Summers EcoScaping

04/20/2026

I have gotten enough questions and sent enough email over the years recommending the same set of tools I love - I decided to throw them into a 1-page / printable doc. Links mostly go to Amazon only because it's easy, not because they are paying me / it's the only way to shop.

04/14/2026

I have been propagating red osier dogwoods like crazy for the last few years - it’s such an easy and fun way to make new plants, and we are still in the tail end of the perfect window to give it a go! Here’s a 3 minute explanation of the process. Clippers & redtwig are all you need - also often works with your neighbors’ Xmas planter stems 🙂

01/17/2026

This is 2 years old but I just found it researching "more info" for a seed sharing project I'm working on. This is a problem all of us can work on solving! It's fun! It's easy! (Ok, maybe not easy, but sometimes it's just nice to have an activity that feels pro-active rather than re-active).

My approach this year: gather native seeds wherever, whenever. You really cannot have too many native seeds, though maybe limit the amount of goldenrod you mix in just because it tends to overshadow the other stuff without even trying. Keep the really tall ones separated, but otherwise mix freely. Put them in paper bags. Write "Chaos" or "chaos tall" and the year on the bags. Let them dry. Then crush and pull out the big stems. Mix well. Put in envelopes. Label. Share!

When a wildfire burns through a landscape, land managers want to replant with the local species that create healthy habitats. But often they can’t—and climate change is exacerbating the problem

10/25/2025

Happy fall y’all. It’s the perfect time to go plant something!

10/19/2025

Lexington Times’ lovely writeup of the town pocket forest project I have been working on, written by Jane Whitehead. There’s no digital version unfortunately, so I present here photos of the paper copy.

10/15/2025

Check out this red backed salamander, spotted between poison ivy vines I was clipping in a young pocket forest - one I planted around an old half-dead tree. Typically pocket forests / miyawaki forests start with major digging and full sun environments, but with finds like this it makes one want to stop and think if all that disturbance is always the best path forward.

The shade also seems to have helped the baby trees get through a brutally hot summer, without supplemental watering, with a higher survival rate than my full sun plots.

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/news/news/meet-eastern-red-backed-salamander-tiny-environmental-hero

10/01/2025

This is a combo social experiment and ecology resource-mining project I'm testing out, as part of the town of Lexington's pocket forest pilot project I'm organizing. Planting day is 11/1.

I will probably be able to bring in 100+ baby trees myself - many of which I will have pulled (with permission) as weeds from customer job site beds. I don't expect a lot of people to participate, but even if just a few more people start to notice all the baby trees we have growing out there for free, I feel like this will be a win.

09/23/2025

A community pocket forest site prep event that I hosted and ran via the tree committee of Lexington, MA. Sheet mulching, but with the joy of a barn raising, and the energy of a Zumba class, with a bit of soil science show and tell mixed in too. We plant Nov 1.

08/27/2025

We have many choices in what we plant, grow and eat. Our lawns provide no food while forests are cleared elsewhere to grow vegetables. A few food plants mixed into our gardens may not undo this balance all at once but it certainly can’t hurt. And, there are so many beautiful edibles out there, that this does not need to be an aesthetic compromise!