Increasing Biodiversity in Historic Gardens

I’ve spent most of my career stewarding and preserving cultural institutions in some way or another. Lately its been historic properties. These are some of the most challenging typologies to work with due to their shear limitations. Historic districts, National Historic Landmarks, cultural landscape reports, wills, and other local/state/national regulations for properties designated as historic. … More Increasing Biodiversity in Historic Gardens

Plant ID, #Chatbots, and confronting invasive #porcelain-berry @InvasiveNotes @InvasiveInfo

I spent a few hours today combating porcelain-berry at Woodford Mansion. Now that the beautiful berries are apparent everywhere, its [relatively] easy to find and eliminate at the early stages. But wait: how do you know the difference between the native and non-native species? In this area we have also have a native wild grape … More Plant ID, #Chatbots, and confronting invasive #porcelain-berry @InvasiveNotes @InvasiveInfo

Learning about #preadaptation and the emergent #ecology of cities at Swarthmore’s Woody Plants Conference

I was at the Woody Plants Conference back in July at Swarthmore College, and particularly enjoyed a talk by Peter Del Tredici entitled “Preadaptation of Plants to Specialized Urban Niches in Northeastern North America”. Del Tredici recently retired from Arnold Arboretum as a senior scientist emeritus after 35 years of service, and has taught at … More Learning about #preadaptation and the emergent #ecology of cities at Swarthmore’s Woody Plants Conference

Fairmount Park Land Use and Ecology – Phila, PA

Fairmount Park totals over 2,000 acres and collectively is one of the largest urban green spaces in country. The park is intersected by the Schuylkill  River, effectively creating the two main sections aptly named East Park and West Park. I explore Fairmount Park all year round and tend to do most of my hiking in … More Fairmount Park Land Use and Ecology – Phila, PA