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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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:...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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,...

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,...

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 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...

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 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...

This time of year it is super important to be on the look out for the Spotted Lantern Fly! This little guy, while very beautiful, is our decimating native plant communities and agricultural systems. The Spotted Lantern Fly originates in Asia; because it did not evolve...

PFAS is a BIG emerging contaminant of concern, and new studies are starting to pop up looking at how plants can help remediate polluted waters - check out this new study will likely impact the phytoremediation world! Conducted by Australian and Chinese researchers,...