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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 in May I was called to design a new butterfly garden in Glenville, NY, using exclusively NY native plants. This photo was taken the spring of the second year in the Glenville butterfly garden, this May, as it was just starting to develop for the season. And the second photo is the view [...]
At the Children's Butterfly Garden of a Saratoga County Elementary School This week I had the privilege of designing a butterfly garden at a Saratoga County Elementary School. The kids were lots of fun to work with, and they were so excited to learn about habitat gardening and the different species of native plants we [...]
Momma's habitat garden Over the past several years, my mother (a pragmatic vegetable gardener for most of her life) has been learning about native plants and habitat garden development via Jessecology blogposts. Her initial curiousity bloomed into a real interest, and she's been asking me for some time to help renovate the south side of [...]
Sometimes a strategy ecologically savvy landscape designers use to decide what to plant where on a property is to observe what plants are already growing and use them as ecological indicator species. The new butterfly garden in Malta, NY, installed over the past week was subject to this ecological landscape design technique. This Asclepias tuberosa [...]
Being an ecological garden designer in Saratoga County involves a constant reawakening it seems. Every day the world seems new. The habitat here is so rich, so vibrant that most days I feel like Alice in Wonderland. Everywhere you turn in Clifton Park, Burnt Hills, Ballston Spa, Saratoga Springs and all other regions encompassed by [...]
Last summer I began transforming a bland ornamental garden in Burnt Hills, NY into a colorful, low maintenance native plant habitat oasis. We began referring to the newly eco-friendly garden property as, "the bluebird house" because soon after the addition of the first round of native plants bluebirds began frequenting the gardens and yard. One [...]
This past Sunday a Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly visited our Saratoga Springs container herb garden. It was the first I'd seen all season. We had a Lindera benzoin "Spicebush," which is the Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly's host plant, in a container in the holding area for Monday delivery. Butterfly intuition about host plant location in the garden [...]
Photo from websource Recently I mentioned how Monarch butterflies have declined as a species this year. Ecologists across the country are encouraging home owners, gardeners, landscape designers and proprietors of public spaces to plant more Milkweed. Milkweed, the native plant family Asclepias, is the Monarch caterpillar's host plant. When we integrate it into our gardens, [...]
This week I designed a butterfly garden in Glenville, NY. The bed is in constant dappled sun, so we chose butterfly host and nectar plants acclimated for both full sun and partial shade, as well as some native species shrubs to increase shady effect. Ninebark and Lindera were used, both support butterfly habitat as a [...]
This past weekend I had the privilege of being asked to teach a workshop on butterfly habitat gardening at the Albany 2013 Capital District Garden and Flower Show. I've since heard from several people who wanted to attend and couldn't; this post will summarize the butterfly habitat gardening presentation. Carole Sevilla Brown recently composed an [...]
This week in the news I noticed a disheartening article that illuminated this year's decline in Monarch butterfly species population. A friend and colleague, Ben Vogt, has created several new online platforms for Monarch advocates to rally together and celebrate milkweed, the Monarch host plant. Encouraged by Ben's positive movements, and also by the spring [...]
I've been invited to give a lecture on butterfly habitat gardening at the 2013 Capital District Garden and Flower Show. I will be speaking at 7pm on Friday, March 22cnd. I'll actually be there all weekend at the Jessecology booth. I'm delighted to have the privilege to share uplifting and empowering information with people about [...]
This week a challenge was posed to imagine turning this sandy pine forest edge into a native plant habitat oasis. Many ecological factors need to be taken into consideration: the complete abscense of any nutrients in the sandy soil, the slope of the hill that lends to erosion, and lack of water retention in quickly [...]
This week I completed installation of a habitat garden in Clifton Park using native plants. Like many gardens in the capital region, adding native plants gives an immediate and noticeable influx of wildlife motion. This property has a forest edge and natural wetland habitat within a half a mile. Butterflies and songbirds are nearby and [...]
This work week continued in a Clifton Park property that's added extensive habitat garden space over the summer. Many native plants for butterflies have been introduced, especially in this featured photo, which will one day be referred to by neighborhood children as, "Butterfly Land." Here we see the quintessential Monarch habitat plant: Swamp Milkweed or [...]