Cultivating Peace

In this wild city, most of us feel adjusted and adapted to the cement, iron, and never-ending bustle - we see it all as inherent to a New York minute. However, thanks to urban landscaping there exist oases that allow one to stop and pause in the midst of all the heat and hustle. It's a reprieve that is surprisingly attainable. Sometimes it is the small and simple things, such as splashes of color from the flowers in the tree pit as you walk out the door, or drops of dew that remind you to breathe. And if you are one of the lucky New Yorkers, you can end a long week in your backyard with a mug of tea or a glass of wine, meditating on the wonder of creation in, and through, this slice of the natural world. It is an intersection, a liminal place where you can unleash your consciousness and wander in place.

The ability to tie the natural world in with the socio-cultural experiences that we have here in our city gives us access to the best of both worlds. We are shown the necessity of dormant stages in a city that doesn't sleep. And hopefully, from time to time you are reminded to stop and smell the flowers, literally. Intentional landscapes bring nature to your concrete jungle and bring you to a place where you can meet yourself, over and over again. We take pride in creating these spaces for our clients. There is no magic in this city without these sacred spaces.

soft landings and the understory

In the realm of ecological landscaping, the concept of "soft landings" is yet another design principle that highlights transcendence from the traditional focus on visual appeal alone. Consideration of this ecological design principle carries us deep into the intricate layers of a landscape, emphasizing the significance of each contribution that each part makes to the whole. The understory is an often-overlooked layer of a garden or woodland biome, quietly playing a crucial role in fostering biodiversity and maintaining equilibrium.

By definition, any complex native plant arrangement that underpins our statement trees and keystone species, can be thought of as “soft landings”. It’s an endearing term for the buffer of plant material between this canopy species and the good brown earth below. Think of it this way, if you were a caterpillar falling (devastating, I know) from the branch of a tree, would you rather land in a tuft of Carex pennsylvanica, for instance, or directly onto firmly packed earth? I know what I would choose.

Curating these features involves the thoughtful integration of various elements, including selection of canopy level species, understory species, ground cover species, and consideration for seasonal variation. The aim is to create a space that is a sanctuary for wildlife, while creating layers of beauty and interest for observers.

Goat's Beard, or Aruncus dioicus, creates an eye catching display in an understory planting with its soft heads of white flowers.

A soft landing should be as cozy as it sounds. Here, insects can carry out their lifecycle. Birds can forage and find cover. These spaces are the life blood for our larger keystone species such as Oak, Willow, Pine, Poplar and Birch. Curating these plant communities provides necessary infrastructure and healthy co-dependence, or symbiosis.

The Importance of the Understory:

While the canopy of towering trees often takes center stage, the understory plays a pivotal role in the overall health and resilience of a landscape. Recognizing the importance of the understory involves acknowledging the following key aspects:

1. Biodiversity Hub: The understory acts as a haven for diverse plant species, insects, and small animals. It contributes significantly to the overall biodiversity of a landscape, creating a rich tapestry of life that extends from the ground up.

2. Soil Health and Stability: The roots of understory plants play a crucial role in stabilizing soil, preventing erosion, and promoting soil health. This layer acts as a natural mulch, retaining moisture and enriching the soil with organic matter.

3. Wildlife Habitat: Many bird species, insects, and mammals find shelter and food in the understory. Its dense vegetation offers nesting sites, protection from predators, and a source of nourishment, supporting a thriving ecosystem.

4. Microclimate Regulation: The understory helps regulate the microclimate within a landscape. It provides shade, reducing temperature extremes, and creates a more hospitable environment for a variety of plant and animal species.

5. Aesthetic Appeal: Beyond its ecological contributions, the understory adds layers of texture, color, and seasonal interest to the landscape. Thoughtful selection of understory plants enhances the visual appeal of the entire ecosystem.

Soft Landings in Action:

Implementing the concept of soft landings involves intentional design choices and sustainable practices that consider the entire ecosystem. Here are some strategies to achieve soft landings with a focus on the importance of the understory:

1. Native Plant Selection: Choose native understory plants that are well-adapted to the local climate and soil conditions. Native species support local biodiversity and require fewer resources for maintenance.

2. Layered Planting Design: Create a layered planting design that mimics natural ecosystems. Place taller canopy trees, understory shrubs, and ground covers strategically to maximize visual interest and ecological functionality.

3. Sustainable Mulching: Utilize organic mulches in the understory to retain soil moisture, suppress weeds, and enhance soil fertility. Mulching also mimics the natural leaf litter found in forest ecosystems. Even better than mulching, leave no soil exposed by planting a dense arrangement of understory species.

4. Wildlife-Friendly Features: Incorporate elements such as bird baths, nesting boxes, and insect-friendly plants to encourage wildlife activity in the understory. These features contribute to the overall ecological balance of the landscape.

Soft landings, place a keen focus on the importance of the understory, and represent a holistic approach to landscaping. By recognizing the ecological value of every layer, from the ground to the canopy, we can create landscapes that not only please the eye but also contribute to the well-being of the planet. Soft landings invite us to appreciate the interconnectedness of nature, inspiring us to design and maintain landscapes that are gentle and vibrant.

leaf litter in nyc

As of late, Autumn comes not just with pumpkin spice and cinnamon scented paraphernalia but with many reminders to leave your leaves for the health of the ecosystem. But how can that apply to lawn-less New Yorkers?

Leaving the leaves can seem the obvious and even righteous action to take for a homeowner hoping to support the environment and cut down on futile tasks.

The logic of incorporating fallen leaves into the suburban or rural landscape is intuitive and hard to disagree with. A simple peek into a layer of leaf detritus will illustrate the significant contribution to biodiversity that leaves provide. In the insulated space, between the moist soil and a blanket of ochre and yellow leaves, you’ll find habitat for disappearing fireflies and amphibians, nesting areas for our native bees, a safe space for butterfly and moth cocoons, and more.

Furthermore, though raking leaves historically provided a wonderful opportunity for fall aerobics, the modern leafblower is the fossil fuel consuming update to this ancient ritual. Don’t get me started on the black plastic bags that this organic matter is usually shuffled into before making its forever home in an anaerobic landfill where it will finish its life generating methane (this is why we’ve always composted plant material from your gardens)!

To cut down on your unnecessary consumption of fossil fuels swap any of the following actions for leaf blowing and throwing away nutrients.

Don’t let leaves go to waste!

Responsible handling of fall leaves:

1. Rake leaves directly into your garden beds. Don’t be shy about piling them high for winter insulation. You can top planters and raised beds as well.

2. Pile in street tree beds and around trees in the yard. Use chicken wire to enclose the street tree bed if you don’t have a standard tree guard. These leaves will decompose by spring and offer nutrients to our unsung heroes. Improving the soil quality in our street trees helps them to absorb rainwater and elevate the efficacy of this critical green infrastructure. Leaving the leaves at the base of the trees that they fall from is a common sense way to keep the nutrient cycle in motion and reduce needs for fertilization the following year.

3. Make your own mulch. If you have a 2’ x 2’ space to spare you can also use chicken wire to create a leaf mulch pile in any corner of your yard. Once the leaf litter has decomposed to look like mulch, you can apply it to pots, planters and garden beds. This decomposition process delivers a formal looking result.

4. Deliver them to a local community garden. Leaves are an important part of the process of composting food scraps. Many gardens don’t often have enough browns (rich in carbon or carbohydrates) to mix with their greens (rich in nitrogen or protein) and greatly appreciate donated bags of leaves.

5. Use the city compost bins! You can sign up here for Curbside Collection with your very own brown bin and weekly compost pickup. Alternatively, the orange Smart bins installed on street corners throughout Brooklyn collect organics for incineration to power Department of Sanitation Facilities. You can learn more about that compost collection here.

UN DECLARES GLOBAL BOILING and we need your action now

It shouldn't take unprecedented heat waves to tell you that the cool shade of a tree can be lifesaving. A few years ago, it might be news that the squishy, murky bed of a wetland is the only reasonable engineering solution to the tidal annilation of hundred of acres of farmland or trillions of dollars in storm damage to beach front property on a newly constructed beach. But it isn't news anymore.

There are, and have been, actual remedies to the hopeless sinking feeling that we all experience when we see one more piece of plastic go into the garbage can, or as we look at our children knowing that there may not be oxygen on our planet in the NEXT DECADE.

We have to turn and run, not from our past but toward it. We have to make the fastest cultural 360 known to man. And today the UN said that we have 2 years to do so. In the words of the great Jessica Lanyadoo, "Action is the antidote to anxiety." So here is a short list of the next high impact actions you must take:

1. Get outside.

It isn't entirely altruistic because of all of the benefits to you, but in addition to the physiological and psychological improvements, you'll come to know what is around you and discover what is worth protecting. Take your bike or public transit whenever possible, not simply when its convenient but when it is humanly possible.

2. Get informed and get loud!

Alaskan pipelines and mines, expansion of fossil fuel extraction and several other national peabrain projects should have all of our panties in a bunch and they need to be shut down before they are started. We have to fight for what is left!

3. Shop local and shop for longevity.

Switching to CSAs, co-ops, farmer's markets (all of which accept EBT and offer sliding scale access across the nation) will drastically lower your food miles. That means we aren't flying airplanes full of spinach from Florida to Wisconsin when there is a spinach farmer 5 miles down the road from you! On your forays around your neighborhood, take note of what is available from your local small businesses and purchase from them instead of Amazon and the like.

Before making a new purchase ask yourself, when this product is in the ocean will it be worth it. And then add the billions of tax dollars needed for cleanup to that Amazon or Shein discount and suddenly plastic isn't so cheap.

4. Start taking responsibility. No one is coming to save us, especially not the aliens, nor the influencers. We will not become millionaires, we will become extinct.

don't stop at curb appeal

It’s common practice when listing a home for sale to focus on the aesthetics of the front of the house in an attempt to woo potential buyers. Clean windows, freshly painted doors, and a trim lawn are at the top of every realtor’s list but here are several ways to take a property from “Ooh” to “Aah”:

1. Prune shrubs and trees. Since trees need to be pruned when they are dormant, you’ll want to think about this the winter before your listing goes live. It keeps the fear of a widow maker out of the hearts of potential buyers and alludes to great overall stewardship of the property

2. Add perennials to the front yard or garden. Even in a few strategically placed pots the bursts of color and changing blooms will catch and keep passing interest. Not to mention, sprawling sweeps of grass exude high maintenance. Try to choose a native pollinator that attracts birds, bees and butterflies, which will make the home feel lived in, even if its not occupied.

3. Include the backyard. Too many listings go live with lovely renovated interiors and a depressing bare dirt pit for a backyard, one that was very obviously heavily trafficked by contractors. Most clients see this and see a major undertaking, especially if the move is a significant relocation or they’re moving with children. Installing the bare bones for the backyard is an option. Include growing spaces that they can fill out on there own but lay the pathway and completing the hardscaping for a seating area. Even better would be to take the time to understand the neighborhood and what your clients might be looking for. Do people move here for schools? Include elements of a children’s garden or simply design with little hands and feet in mind.

4. Show it as a home, not a house. Remove pool covers and make sure all water features are sparkling clean in advance of showings, add fresh flowers to indoor and outdoor tables, include neutral outdoor furnishings. Create an atmosphere that will make clients want to linger and of course, want to return to! Throw open the doors to the lovely backyard and make it easy for clients to imagine their pets, family and friends filling the home with them.

making space for nothing

There is something so painstakingly difficult about prioritizing time to create in a production oriented society. Can it be monetized? Shouldn’t I share each creation, every moment of process with the world to prove that my time is being well spent? How many chores will I sacrifices for this time of silence, this quiet, this nothingness?

I know the value of space. Most of our bodies are made of spaces. We are interstitial beings with intracellular matrixes that need us to pause, to dispel the debris, to clear out the space junk. And as above, so it is below. Each organ in our body goes through this process when we’re in a state of homeostasis, each cell is regenerated only through a period of rest. There is proof of concept.

And yet, holding has become our collective habit. Holding our breath as we try to hold onto water. We avoid the stillness, maybe as a strategy to avoid grieving, to avoid letting it all go. It turns out, I have much to say about nothing.

Give space here in this moment to yourself, in the form of breath. Pause with me.

Breathe in.

Pause.

Breath out.

And remember, creation is born of nothingness.

garden advice or life advice?

I could likely write a book on all that I’ve learned designing and building landscapes across New York City. As anyone who runs a small business in any of the five boroughs knows, there is a world of difference between us and any of our counterparts in smaller cities and non-urban settings. In our industry, the logistics of an installation become significantly more complex without the ability to back a delivery truck into someone’s backyard. For the extremely ambitious New Yorkers taking on their own backyard, here are my pro tips:

1. Focus on what you have!

Do you LOVE tropical plants? What about growing tomatoes? The fastest way to feel like a failed gardener is to try and grow things that are not appropriate for your site’s conditions. How many hours of sunlight do you actually get in your growing area?

• 0-3 hours

  You’ll need SHADE plants like pachysandra procumbens, cimicifuga racemosa, adiantum pedatum or aruncus dioicus.

• 3-6 hours

  You’ll need PART sun/ part shade plants like scutellaria incana, rhus aromatica, aster nova-angliae, or rudbeckia fulgida.

• 6+ hours

  You’ll need FULL SUN plants like echinacea purpurea, asters, agastache or eryngium yuccifolium.

How wet or dense is the soil? Can you amend it (make it better) or do you need to adjust the plant palette? The overlap of all of these conditions will narrow your choices down for you. And remember, native plants are going to bring the most interesting pollinators and generally require less maintenance due to their generations of adaptation to the location.

2. An ounce of preparation…. is actually 2 lbs. of preparation, do it anyway!

You’ll want to take advantage of soil and gravel calculators online to get the best estimate for your material needs. If you have an irregularly shaped backyard, don’t guesstimate, divide it into separate rectangles and get as precise as possible when calculating the area, this is what all that high school math was for! When you’re carrying 75 pound bags of stone from the sidewalk up the stoop, through the house and then down the stairs into the backyard, you won’t want to make a single unnecessary trip. Call vendors that deal in stone, lumber, plants and soil specifically. As convenient as Home Depot can be, the expertise of specialized vendors is going to help you avoid costly mistakes.

3. It’s just a phase.

Having a solid foundation, whether that’s new hardscape or some mature trees, is a critical building block to a long-lasting space that you can grow into and evolve with. When planning your project keep this in mind as you set reasonable goals that spread across growing seasons. Your plants will take several years to mature (but not as long as humans so don’t start the panic at this disco) and some will die. The first year that you install plants you can expect to water every other day up until the first frost of that calendar year. Adequate watering is critical for plants that are establishing themselves in a new landscape. They need to know you’re in it for the long haul. The next year watering won’t be as important but filling in gaps, due to loss or slower growth, may become the new priority. A year after that, you may feel like you’ve spent the whole year weeding but over time there will certainly be less and less work to do. It won’t become your dream garden overnight, that’s the wisdom of nature, but solid steps in the direction of your dreams will yield something that feels like magic.

the dawn

One of the books I’m currently reading, Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer, has launched me into a frequented liminal state of consciousness, a place for experiencing. I’m waist deep in reflections on micro and macroecosystems. I am ruminating on ways often overlooked details affect us, in tangible and intangible ways.

In the middle of the book Robin describes a Berlese funnel, “the tool typically used to study the nearly invisible fauna of microcommunities such as moss.” The process involves the desiccation of a clump of plant material under a heat lamp, it’s extreme temperatures driving invertebrates toward the moisture at the end of the funnel. Only the moisture is formaldehyde, a preservative that ensures instant death and allows scientists to quantify the potential capacity for life in each gram of moss. Robin illustrates her preference for observing life rather than counting bodies by “taking a walk” through the moss under a stereoscope using a needle to push her way through uncharted territory. The difference in approach is a testament to her humanity and an indictment of linear thinking.

Much of our modern science is based on these colonial enlightenment practices, medieval tools that prioritize dissection; violent separation of parts from a whole, undermining the complexity of the collective. Often times its only the raw data that “justifies” the brutality of the process. In this case, the numbers are astonishing, one gram of moss contains an average of 150,000 protozoa, 132,000 tardigrades, 3,000 springtails, 800 rotifers, 500 nematodes, 400 mites and 200 fly larvae. A bustling megalopolis under our shoes at all times.

We commit these crimes of fragmentation in ourselves too, ecosystems unto ourselves we hold life and space for thousands of parts. One could look to the microbiomes of humans for tangible comparison but I’m referring to the metaphysical compartmentalization modernity requires. I’ve done it for years; separated the spiritual from the physical. I’ve kept my expansion and my intuitive plant practice separate from my professional narrative. But the truth is, no such separation exists. I am in conversation with land spirits as often as I am in conversations with clients. The physical matter that we alter with our hands is intertwined with changes to our metaphysical realities. Each seed sown is a prayer.

Thus, I welcome you all to Our Temenos, our consecrated offerings to the spirit of the wilds.

Welcome to the new epoch.

#natureasmedicine

If you follow us on Instagram, you may have noticed this as our go-to hashtag. Personally speaking, spending time in nature has been a transformative practice for me throughout my life. As a child, outside I went, to collect and calm myself. As a young adult, I spent time outside connecting with my peers in parks and community gardens, spaces that allowed me to build my community and my sense of self. And now, as a parent, my son and I take time each day to explore in a park or along a promenade. Time in nature has been my self-care tool, my medicine, no matter the phase of life I am cycling through. And now science has caught on!

A recent New York Times article delved into a study originally published in Scientific Reports, an academic journal, which found that 120 minutes per week was an ideal “dose” of nature, one that had proven health benefits. The study’s sample size was an heterogenous sample of 20,000 people that included people of across the spectrums of age, gender and race. Conveniently enough, the time spent in nature doesn’t have to be contiguous but can occur in spurts throughout the week. That’s right, you can schedule it!

Across demographics, and lifestyles, the same dose applies, which is marvelous news for New Yorkers, who rarely have 120 minutes to spare. So the time you spend in your garden with coffee, tea or wine counts as medicine and may be prescribed to you by a doctor at some point in the future we’re all working toward.

#natureasmedicine