Springtime at the Blessing of the Bay Native Pollinator Meadow
With the spring season upon us, our horticulture team has been doing seasonal cleanup and maintenance services at Somerville's Blessing of the Bay Native Pollinator Meadow. As always, there is a lot of activity at the native meadow! We are seeing many of our planted...
Installing the Native Meadow: An Art and a Science
Somerville's Blessing of the Bay Earlier this November, Offshoots’ design and horticulture teams, alongside Larry Weaner Landscape Associates, conducted a site visit at Somerville’s Blessing of the Bay to assess vegetation performance in one of our designed native...
Rabbit-Resistant Native Plants for Year-Round Interest!
Residential Planting Installation - Rabbit Resistant, Native, and Full of Seasonal Interest! Offshoots Inc. strategically incorporated a variety of plants to ensure year-round visual interest. Spring brings forth a burst of life with native asters and the vibrant hues...
Phytoremediation Case Study – Dr. Ron Zalesny and the USDA Forest Service
Phytoremediation at a global scale New from the world of Phytoremediation —Forest Service Scientist Dr. Ron Zalesny is taking phytoremediation to an international scale! Dr. Zalesny and his team have been studying sixteen agroforestry phytoremediation buffer systems...
Scaling up! — Upcoming Speaking Event featuring Kate Kennen
University of Rhode Island: Landscape Architecture Lecture Series On Thursday, November 16th, the University of Rhode Island will host Kate Kennen, FASLA, founder of Offshoots Inc., and co-author with Niall Kirkwood, PHYTO: Principles and Resources for Site...
Malden River Works Invasive Plant Management Day!
Malden River Works Invasive Plant Management Day! Welcome back to the second year of Malden River Works Invasive Plant Management Day, a community-driven initiative in collaboration with Offshoots, dedicated to restoring and preserving the ecological balance of the...
Calahan Park Comprehensive Plan: Playground Updates!
Calahan Park debuts its new playground, a product of community collaboration and careful planning by the Burlington Parks, Recreation & Waterfront (BPRW). Guided by community insights from Offshoots' 2022 comprehensive plan, it goes beyond being just a play...
Orchard Installation!
Our installation team just wrapped up an addition to the Sudbury Farm Orchard! They planted an additional 8 apple trees including Malus ‘Fuji’, Malus ‘Honeycrisp’, Malus ‘Honey gold’, Malus ‘Freedom’, and Malus ‘Pink Lady’. Last year, a total of 20 trees were planted,...
Blessing of the Bay Meadow – Field Trip, July 2023
Today was an exciting day at the Blessing of the Bay Meadow in Somerville! Offshoots met with the Somerville Pollinator Action Plan Advisory Committee and members from several local planning and advocacy organizations on site to discuss some of the successes and...
Phytoremediation in the News: The International Phytotechnology Society’s 17th International Phytotechnology Conference in Chicago Illinois
From research to practice, phytoremediation strategies continue to grow and have positive impacts on contaminated sites at the 2023 Phytoremediation Conference in Chicago, IL. In May of 2023, Offshoots’ founder Kate Kennen participated in the 17th International...
Evidence for Using Plants and Fertilizer to Help Break Down Petroleum!
University of Alaska Microbiology Professor Mary Beth Leigh recently lead a team to study the long-term progress of the affects of introducing grass and fertilizer to soil test plots contaminated with petroleum. The original experiment was conducted in 1995 by the US...
PHYTO Trees Clean Contaminated Stormwater!
Kate recently went on a walkthrough of DuPage County Landfill in Chicago where poplar trees are being used to clean up contaminated leachate from an unlined landfill. Since 2018, a remediation system comprised of 8,500 trees on 14 acres of land irrigated by polluted...
Miyawaki Forests in Cambridge!
Offshoots recently discovered an organization called Biodiversity for a Livable Climate (Bio4Climate), the group responsible of the creation and succession of the Miyawaki Forests in Cambridge, MA. Bio4Climate was formed in 2013 when four climate activists bonded...
Phy2SUDOE: A Collaborative Resource for Advancing Phytoremediation Research and Development
Interested in learning more about phytoremediation? The Phy2SUDOE project is a 30-month long research investigation, starting on January 11th, 2020, that focuses on developing phytoremediation strategies for contaminated sites in Southern Europe. The project involves...
NorthCreek Nursery – Space Invaders: Multiflora Rose
NorthCreek Nursery, one of our favorite sources for native plant plugs, has an excellent blog post this month on how this common MA invasive arrived here, how it spreads and impacts the landscape, and steps you can take right now to minimize it's spread. Check it out...
Carbon-Negative Concrete: Meet CarbiCrete!
As Landscape Architects, we are always trying to find ways to reduce a project's carbon footprint, yet one of the most ubiquitous, materials we find ourselves having to specify is concrete; however, the production of concrete produces a lot of carbon dioxide. This is...
Seed Germination at New England Biolabs!
A few weeks ago our installation team wrapped up work on a woodland transition restoration project in Ipswich. The planting mimics the existing Oak-Hickory Forest to create a transition zone that will help restore the woodland edge over time. Quick germinating fescues...
Green Barriers by Ramo!
Check out this green barrier by Ramo! We are always happy to find low carbon footprint alternatives to concrete, plastic, and unsustainable wood sourcing. This noise barrier looks like a promising alternative. Source:...
Hood Bike Park is in Landscape Architecture Magazine!
We are thrilled to find Offshoots’ work featured in Landscape Architecture Magazine (October 2022 issue)! Offshoots and Elkus Manfredi worked together to create Hood Bike Park, a phytoremediating bicycle hub and social space in Charlestown, MA and we are thrilled to...
Hood Bike Park is in Architectural Record!
It’s an honor to find Offshoots’ work featured in Architectural Record (5/2022 issue)! Offshoots and Elkus Manfredi worked together to create Hood Bike Park, a phytoremediating bicycle hub and social space in Charlestown, MA and we are thrilled to have received a 2022...
Help Save the Monarch Butterfly!
Did you know that as of July 2022, the Monarch Butterfly has been classified by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as Endangered?! Threatened by habitat destruction and climate change, all surviving sturgeon species – also migratory, found across the northern...
Cable Mills Receives a BSA Design Award!
As part of a team collaboration with Merge Architects, the Cable Mills Modern Mill project received a 2021 award from the Boston Society of Architecture! The Cable Mills Modern Mill project is a new construction multi-family, 6-unit housing project in Williamstown,...
Phy2SUDOE Workshop: Phytomanagement for Soil Remediation
On October 6th, 2022 Interreg Sudoe Phy2SUDOE (funded by the European Union) will host it's 3rd Workshop: Phytomanagement for Soil Remediation and the Creation of Value. Soil contamination is a widespread problem in Europe with adverse consequences for biodiversity,...
Offshoots is in the BSLA Field Book this month!
Pick up a copy of the BSLA Field Book HOME issue! We are happy to help celebrate Lynn Wolff's legacy and Women's Lunch Place on Newbury Street in Boston by sharing an article written by Offshoots' Kate Kennen and Nelle Ward that was published in the HOME issue of the...
Staff Picks – Native Plants: Chionanthus virginicus
Chionanthus virginicus, White Fringe Tree. A beautiful small specimen tree with fragrant, fringy flowers, white fringe trees attract pollinators and birds and can tolerate drought, salt, and compaction. – Jiin Choi Photo Courtesy of Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center...
BSLA Inside/Out Tour Success!
BSLA's Inside/Out Tour at Hood Bike Park was a hit last Thursday! Principal Kate Kennen and lead designer Terry Kinsler took attendees around the park and described the design decisions behind the site's program, phytoremediation-focused plant communities, materials,...
PHTYO Day!
Pushing the field of phytoremediation forward on PHTYO Day! Phyto Day offers various demonstrations to prevent landfill chemicals from spreading! These scientists were the minds behind some of the case studies featured in Kate Kennen and Niall Kirkwood's book Phyto:...
Inside/Out Tour This Thursday!
Inside/Out continues! Join us outside as we explore Hood Park and learn about how landscape architecture projects and planning are turning this site from gravel to green. Charlestown’s Hood Park -- a former freight depot, industrial landmark, and Hood Milk dairy plant...
Support our Pollinators!
The Monarch butterfly is an icon among pollinators - however the decline of vital plant species have put them, along with many other insects, at risk. Monarch butterflies have developed a specialist relationship with milkweed (Asclepias spp.), evolving to utilize the...
Fireflies at Blessing of the Bay!
Fireflies have arrived! In collaboration with Mystic River Watershed and DCR, Offshoots Inc. has just completed a new Art Installation at the Blessing of the Bay Meadow. Designed and built by local artist @carolynlcreative, the installation consists of 32 fireflies...