of 60-75 feet, with some reaching up to
Corporate Habitat Garden Projects. Corporate Habitat Garden Projects: Renewing the Local Ecosystem while Saving Money on Maintenance Costs. Corporate habitat garden projects are one of the most effective ways for a business to create visible, lasting good. When a company chooses to replace turfgrass with organic native wildflowers, the results ripple outward. A pollinator garden,
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Gardening 101: How to begin gardening with native plants. We know—gardening with native plants is exciting, but it makes some people nervous for some reason. If you’ve ever found yourself staring at your new garden and thinking, “Wait… is everything okay out there?”—you’re not alone. Let’s walk through some of the most common concerns we
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Native Species Awakening. Gardeners often have an unexpected learning curve when they begin to add native plants to their gardens. In springtime, when native species wildflowers wake up from winter dormancy it can seem underwhelming for a while. The immediate gratification of vegetable gardening and big box store plant shopping are obstacles to true real
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Time Builds Beauty Time Builds Beauty. Landscapes are not created all at once. They unfold. In native gardens especially, the most meaningful changes happen gradually, shaped by seasons, soil, and time. While modern landscaping often promises instant results, ecology tells a quieter truth. Time builds beauty. In the Beginning. In the first year after planting,
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Caring for large gardens is quite a different fête from caring for small gardens. The maintenance routine required to keep a small native garden thriving is often quite manageable. Weeding monthly is usually a breeze after plants are established. It’s fairly common knowledge by now that using native plants returns a low maintenance garden
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Native Garden Spring Cleanup: The Right Way to Clean Up a Pollinator Garden. Native wildflowers and grasses don’t wake up alone in spring. The insects, amphibians, spiders and reptiles wake up with them. Native Garden Spring Cleanup: Be Patient to Start. Many of the pollinators, beetles, moths, butterflies, and native bees that visited your garden
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