As horticulturists and landscape designers, we need a strong foundation in the cultural history and theory of landscape to fully understand our work in the garden. In this course, we will explore Eastern and Western garden design, including long-practiced principles that encourage sustainable and ecological approaches in the landscape design field. This history survey will include visual presentations, readings, projects, and discussion.

Date/time details Wednesdays, January 5, 12, 19, 26, 2022, 6-8:30 p.m.
Location Live virtual
Program code HOR8040
Fee 180 (Members)/$220 (Nonmembers)
Instructor Staci Jasin
CEU MALP MCLP: 2 NOFA AOLCP: 10
Certificate Advanced Core, Horticulture
Register

NOFA-NY’s Winter Conference is one of the largest organic food and farming conferences in the nation – gathering hundreds each year to meet old friends, learn new skills, provide support, and celebrate community. And, while we have made the difficult decision to host a virtual conference, 2022 will be no different! We will miss seeing all of you in person, but we look forward to applying what we learned during last year’s virtual conference to make it an even better experience. We appreciate you and hope you’ll join us in January for:

80+
workshops, discussion groups, and networking opportunities.
100+
farmers, educators, authors, and advocates to share knowledge with.
13
educational tracks plus some interactive special events!

Not only can you join from anywhere, the virtual conference also broadens access by offering workshop recordings, translation services, closed captioning, and more. The conference website and mobile app will remain open until March 1, 2022, meaning you’ll have an entire month to enjoy all that the conference has to offer!

Landscape designers who successfully employ an ecology-based approach typically draw from
a variety of sources. The inextricable link between people and ecology only increases the need
to broaden their investigative lens. Join us as we explore the integration of ecology-based design
with people-based factors, including the lingering effects of historic land use and the need to
accommodate diverse cultural perspectives on the meaning of “ecology.”
This program is geared toward the Mid-Atlantic & New England regions.
CEUs Available.
Thursday and Friday, January 20 and 21, 2022
Thursday and Friday, January 27 and 28, 2022
1:00–4:30PM EST (includes instructional time & breaks)

FRIDAY, JANUARY 21 - SUNDAY, JANUARY 23, 2022
[VIRTUAL] DRAWDOWN FESTIVAL - TOOLS FOR REGENERATION: FORUMS! FUN! FILMS!

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CARBON CREW PROJECT, DRAWDOWN EAST END, + DAMON GAMEAU

Join Carbon CREW Project, Drawdown East End, Damon Gameau, and Southampton Arts Center for an array of virtual talks, workshops, and films on ways that we can participate in “regenerating” our earth and reversing climate devastation.

Project Drawdown’s mission is to help the world reach “drawdown” - the point in the future when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline, thereby stopping catastrophic climate change - as quickly, safely, and equitably as possible. Together, we can accelerate Drawdown climate solutions in our communities.

What shifts are we already seeing in our native gardens and landscapes due to changing climate, and what can we expect to see? What steps can we take to address these changes, and what do they mean for our local ecology? Using the latest scientific modeling and information, we will explore these big questions and dig deep to identify factors affecting our flora and the ways native plants respond. Most importantly, we will discuss our role as stewards of our gardens, forests, and fields.

Date/time details Friday, January 21, 2022, 6-8 p.m.
Location Live virtual
Program code HOR8037
Fee $30 (Members)/$36 (Nonmembers)
Instructor Alexis Doshas
CEU MALP MCLP: 1; NOFA AOLCP: 2
Certificate Elective: Basic and Advanced, Horticulture
Register

Tue, January 25, 2022 @ 12:30 pm EST - 3:00 pm EST
Online Virtual Class/Workshop/Conference

Climate change is a multifaceted challenge with numerous — and sometimes unexpected — contributing factors. To create solutions on a personal and manageable scale, we need to turn to the science. This class will cover a brief history of climate change and address carbon and hydrological cycles, the earth’s heating and cooling systems, and the importance of wise landscape design, construction, and agriculture to mitigate climate change. We will also discuss the role of native plants in the climate change conversation.

Class Fee: $38 (Members)/$45 (Nonmembers)
Click here to register through Native Plant Trust.

Trevor Smith is a designer and education coordinator at Weston Nurseries. He is also a regenerative landscape consultant, landscape designer, and stormwater consultant at ReEarth (formerly Land Escapes) – an ecological landscape design and install company in the Boston area. For more than 20 years Trevor has worked to improve our planet and our community through ecological landscape design and education. As past President and Board member of the Ecological Landscape Alliance (ELA), Trevor collaborates with ELA to bring vital information, resources and educational materials to the landscape design community. Trevor has taught many classes on Green Infrastructure, contributes regularly to landscape publications; and lectures frequently at industry events. Trevor holds several landscape certifications, including MCH, NOFA AOLCP, LEEDGA, and IPCI.

Climate change is a multifaceted challenge with numerous -- and sometimes unexpected -- contributing factors. To create solutions on a personal and manageable scale, we need to turn to the science. This class will cover a brief history of climate change and address carbon and hydrological cycles, the earth’s heating and cooling systems, and the importance of wise landscape design, construction, and agriculture to mitigate climate change. We will also discuss the role of native plants in the climate change conversation.

Date/time details Tuesday, January 25, 2022, 12:30-3:00 p.m.
Location Live virtual
Program code HOR8035
Fee $38 (Members)/$45 (Nonmembers)
Instructor Trevor Smith
CEU MALP MCLP: 1; NOFA AOLCP: 2.5; SAF CFE: 2.5
Certificate Elective: Basic and Advanced, Horticulture
Cosponsor Ecological Landscape Alliance
Register

Bonus Lecture | Zoom
Wednesday, January 26, 2021 | 11am

Members will receive a link in email. If you are not a member you can buy a ticket for $10 here.

Given the ongoing drought and dangerous wildfire conditions in California and throughout the west, we see an urgent need to train more people on clean techniques to convert problem forest vegetation into biochar onsite. Biochar helps mitigate the wildfire threat by increasing forest soil water-holding capacity and resilience.

Who Should Attend? Forestry contractors, arborists, workforce supervisors, forest land owners, and staff from environmental NGOs and natural resource agencies who supervise forestry workers, or develop biochar forestry projects and programs.

At our day-long , online seminar and the following 3 field day events in Butte County, CA (free), you will learn how to make and use biochar onsite to increase the water holding capacity and resilience of forest soils. (Butte County is about 3 hours northeast of San Francisco.)

ONLINE WEBINAR PROGRAM Thursday, January 27 PST
Morning Session - Biochar Production and Applications 9 am - noon

Kelpie Wilson, Wilson Biochar Associates: How to Make Biochar in Place Using Flame Cap Kilns and Conservation Burns
Deborah Page-Dumroese, US Forest Service Research Soil Scientist: Applying Biochar to Forest Soils for Forest Health and Restoration
Karen Youngblood: Forester, Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc
Laurie Schoonhoven: NRCS National Forester
Afternoon Session - Reports on Biochar Forest Projects 1 - 4 pm

Ken Carloni : Yew Creek Land Alliance
Kai-Hoffman Krull: San Juan Islands Conservation District
Raymond Baltar: Sonoma Biochar Initiative
Darren McAvoy: Utah Forest Service
Jim Archuleta: US Forest Service
Others TBA
FIELD DAYS, Chico, CA FREE - Please get a ticket to reserve your spot. 9-5 PST
February 1
Morning session: Biochar in the Community, Butte College Skyway Center, Chico, CA

Steve Feher, Sustainable Community Development Institute
Wolfgang Rougle, Butte County Resource Conservation District
Deborah Page-Dumroese, US Forest Service Research Soil Scientist
Kelpie Wilson, Wilson Biochar Associates
Afternoon session: Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve

Paul Maslin, Biochar from Burn Piles for Ecological Benefit – hands-on participation in demonstration of the techniques
February 2
Biochar Field Demonstration near Paradise, Butte County Fire Safe Council
February 3 (same as February 2 program)
Biochar Field Demonstration near Paradise, Butte County Fire Safe Council
A detailed program and directions to venues will be sent to attendees in early January.
SPONORSHIPS
Help support Biochar in the Woods! Contact grantwhisptouch@gmail.com for more information.

JOIN THE DISCUSSION NOW
If you'd like to subscribe to the free Biochar in the Woods Discussion Group, send email to Biocharinthewoods+subscribe@Biochar.groups.io.

Join us for a discussion on Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The book club is a chance to share your thoughts on the book and broader themes brought up. This is not a lecture nor panel, but a conversation between attendees.

When purchasing your copy of the book, please consider supporting your local bookseller. Another great option is to borrow the book from your library. If your local library doesn't have a copy available, they can always interlibrary loan one for you.

Free to attend. Registration is required. Click here to register on Zoom.

CONTACT US
To register

631-283-3195
events@peconiclandtrust.org
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32nd Annual NOFA-NJ Winter Conference January 29 and 30, 2022
January 30, 2022

Please hold the date for NOFA-NJ’s 32nd Annual Winter Conference!
Future of the NJ Organic Farming
Day 1: The Landscape
The first day will take place on January 29th beginning at 8:30AM and ending at 5PM.

8:30-9 Welcome Remarks Nagisa Manabe, Executive Director. Nagisa has been in Marketing and Sales for over 30 years. She has been an executive at Diageo, the United States Postal Service, Coca Cola, Ipsos and Godiva. Presently, she serves as the Executive Director of NOFA-NJ.

9-9:45 Reflections of the first 50 years and a Prediction about the Future of Organic, Jim Riddle. Jim was the founding president of International Organic Inspectors Association (IOIA). In 2001, he was appointed to the USDA’s National Organic Standards Board. He served on its Executive Committee for 5 years and was chair in 2005. He has also worked with the Agricultural Marketing Service; Economic Research Service; Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service; Agricultural Research Service; Natural Resource Conservation Service; Risk Management Agency; National Ag Library; Foreign Ag Service; National Ag Statistics Service; and Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education. Today, he and his wife Joyce are Organic farmers in MN.

10-10:45 All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life, Winona LaDuke: American economist, environmentalist, writer and industrial hemp grower, known for her work on tribal land claims and preservation, as well as sustainable development; ), about the drive to reclaim tribal land for ownership

11-11:45 Agrobiodiversity conservation politics Garrett Graddy-Lovelace. Associate Professor at the School of International Service of American University, Garrett Graddy-Lovelace researches and teaches global environmental and agricultural policy and agrarian politics. A critical geographer, she draws upon political ecology and decolonial studies to research agricultural biodiversity conservation, agrarian cooperatives, land use decisions, and domestic and global impacts of US farm policies.

Noon Lunch Break and Seed Trialing Proposal from Heron Breen of Fedco

1-1:45 Urban Farming Today, Karen Washington of Rise & Root Farm. Karen Washington has lived in New York City all her life, and has spent decades promoting urban farming as a way for all New Yorkers to access to fresh, locally grown food.
2-2:45 Inflamed. Journeying through the human body – our digestive, endocrine, circulatory, respiratory, reproductive, immune, and nervous systems – Rupa Marya and Raj Patel show how inflammation is connected not just to the food that we eat, the air that we breathe and access to healthcare, but is also linked to the traumatic events we experience and the very model of health that doctors practice: one which takes things apart, rather than seeking to bring ideas and lived experiences together. Raj Patel is a research professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs, a Research Associate at Rhodes University, South Africa, and a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems. He is the author of Stuffed and Starved, the New York Times bestselling The Value of Nothing and co-director of the forthcoming documentary The Ants and the Grasshopper.
3-3:45 The Plant Based Food Movement
4-5 Mike Rassweiler leads a famer roundtable discussion about Reimagining Organic Farming in NJ
5-6 Evening Film screening: “Voices from the Barrens,” which documents the involvement of indigenous/native peoples in the blueberry harvest of Maine, Nancy Ghertner, Documentary Film maker
Day 2: A Practical reponse to Climate Change: Adaptation and Mitigation: Agroforestry with trees, berries, and annual crops

Sunday Morning

Half day workshop With Meghan Giroux and Eric Toensmeier of Interlace Commons

Trees and annual crops can be combined in “alley cropping” agroforestry systems. Though it seems like there would be too much shading and competition, if designed and maintained well these systems can produce more than either trees or crops would on their own. They also provide impressive benefits for soil health, pollinator and wildlife habitat, erosion control, carbon sequestration, and water quality. This workshop will review the principles of successful “alley cropping” for cold climates and provide case studies from North America, China, and Europe. These principles include the use of deep-rooted trees, pairing deciduous trees with winter- and cool-season crops, guidelines for row spacing, and management including pruning. Participants will work in small groups in a design exercise to develop simplified agroforestry around a theme like intensive urban farm, timber and field crops, and fruit trees with vegetables.

30 min: introductions and admin

2 hours: presentation

– overview of alley cropping agroforestry

– how to maximize benefits and minimize competition

– layout and design

1 hour: design teams

30 min: design team presentations and closing

Sunday Afternoon

Charles West on North American Paw Paws and American Persimmons (Virtual Only)
Tom Molnar on Hazelnuts
Mark Canright on Organic Orcharding
Nate Kleinman Beach Plum Prunus maritima
Lee Reich
Member Ticket Price for Full Day Saturday and Sunday Afternoon: $35

Member Ticket Price for Sunday Morning: $25 (Maximum attendees 25)

Non Member Ticket Price for Full Day Saturday and Sunday Afternoon: $50

Non Member Ticket Price for Sunday Morning: $35 (Maximum attendees 25)

Register Here

Sat, January 29, 2022 @ 10:00 am EST - 12:00 pm EST

In this Plant Nutrient class, you will learn some mineral nutrient basics through an overview of soils, chemistry, and plant anatomy.

How to balance beauty, wildlife value, and your garden workload
Gardens are habitats, but the degree to which they support local wildlife depends on how we plant and manage them. Our plant choices determine who visits, stays, or passes by as creatures look for food, shelter, to nest, and lay eggs. When and how we decide to clean up leaves or cut plants back affects life cycles of salamanders, bees, birds, moths, and butterflies. Learn how to create habitat in the garden year-round, while balancing your workload and garden aesthetics.

Co-sponsored by The Friends of Faneuil Library and The Brighton Garden Club. See their flyer here.

Email FriendsofFaneuil@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link.

February 6 - 12, 2022 • Online
Based on feedback from a community survey and the continued uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, we made the difficult decision to host the conference virtually again in 2022.

Registration

​We are offering multiple price points this year to help make the conference more accessible to all. Everyone receives the same level of access. Please pay as much as you are able.

​

Early Bird Pricing through January 2, 2022

$35 - Suggested for students or anyone experiencing financial difficulties ($50 after Jan. 2)

$50 - Suggested price ($65 after Jan. 2)

$65 - Provides additional support ($80 after Jan.2)

​

Full scholarships are available. Click here to apply.

​

NOFA & MOFGA Members Save 20%.

Email us if you haven't received the promo code after November 7th!

Not a member yet? Click here to join.

REGISTER
*Please refer to our refund policy.

Annual Awards

NOFA-NH is pleased to recognize leaders in the organic farming community during our annual conference. NOFA-NH's Board of Directors will review and select award winners in January and the awardees will be notified thereafter. Please submit nominations below by December 31, 2021.

Submit a Nomination
Sponsor, Exhibit, Advertise

Winter Conference sponsorships provide businesses and organizations with high profile advertising exposure to a diverse audience. This conference is our largest event and fundraising opportunity each year. Click here to view the Sponsorship Package.

Sponsor Registration
​Exhibit in our virtual Green Market Fair! Virtual exhibitor space includes a logo or image of your choice, a brief description, a discount code if you wish to provide one, click-through to your web store or website, and one complimentary ticket to the virtual Winter Conference. Your exhibitor listing will be hosted on NOFA-NH’s 20th Annual Winter Conference webpage for one year, will be promoted to our mailing list and to conference attendees in the digital program and during the event. Click here for more information about exhibiting (on page 3).

Exhibitor Registration
Advertising opportunities are available in NOFA-NH’s Winter Conference Digital Program Booklet, providing a prime opportunity to market to a targeted constituency in the thriving sustainable and organic marketplace. Click here for more information about advertising (on page 3).

Advertise
Please contact Nikki Kolb, Operations Manager, at nikki@nofanh.org with any questions about sponsoring, exhibiting, or advertising.

Landscape design professionals can play a key role in regenerating our monocultural suburban landscapes. Understanding why this work is so vitally important and how we can create beautiful (even luxuriant) landscapes that capture carbon, create habitat in support of our native pollinators, and contribute to the cooling of the earth’s atmosphere.

Nadia Malarkey will share the philosophy that drives her work in the regeneration of landscapes, showing images from her own commissioned residential projects. These examples illustrate the use of a spatial design aesthetic for viable bio-diverse functional landscapes.

Ms. Malarkey’s gardens have inspired her clients with a deeper sense of environmental stewardship as well as drawn their friends and neighbors to the native plant aesthetic.

Nadia Malarkey is a garden and landscape design professional who specializes in providing a comprehensive and personalized design service. She incorporates regenerative land practices to produce landscapes that enhance biodiversity and biomass while enriching our experience of the changing seasons. Many of these garden landscapes exemplify how regenerative design, while addressing habitat fragmentation and climate change, can be elegant, uplifting and enlightening. She is a member of the Yellow Springs Environmental Commission and her work has been featured in magazines and news articles. One of her U.S. projects was a finalist for the Society of Garden Designers (United Kingdom) 2015 Awards for Planting Design. Evacuated from Beirut Lebanon in 1984, she has since lived in the Village of Yellow Springs, Ohio with her spouse where they raised their three grown sons.

This class is for garden professionals looking to integrate native plants into their palettes, and will introduce participants to a variety of ecological planting concepts as well as to some native plants themselves. Topics will include how to define “native,” basics about native plants’ benefits, how to select the right plants for the right place and purpose, resources and references for plant selection, and nitty-gritty topics like lawn replacement and plants for typically difficult spots. Participants will see plenty of examples of successful native plantings and potentially appealing species, and will leave the class with an arsenal of resources, references and plant lists to get them started.

Date/time details Thursday, February 10, 2022, 1-4 p.m.
Location Garden in the Woods, Framingham, MA
Program code HOR1199
Fee $45 (Members)/$54 (Nonmembers)
Instructor Melanie Kenney
CEU MALP MCLP: 1; MNLA MCH: 1; NOFA AOLCP: 3
Certificate Elective: Advanced, Horticulture
Cosponsor Massachusetts Nursery and Landscape Association

Save the Date and mark your calendar for our 40th Winter Conference. Join your peers in the organic, regenerative, sustainable living movement at the CT NOFA Winter Conference this February. Stay up-to-date with the latest innovations in organic agriculture, gardening, and land care taught by experts in the field. This year’s conference will offer workshops on seed saving, technological advances in organic farming, organic landscaping, soil science, and more.

The Conference will be held as a virtual event with both live and recorded sessions with smaller in-person meet-ups throughout the state.

Registration and agenda will be posted here soon.

NDAL course for non-professionals taught by Larry Weaner.

For Professionals and Non-Professionals. Taught by Claudia Thompson

Why should we care about the environment?

In this introductory webinar, you will learn four philosophical models of human relationship with nature in order to gain deeper understanding of your own and others’ environmental ethics.

We will consider our roles and the ways obligation to our surroundings forms the foundation of efforts such as recycling, preservation of endangered species, and habitat restoration.

About the Instructor
Dr. Kendy Hess is the Brake Smith Associate Professor in Social Philosophy and Ethics at College of the Holy Cross focusing on environmental law and ethics. With a background in philosophy and previous practice in environmental law, Dr. Hess is one of the leading international scholars on corporate moral responsibility, on which she has published widely.

$12 (Members)/$15 (Nonmembers)

Co-sponsored by the Native Plant Trust
Click here to register through the Native Plant Trust.

PLEASE JOIN US FOR OUR 25TH ANNUAL WINTER LECTURE
The Eye of the Beholder:
Is it Messy, or an Acquired Taste?
Edwina von Gal is the Principal Landscape Designer,
Edwina von Gal + Co; Founder/President, Perfect Earth
Project, and Co-founder of Two Thirds for the Birds.
Saturday, February 19, 2022
10:00 – 11:30 a.m. (ET)
Presented live online through Zoom
Tickets: $30 members / $35 non-members
Register at berkshirebotanical.org
Please join us online for an informative presentation focused on designing gardens

We need a minimum of 70 percent native plant biomass in our landscapes to safeguard wildlife habitat, support biodiversity, and mitigate the effects of climate change, according to entomologist Douglas Tallamy. Native Plant Trust’s partner, Wild Seed Project, recently launched an initiative that motivates people to meet this threshold through a holistic approach called rewilding. Whether you have farmland, a yard in the suburbs, or a shared urban garden, this webinar will teach you how to rewild in 10 action steps.

Learn more and register through Native Plant Trust here.

Save these Dates in 2022!
Join us February 23 and 24
for
~ Inspiration ~ Education ~ Collaboration
Explore Virtual Conference Exhibitor/Sponsor Opportunities
Looking for Innovative Landscape Solutions and Inspiration?
Join ELA on February 23 & 24, 2022 for the 28th Conference & Eco-Marketplace – all online. We’ll energize your practice and prepare you for spring with two full days of research and field-tested expertise, as well as innovative case studies on a wide range of topics.

In our online conference space, you can pick and choose from presentations in multiple tracks. Move easily from presentation to presentation with a couple of clicks, and if you miss a presentation, you’ll have access to recordings after the conference.

The conference platform also lets you connect with exhibitors in their own conference spaces and network with colleagues and friends in rooms designated for that purpose. A short initial orientation and continuously available technical assistance help support a positive conference experience.

What our 2021 conference attendees had to say:

“The intimacy of the person to person presentation is very much missed, but the fact that we can attend meetings from around the world without ramping up our air miles (and time) is a great pay-off.”
~ C.W. Landscape Designer and Speaker, U.K.

“Thank you and congratulations to you and the ELA board! You put on a fantastic conference and were wonderful to work with. A real shout out to the tech support! I am so grateful for the extra time that you all took with those of us who are quite uneducated when it comes to the ins and outs of technology. It really helped ease my nerves a bit and just knowing someone was at hand to help made the world of difference.”
~ N.M. Landscape Designer and Speaker

“I just wanted to let you know I thought the conference was fantastic. It was so informative and the speakers were great. Thanks so much.
~ K.H. Architect and Landscape Architect

Join Native Plant Trust for an evening of plant adventure storytelling. Listen to some of the region’s top botanists, horticulturists, and fellow plant geeks share their most riveting and hilarious tales from the field, then cast your vote for the night’s best storyteller! This one-of-a-kind event will be moderated by Michael Piantedosi, Director of Conservation, with audience participation.

Date/time details Saturday, February 26, 2022, 6-8 p.m.
Location Garden in the Woods, Framingham, MA
Fee $30 (Members)/$36 (Nonmembers)

Class: Navigating Public Design, Part 1
Wed, March 2, 2022 @ 6:00 pm EST - 8:00 pm EST
Online Virtual Class/Workshop/Conference

Two Wednesday Sessions:
Wednesday, March 2, 2022 and Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Community spaces are exciting projects to envision and realize.

In this class, you will learn a process for bringing stakeholders together to collaborate in creating outdoor spaces of meaning and beauty.

We will explore how to use your creative ideas to build partnerships, fundraise, overcome obstacles, and draw visitors to your public landscape, with an emphasis on the creation of spaces that are both ecologically and operationally sustainable.

About the Instructor
Instructor: Staci Jasin, landscape designer

$60 (Members)/$72 (Nonmembers)
Co-sponsored by Native Plant Trust
Click here to register with Native Plant Trust.

Wed, March 9, 2022 @ 6:00 pm EST - 7:00 pm EST
REGISTER

Scolytus multistriatus – Breeding Gallery

In 1909, while collecting Leopard Moth larva from elm trees in the college yard at Harvard University, Dr. James W. Chapman discovered small grubs and adult beetles under the bark. With the aid of Dr. A.D. Hopkins, the first identification of the smaller European elm bark beetle, Scolytus multistriatus was confirmed in Massachusetts. S. multistriatus is the primary vector of Dutch Elm Disease (DED).
DED is a fungus that invades the vascular system of a tree and has killed millions of American elm trees in the United States.

With the support of the Friends of the Public Garden and the Boston Parks and Recreation Department, Normand and Christine Helie have been monitoring and caring for the elm trees in the downtown Boston Parks since 2012. Their research on the smaller European elm bark beetle picks up where Dr. Chapman left off. Sharing their insights on the relationship of the beetle with the young and historic elm trees in the parks, they hope to inspire us to bring the native American elm back to our landscapes.

Presenter Bio

For over 27 years, Normand and Christine Helie, of The Growing Tree, have worked together promoting conservation landscaping and tree preservation.

In 2012 they began monitoring and caring for the elm trees in the Boston Parks, where Dutch elm disease continues to be a major threat to both young and mature elm trees. Combining their knowledge in the applied sciences of plants, soils and entomology, they now have a better understanding of the host, its vector and the pathogen. With their development of an alternative preservation program for elm trees in Boston, some of which have historic significance, they are hopeful for the conservation of this tree species.

NDAL course taught by Larry Weaner

Join Native Plant Trust Director of Horticulture Uli Lorimer, for the debut of his new book highlighting our region’s spectacular plant diversity and varied habitats. The Northeast Native Plant Primer provides a roadmap to help you to include native plants in your garden, whether you are new to gardening or a seasoned professional. For those of us who care about the natural world, the decision to plant natives in the garden is one of the most impactful and important choices we can make. With so much under threat from a changing climate, invasive species, habitat loss and fragmentation, and declining numbers of birds and insects, planting natives in your garden shows you are trying to make a difference. Native plants have the power to heal our landscapes, welcome wildlife into our gardens, and inspire us.

Date/time details Friday, April 1, 2022, 12:30-2 p.m.
Location Garden in the Woods, Framingham, MA
Program code LEC9005
Fee $15 (Members)/$18 (Nonmembers)
Instructor Uli Lorimer
CEU MALP MCLP: .5; NOFA AOLCP: 1.5
Certificate Elective: all certificates
Register

The Ecological Landscape Alliance invites you to tour the private gardens of landscape designer and pollinator expert, Thomas Berger.

When choosing plants to support insects in our gardens, we want to make the most of our limited space. Which plants nourish the most species? And which kinds of insects need our support most urgently?

Thomas Berger has been designing landscapes for insects for more than twenty years in his own gardens and client gardens. Thomas pays particular attention to providing for two groups of insects:

The caterpillars of butterflies and moths (lepidoptera), which are an important part of the wildlife food chain.
The pollinators, especially native bees that fulfill the essential function of pollinating not only our food crops but also native plants and thus contribute to their survival.
Our goal for any garden should be to provide habitat for the largest possible number of insect species. Thomas Berger’s gardens demonstrate effective habitat that provide joy and beauty for humans as well.

Join us for a unique opportunity to explore the private gardens of an inspiring insect specialist, landscape designer, and passionate nature photographer.

Thomas Berger grew up in a small rural town in Germany. During his childhood he was an avid collector of shells, bones, sea creatures, and fossils. He also gardened with his father and kept bees and sheep which led him to study agriculture. As an adult, Thomas worked on farms in Germany, France and Australia, and joined the German Volunteer Service in 1984, working in an agricultural project in Niger, West Africa. In 1994 he moved to the United States, where he started a landscape design and construction firm, Green Art, and received an award of excellence from the New Hampshire Landscape Association in 1998. Thomas is a regionally known stone sculptor, expressing his love of nature through his art. Thomas has won many awards and commissions and his sculpture is displayed at many public venues throughout the Northeast.

Wed, July 27, 2022 @ 10:00 am EDT - 12:00 pm EDT
The Native Plant Center at Westchester Community College, 75 Grasslands Road
Valhalla, NY 10595

Lady Bird Johnson had a passion to preserve and protect the country’s native plants and natural landscapes. The Native Plant Center was founded more than 20 years ago as the first affiliate of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Texas. Originally a project of the Westchester Community College Foundation, The Native Plant Center today is a vital program on the campus of Westchester Community College in Valhalla, New York. Join this professionally guided tour to learn more.

Admission is free but registration is required.

The Cottage Garden
The recently renovated New American Cottage Garden teaches by example, using native plants in familiar elements of a home garden such as a perennial bed, shrub border, and a water feature that can be replicated in one’s own landscape. The central bed showcases natives in a formal display that appeals to gardeners with a more traditional sensibility. Benches are crafted from black locust, and an arbor features native vines. The lawn was replaced with ferns, ornamental grasses, and ground-covers to further illustrate sustainable principles. The garden was designed for The Native Plant Center by landscape architect Ken Uhle. The more than 800 plants representing 60 species and cultivars attract wildlife- and people, who find peace and a sense of place within the natural-design setting.

Meadow and LBJ Demonstration Garden
The Lady Bird Johnson Demonstration Garden was established in 1998 to honor the First Lady, whose commitment to the preservation of native plants increased public awareness about their environmental necessity, economic value, and natural beauty. We are under way with a multi-year project to renovate and expand the garden to further illustrate how to incorporate native plants using sustainable design elements. The centerpiece of the garden is a native meadow, which will soon be bordered on one side by a buffer garden to block out unsightly views of a 300-car parking lot. The installation of 120 trees and shrubs and 1,100 perennials is expected to be completed by summer of 2020.

Tour guide: Jeanne Lapsker
After a career as a cardiologist, Dr. Jeanne Lapsker became the part-time Garden Curator/Educator for the Native Plant Center in November 2018. She holds a Horticulture Certificate in Sustainable Garden Design from the New York Botanical Garden, and serves on the advisory board for its School of Professional Horticulture.

Sat, August 20, 2022 @ 10:00 am EDT - 12:00 pm EDT
Flying Trillium Gardens and Preserve, 155 West Main Street
Tarrytown, NY 10591

Flying Trillium Gardens and Preserve is located in the southern Catskill Mountains in Sullivan County, NY. The gardens are an ongoing work by author, teacher, and landscape designer, Carolyn Summers. Throughout her career, Carolyn has been acutely aware of the need for clients, DIY homeowners, and designers to be able to see how lovely native plants are when used in garden settings.

The Catskills – mostly in a Zone 5 climate – makes an excellent test for fitness and hardiness. In addition to managed gardens, large areas of the property are preserved to protect native flora in their natural habitats, along with the wildlife that depend on them. The meadows at Flying Trillium include successional hayfields to which Carolyn has opportunistically added native wildflowers, as well as those similar to the Eastern lupine meadow, where she was able to seed onto bare ground. These areas of the meadow are considered “augmented” and “designed.”

Flying Trillium Gardens and Preserve includes over 300 trees and shrubs native to the northeast, including unusual cultivated varieties, hybrids and over 75 dwarf selections of our native conifers. Since 2000, a complete collection of trees native to the greater Catskills region is being assembled. Tour the demonstration gardens to see how to integrate plants into your landscape.

Join us for this guided tour to experience the beauty, diversity and sustainability of our native flora for yourself. Carolyn’s goal is for you to leave inspired to plant more of the same.

Carolyn Summers is the author of Designing Gardens with Flora of the American East. After completing her BSLA (Landscape Architecture) at CCNY, she began an atypical career with the Trust for Public Land, producing the Harbor Herons Project that guided an urban wildlife refuge on Staten Island. Carolyn continued environmental work with New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection as the agency’s first Director of Natural Resources, continuing work on restoration projects. She then worked at the Natural Resources Defense Council, initiating a regional project to preserve and restore wildlife habitat and public access in the New York-New Jersey Bight. Carolyn is currently an adjunct professor for Go Native U, a joint project of Westchester Community College’s Continuing Ed Program and The Native Plant Center (based at Westchester Community College). Most recently, she and her husband have opened their country home, Flying Trillium Gardens and Preserve to public tours. By sharing the beauty of native plants in both garden and natural settings, Carolyn hopes to inspire designers, gardeners, and homeowners to expand the use of native plants in their own projects.

Fri, September 9, 2022 @ 10:00 am EDT - 12:00 pm EDT
Helia Native Nursery, 95 East Road
Alford, MA 01266

Explore three beautiful meadows at Helia Native Nursery. Learn about the importance of a meadow ecosystem, different methods for meadow building and how to maintain existing meadows to maximize wildlife benefits. Helia Native Nursery is situated on Sky Meadow Farm, a beautiful 109-acre farm in Alford, Massachusetts. Our mission is to preserve native genotypes through creating seed banks on the farm and propagating native plants in our nursery.

Helia’s land stewardship on the farm focuses on restoring wildflower meadows for pollinators. Planted 4 and 5 years ago, this tour will feature three mature meadows that demonstrate a variety of planting techniques, seeding and planting, and different maintenance strategies. There will be discussion of invasive species control, meadow mowing regimens, and meadow disturbance opportunities.

All of the meadows display rich color palettes, showing what can be achieved using native plants. The meadows are all designed with four season interest – a feature that invites frequent visits to experience the changing views.

An important feature of well-designed meadows is the opportunity for habitat restoration. Plant selections consider the various stages of pollinator life cycles and provide appropriate plants for each. Join tour guide, Bridghe McCracken to learn more.

Bridghe McCracken is the founder of Helia Land Design and has over 20 years experience in land stewardship, as well as designing landscapes, gardens and beautiful food systems. Bridghe has a BA in Biology from Colorado College, is a certified Organic Landcare Professional from the Northeast Organic Farmers Association, a certified Horticulturist from MCLA, is a Massachusetts Master Gardener and is a graduate and advanced practitioner of the Four Winds Society.

In 2006 she began a partnership with Project Native, as their Chief Landscape Designer, which allowed her to stay abreast of the latest available native plants. Bridghe has also lectured and taught throughout the Northeast. Bridghe also spent time as a Peace Corps volunteer working with under-served communities toward their goal of food security and greater health, which continues to inform her work today.

After the closing of Project Native in 2015, Bridghe launched Helia Native Nursery, continuing her mission of bringing native plants into the public domain. That same year, the nursery found its permanent home, Sky Meadow Farm -a 109 acre farm in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. Here, Bridghe has founded her own workshop series, educating landscape professionals, homeowners and land managers around sustainable land stewardship, native plant design and propagation

Sat, September 17, 2022 @ 4:00 pm EDT - 6:00 pm EDT
Green Jay Landscaping, 222 Purchase St
Rye, NY 10580

The Secret Garden of Celestial Happiness
These gardens represent a complete landscape renovation. The private property of tour guide and landscape designer, Jay Archer. He refers to his own landscape as an ever-evolving project!

At the heart of this project was the complete removal of the entire backyard – formerly a large lawn.

As with all of Jay’s projects, this design is based in nature-based principles and is rich with habitat features that are anchored with native plant material. This garden is a model of biodiversity, resource conservation and is a pollinator paradise!

Features include:

A native plant garden with stone, gravel and mulched paths
A constructed fish pond, waterfall and stream
A unique wetland boardwalk
Design choices based upon ecological principles, plant selections, and maintenance practices are all critical elements in creating healthy ecosystems. As a landscape ecologist, Jay Archer has successfully combined all three elements and the resulting landscape is a model of biodiversity and resource conservation.

Another key feature of healthy habitats is the way a property is maintained. Jay’s gardens are completely organically maintained for the health of people, pets, pollinators, and the planet.

Jay Archer is a Landscape Ecologist, Director of Landscape Design & Development Services and founder of Green Jay Landscaping. For the past 25 years, Jay has offered ecological landscape services including landscape design and construction, organic lawn, tree and shrub care, fine gardening, and property management. Inspired by a passion for nature, Jay’s landscape design compositions feature habitat and pollinator gardens, custom masonry, water features (ponds, waterfalls, streams, swimming ponds), stormwater management, and gorgeous flower gardens. – all with an emphasis on native plants, trees, and plant communities that provide ecosystem services. Jay’s approach to design, development and management is broadly holistic, committed to producing beautifully attractive aesthetic designs, while also improving the landscape environment by protecting the air, water, soil and our collective habitat.

Address and directions provided after registration.