Consider this before you apply pesticides
Consider the information in this article from the New York Times before you apply pesticides this year. We certainly will be! The Insect Apocalypse Is Here What does it mean for the rest of life on Earth?
Investigating ‘Plant Blindness’
We love how Rosetta Elkin (GSD) and the Arnold Arboretum are challenging students to overcome 'Plant Blindness.' Check out this article! [video width="1920" height="1080"...
Join our Installation Team!
Offshoots is seeking experienced, reliable landscape crew members. We focus on creating sustainable, ecologically sound landscapes and are looking for hard working individuals to join our team. Qualified candidates will have experience in the landscaping...
PHYTO RESEARCH CASE STUDY- Etobicoke Field Site
PHYTO RESEARCH CASE STUDY: Project Name : Etobicoke Field Site (Ficko et al, 2010) (Ficko et al, 2011) (Whitfield et al, 2007) (Whitfield et al, 2008) Location: Etobicoke, Canada (outside Toronto) Institution/ Scientists: Royal Military College of Canada, Queens...
PHYTO RESEARCH CASE STUDY- Farmer’s Flying Service
PHYTO RESEARCH CASE STUDY: Project Name: Farmers Flying Service (Sand Creek, 2013) Location: Bancroft, WI Consultants/ Scientists: Sand Creek Consultants, Wisconsin and University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point- Mark Dawson, William DeVita and Christopher Rog Date...
PHYTO RESEARCH CASE STUDY- Iowa Army Ammunitions Plant Constructed Wetlands
PHYTOREMEDIATION RESEARCH CASE STUDY: Project Name: Iowa Army Ammunitions Plant Constructed Wetlands (Kiker et al 2001, Thompson, Moses and Howe 2003) Location: Middletown, Iowa Scientists: Dr. Steve Larson, Research Chemist with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ERDC,...
Join the Offshoots Team!
Landscape Designer Offshoots, Inc. seeks a landscape designer/architect, with two to five years of previous experience, to join our Boston office team. We are looking for a self-starting and flexible individual to help grow our office. Responsibilities will include: •...
PHYTO RESEARCH CASE STUDY – Pinehurst Hotel Dry Cleaners
PHYTOREMEDIATION RESEARCH CASE STUDY Project Name: Pinehurst Hotel Dry Cleaners (ATC 2013) (Sand Creek 2013) Location: Pinehurst, North Carolina Consultants/ Scientists: Sand Creek Consultants, Wisconsin and ATC Associates, North Carolina Date installed: 2010...
Doyle Park Block Day
The Doyle Park Block Party & Pop-up park was a great success! We’re excited about our partnership with the Southwest Boston CDC, the Solomon Foundation, and DCR to design a new low maintenance park for the Hyde Park community. Thank you to Hyde Park Community for...
Offshoots is Looking for a Lead Gardener!
Lead Gardener, Maintenance Manager Offshoots Inc. is landscape architecture and installation firm looking for a full-time Lead Gardener to take over management and care of our maintenance accounts. Candidate must be an experienced gardener, horticulturalist or...
PHYTO RESEARCH CASE STUDY – Travis Air Force Base
PHYTOREMEDIATION RESEARCH CASE STUDY: Chlorinated Solvents Project Name: Travis Air Force Base (Klein, 2011) (Doucette et al 2013) (Parsons, 2010) Caption: Gaseous TCE releases from trees and soil surface into the atmosphere were measured on this site to determine...
PHYTO – Case Study – Ford Motor Company Factory
Project Name: Ford Motor Company Factory (Barac et al 1999) Location: Genk, Belgium Scientists: Tanja Barac (a); Nele Weyens (a); Licy Oeyen (a); Safiyh Taghavi (b); Daniel van der Lelie (b); Dirk Dubin (c); Marco Spliet (d); Jaco Vangronsveld (a)...
Prepping Site for a Phytobuffer
Offshoots, Inc is preparing a phytobuffer site. At a family-owned natural stone supplier, Offshoots's team is taking down a small set of Spruce to clear the way for poplars to protect the site and groundwater from a petroleum leak that occurred on the site. High...
Testing Heavy Metal Remediation Possibilities of Biomass Production Crops
Article from the European Commission Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS). E.U. has funded Phyto2Energy Initiative studies potential of using plants grown for biomass to also remediate pollutants from the soil. Chelators (soil additives) may...
Green Wall Planting Medium Matters for Air Pollution Removal
New article in the Journal of Hazardous Materials found on ScienceDirect. With the growing attention of functional green walls for their air cleaning abilities, this study concerns the possibility of increasing their remediation abilities by adjusting the substrate....
Offshoots Bikes the Charles River for Vegetation Management Plan
Offshoots took to the Charles River Reservation with Weston & Sampson and the Boston Department of Recreation and Conservation for the upcoming Charles River Vegetation Management Plan. Read more about the CRVMP on our projects page. [gallery columns="2"...
Testing Prolific Growth Aquatic Plants to Remediate Metal Pollutants
An Article from The Conversation: U.K. tests phytoremediation potential of fast-growing Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth) with promising results. Because the water hyacinth is invasive, testing plants were arranged in pods in the river to keep the species...
Turning an Old Junkyard into a River Park
Article from the Mountain Express: using phytoremediation to clean up a brownfield site sitting next to the French Broad River Park in Asheville, NC that had previously been an auto junkyard for more than 40 years. With the initial work started in 2011, the park could...
PHYTO – Case Study – Petroleum – US Coast Guard Former Fuel Storage Facility
CASE STUDY - PETROLEUM Project Name: US Coast Guard Former Fuel Storage Facility (Guthrie Nichols et al., 2014) (Cook et al 2010) Location: Elizabeth City, NC Scientists: Elizabeth Guthrie Nichols (a); Rachel L. Cook (a); James E. Landmeyer (b); Brad Atkinson (c);...
Join the Offshoots Horticulture Installation Team!
Offshoots is looking to grow their horticulture installation team! We are seeking a seasonal landscaping laborer to work on residential landscape and garden installations with our horticulture team. We focus on creating sustainable, ecologically sound landscapes and...
Announcing 2 New Members of the Offshoots Inc Team!
Offshoots Inc. is very excited to announce two new members to the Offshoots team: Emily Humphrey and Julie Salvatoriello. Emily is a welcome addition to the Offshoots Inc. design team. Emily is a landscape designer from Providence, RI, where she worked for several...
Succulent Beds Planted at Volvo
The succulent beds were planted this week at our Volvo Village of Boston project! Offshoots designed a low-maintenance and low-water landscape as a part of the full building renovation designed by Arrowstreet Architecture. Waves of Mugo Pines and mixed succulents are...
Vote on Blessing of the Bay Designs!
During the Public Meeting on Mary 24th, Offshoots Inc and Horsley Witten shared two design schemes for the future riverfront Park along the Mystic River in Somerville. The Mystic River Watershed Association, in partnership with the Mass. Department of Conservation and...
Salt-Tolerant Coastal Residential Garden
Salt-tolerant natives are a welcome addition to any coastal garden, and are a must for a year-round healthy garden. This beachside residence in South Dartmouth utilized salt-tolerant natives to blend their residential garden into the preexisting coastal grasses. This...
Project Highlight – Possibilities for an Entirely Edible Garden
Edible Gardens come in all shapes and sizes. This beautiful Acton landscape has orchards and vegetables in raised beds, but also has herbs as ground cover and path boundaries around the bluestone paths, fruit trees as privacy barriers around the cedar pergola, and a field of corn to hide the compost bin.
Blessing the Bay Park Public Meeting
After months collecting ideas and input on what people want to see in this waterfront park, we'll be sharing initial design concepts at the next public meeting. Check out the future vision of the park, hang out with neighbors and eat pizza! What: ...
CWC Flood Forum Presentation Available Here
Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Charlestown Waterfront Coalition 2018 Flood Forum on Tuesday! We are excited to share information about sea level rise adaptation and climate resiliency with the community. The presentation is available to download here:
Kate Speaking at The CWC Flood Forum: Tuesday 4/23/18 at 6:30pm
Kate Kennen, Principal at Offshoots will be speaking at the Charlestown Waterfront Coalition (CWC) Flood Forum on Tuesday, April 24. The forum will discuss the effects of sea level rise on the Charlestown Waterfront and strategies for preparing the Charlestown Navy Yard for the next major storm. Kate will be joining John Bologna of Coastal Engineering and Peter Allen of Smart Vent…
Kate speaking at Harvard: Landscapes for Pollinators with GSDBees- 3/20/18 at 7pm
Kate Kennen from Offshoots will speak about pollination promotion and working to reconnect native ecologies followed by BeeCo, a project led by Nic Hogan and Max Vanatta, MDes ‘18, aiming to allow anybody to raise bees currently focusing on the development of a modular, climate-controlled hive that improves the survival rates of honeybee colonies
Wine + Food will be provided, and we’ll have a discussion after their presentations on applications for design and urban ecology through urban bee populations.
TUESDAY 3.20.18 at 7pm- Harvard Gund Hall, Room 111
ELA Webinar: Green Up for Clean Up: Planting to Remediate Contaminated Landscapes
Ecological Landscape Alliance Presentation – Green Up for Clean Up: Planting to Remediate Contaminated Landscapes
Originally Presented by Kate Kennen on February 13, 2018