Plants That Repel Mosquitoes. There’s something very magical about summer evenings in the garden—until the mosquitoes show up. Luckily, nature provides elegant, fragrant solutions that keep our outdoor spaces enjoyable without resorting to chemicals. 1. Aromatic Herbs: Basil & Lemongrass. Aromatic herbs are a gardener’s best friend when it comes to natural pest control. Basil […]
Plants that repel mosquitoes Read More »
Bird Gardens: Creating Safe Habitat for Our Songbird Neighbors. Bird gardens for the eco-win. If you want more birds in your yard, the recipe is simpler than most people think. Basically, it starts with habitat structure. Birds don’t feel safe in wide-open lawns or landscapes that are mostly lawn or mulch and annuals. They feel
Wildlife Corridor Gardens Wildlife corridor gardens are certainly one of the most powerful tools we have to repair habitat and protect biodiversity. Straightaway, they exist right on our own properties. Without question, these gardens are intentionally planted green spaces that connect fragmented natural areas. Concurrently they allow migrating songbirds, pollinators, and other wildlife to safely
Wildlife Corridor Gardens Read More »
DIY Planting Native Plants. Every year our company receives more and more, and more requests for design plans for DIY planting native plants gardens. The excitement for the growing environmental movement is thrilling. We love all the energy and effort towards healing our ecosystem and eco-renewal! And we’d love to respond to all the new
DIY Planting Native Plants Read More »
Do plants have feelings? The mystery intrigues gardeners, ecologists, and anyone who spends time in nature. Ancient Christian legends teach that nature did not experience the fall of man. Thus, the earth’s flora and fauna still exist in a pristine state of paradise. While plants don’t have souls like humans, they exhibit fascinating responses to
Do Plants Have Feelings? Read More »
Native Landscaping in NY Recently we completed new lakeshore edge native landscaping in NY. The new garden build consisted of a home’s foundation landscape design near the shore of the lake. The house is located very close to the lake. Therefore, it was built with a high foundation to prevent flooding issues. We used New
Native Landscaping in NY Read More »
Easy potato garden DIY: About 2 months ago we bought some attractive Fingerling Potatoes from the Saratoga Farmer’s Market. We forgot we had them. Subsequently they grew long, spindly eye buds and the potato bodies turned soft and flaccid. Finally, today we got around to picking the eyes off the potatoes to plant them.
Easy Potato Garden DIY Read More »
Naturalized Plants. If you ever more than dabble in the gardening world, you’ll definitely hear the term “naturalized plant” mentioned. It’s an abused grey area at best within the industry that leads to environmental problems from new invasive plants ultimately. Naturalized plants are a sanctioned ecology category defined by a clear set of metrics. Unfortunately, most
Naturalized Plants Read More »
Eco-friendly Gardens and Edible landscaping in Clifton Park, NY Edible plants can nicely augment eco-friendly gardens. In Clifton Park, NY (which is located in southern Saratoga County), there’s an eco-friendly landscaped property that we’ve used edible gardens and edible plants and herbs generously in the design. The above photo contains a June-bearing Strawberry as groundcover
Eco-friendly Gardens in Clifton Park, NY Read More »
Butterfly Garden DIY: How To Jesse taught a workshop at a regional garden expo. “Butterfly Garden DIY: How To” was the topic. Subsequently we’ve heard from folks who wanted to attend and couldn’t. This post will summarize the butterfly habitat gardening presentation. A wildlife biologist friend writes frequently about butterfly gardening and the lifecycles of
Butterfly Garden DIY: How To Read More »
Black Cohosh plant (Cimicifuga racemosa) Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa, aka Actaea racemosa) is one of the finest native woodland plants. It’s also beloved as a woman’s herb. It graces the shade garden and part sun gardens and woodlands around the US. Black Cohosh has many nicknames, i.e., Bugbane or Black Snakeroot. There is also
Black Cohosh plant (Cimicifuga racemosa) Read More »
Pine Tree Gardening A recent rainy Monday found us on a break near a Pine Forest in the Albany Pinebush Nature Preserve. This nature preserve is a 2-minute walk from the garden we were working in; a 10-minute drive from downtown Albany and 20 minutes from Saratoga. This particular wildlife habitat is a sister site
Pine Tree Gardening Read More »
Shade Garden in Clifton Park, NY In Clifton Park, NY a legacy shade garden shines. Homeowners and property managers are often puzzled by the shady parts of their property. They may want a garden but think non-native Hosta and Astilbe are the only options for a shaded space. Undeniably, the world’s forests, loaded with beautiful
Shade Garden in Clifton Park, NY Read More »
Wildlife Garden Build in Clifton Park, NY. We were honored to be asked to design and install a wildlife garden system at a townhouse in Clifton Park, NY. Basically, the existing gardens were uninspired and expired. Presently the townhouse is surrounded by such a beautiful wetland forest, the renovation was exciting to complete. The wildlife
Wildlife Garden Build in Clifton Park, NY Read More »
Container Vegetable Garden DIY: How To. Container vegetable garden DIY is easy and fun. Our team created an edible garden in containers. It is teeming with life force, vitality and fecundity. We planted everything in mid to late May. We’ve been disciplined about watering when there’s no rain. The highest quality organic soil available was
Container Vegetable Garden DIY: How To Read More »
Plant Availability List Certainly, during early greenhouse season 2024, the best way to purchase our plants is via the ECOS Pollinator Garden kits. Here is the pollinator garden kit listing for sunny conditions. Equally important, here is the ECOS Pollinator Garden kit for shade. We will host several plant sales through the season. Watch
Plant Availability List Read More »
Schenectady, NY Butterfly Garden in a nature preserve. A dream came true spring 2017 when we designed and managed the installation of a butterfly garden in a Schenectady, NY nature preserve. This week saw the much anticipated butterfly garden installation at the Woodlawn Nature Preserve in Schenectady, NY. The Friends of the Woodlawn Preserve contacted
Schenectady, NY Butterfly Garden in a nature preserve Read More »
Sustainable landscaping for new construction. Certainly, we were delighted in 2014 when a longtime landscaping dream finally came to fruition for the first time. Because we were hired that year for our first of many new construction landscape design/build projects. At this time, the construction site was in beautiful southern Saratoga County. The homes are
Sustainable Landscaping for New Construction Read More »
Ballston Spa Nature Preserve Over the past month, we’ve had the honor of being a part of a lovely project. A couple in Ballston Spa, NY (just outside of Saratoga Springs) contacted us around Mother’s Day with an opportunity to build a nature preserve, with native plant gardens on a half an acre of their
Ballston Spa Nature Preserve Build Read More »
Eco Friendly Garden in Saratoga In July of 2013 we designed and installed an eco friendly garden in Saratoga Springs, NY. The new, eco friendly landscaping is mostly located in the front yard of the property, and it’s really developed into something beautiful this year. We decided to create a formal garden theme to fit
Eco friendly Garden in Saratoga Read More »