Anthony sets the bar for water design. He is best known for his mimicry of natural water systems and the resulting subtlety of his designs. Where most “watershapers” go wrong, Anthony [...]]]>

 Anthony Archer-Wills is a world class water garden designer who has built over 2,000 ponds, water gardens, waterfalls, and streams across the globe.

Anthony sets the bar for water design. He is best known for his mimicry of natural water systems and the resulting subtlety of his designs. Where most “watershapers” go wrong, Anthony says, is how they design the inflow of water. Often it is not well-concealed or does not attempt to appear natural. Water fountains, for instance, do not resemble any kind of natural event (and, if I might add, increase water consumption through evaporation.) That’s why they look out of place, tacky even.

The most successful water gardens are the ones that you can’t tell are manmade, that look as if nature had placed them there hundreds of years ago. Not only are they more aesthetically appealing but they also work more harmoniously with nature. Read more here.

Here are some examples of his work:

Unfortunately we cannot label Anthony Archer-Wills works as truly green. An exorbitant amount of energy must be used to pump water into such large-scale waterfalls and streams. Though we are in complete awe of his art and we applaud Anthony for using native plants, his website does not tout many other efforts in constructing sustainably. One must consider the amount of waste produced and what is done with it, how much energy is used to build and maintain the water system, whether or not harmful chemicals are being used, and what the water garden’s implications are for the surrounding ecosystem (it is likely that such water systems add to the biodiversity of an area but you cannot forget about the area that was destroyed to make it). Given the few details on his website, I cannot accurately assess the environmental impacts of these creations.

Eco Brooklyn, on the other hand, offers smaller scale green water garden, natural swimming pool, stream and pond design and build services here in New York. As NY green contractors and innovators of sustainable design, we can assure you that your water garden would be constructed with as little ecological impact as possible while trying to maintain the design tradition pioneered by Anthony Archer-Wills.

Eco Brooklyn was largely inspired by Anthony’s work in the design of our pond and waterfall. We wanted  to make the stream look as realistic as possible. We tried to imagine how the rocks and pebbles would fall and settle in a real river, where riparian plants would most likely take root, what kind of nooks create the best hiding places for our fish, and so forth.

Keeping in mind Anthony’s warning, we have tried to make our water source as well concealed as possible so that it looks like the water is seeping out of the rocks.

We are constantly rearranging the pond’s plants and rocks in an effort to best match nature (and, to be honest, just for fun.) But we feel that this constant rearranging is yet another imitation of nature as we know that rocks, plants, and animals are always in motion in a stream environment.

Here’s a photos of the pond at the Eco Brooklyn Green Show House:

Here is a video of a robin bathing in our stream!

Sacks can be salvaged from old feed bags, though new ones are still inexpensive. The fill, [...]]]>

Earth bags are sacks, usually made of burlap or polypropylene, stuffed with natural materials like clay, sand, or dirt. They were first used by the military to create durable structures that are quick and easy to erect.

Sacks can be salvaged from old feed bags, though new ones are still inexpensive. The fill, if the bags will be used to create a structure, can be sourced from the soil removed to build the structure, avoiding landfills. Or, if your bag will have a gardening or agricultural application, you can use compost. In other words, earth bags are very sustainable.

Earth bags can be used to create long lasting structures that are impervious to fire, natural disasters like earthquakes, and even bullets. They have been helpful in creating strong but inexpensive shelters for people in undeveloped countries.

But how can they be useful to an urbanite?

Eco Brooklyn is particularly impressed by Filtrexx®‘s commitment to sustainability and quality in their production of earth bags. This company has designed earth bags that can be used as planters for gardens or farms, protecting the plants from weeds and pests and creating a raised bed to prevent drowning. Bags can be stacked vertically to make living walls. Their tube shape makes landscape design very simple and contains the plants without extra maintenance. Filtrexx also produces bags designed to remove heavy metals from contaminated soil, which is a widespread problem in New York and other major cities. Finally the bags can be used to divert rain water, create bioswales, and prevent soil erosion.

For help designing and/or installing an earth bag garden, living wall, soil remediation project, or runoff prevention, contact Eco Brooklyn, your local NY green contractor.

Watch this video to learn more about Filtrexx: Corporate Overview for Filtrexx

A daunting task, no?

Well, Eco Brooklyn has helped Area Yoga get one step closer to unifying with the universe through our construction of two living walls in their Brooklyn Heights studio.

At the time, Schieffelin was the chairman of the North American Acclimization Society, a society [...]]]>

On March 6^th 1890, a New York pharmaceutical manufacturer named Eugene Schieffelin released 60 European Starlings into Central Park. Although this action might seem trivial and harmless at first, it has caused irreversible widespread ecological damage all across North America.

At the time, Schieffelin was the chairman of the North American Acclimization Society, a society that strived to introduce European flora and fauna into North America for economic and cultural reasons. One of his main goals was an effort to release every type of bird mentioned in a Shakespearean play into New York City. The society had released other birds that were mentioned in Shakespearean plays, such as nightingales and skylarks but none had survived.

120 years later there are now more than 150 million non-native and invasive European Starlings in the United States. The Starlings dominated bird food webs and ecological niches. The protractor muscles of European Starlings’ beaks allow them to pry and probe better than other birds. In addition, they can open their bills after pushing them into the soil, which allows for easier foraging skills compared to other native New York birds. Starlings have also been known to bully other birds by kicking species such as bluebirds, flickers and woodpeckers out of their nests.

A classic starling. Here is one of the Shakespeare quote that mentions them: "Nay, I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak nothing but 'Mortimer,' and give it him to keep his anger still in motion." Henry IV, Part 1, 1:3

European Starlings have also been of great harm to humans through epidemiological and economic impacts. Starlings carry multiple viral, bacterial, and fungal that can harm cattle, pigs, sheep, and horses. Consequently, many farmers all around the country are subject to losses in productivity and profit because of these birds.

Estimates predict that yearly Starling damage to agriculture was $800 million. In Idaho, some livestock operated estimated that starlings consumed 15 to 20 tons of cattle feed per day. Starling nests near airport pose an air craft safety potential for birds to be ingested into jet engines because they flock in large groups.

The United States has attempted to take a firm stand against the constant burgeoning population of the European Starlings. Columns around the U.S. Capitol were outfitted with electrified wires. People have tried shooting, poisoning, trapping, repelling and frightening the birds, but the population still grows.

European Starlings tend to travel in dense flocks causing trouble for airplanes and destroying farms.

I am sure if you ask the typical New Yorker what kind of birds live in New York City I am sure the vast majority will only be able to mention one: the proverbial Feral Pigeon. Little to the knowledge of many New Yorkers, the city is teaming with dozens of different types of birds that contribute to a robust and dynamic city ecosystem.

Our work as natural landscapers have shown us that in the city our avian friends also provide many benefits such as weed and pest control, flower pollination, and distribution of seeds. Birds also provide stress relief, and a daily reminder of our natural world amid the concrete jungle.

Native non-invasive birds are what our city needs in order to aid its growing ecosystem. It I clear that Non-native invasive birds such as the European Starling pose a threat to humans and animals alike. As a New York Green gardener we try our best to create landscapes that use 100 percent native species that consequently creates homes for other native species.

The Common Grackle, one of New York City's native birds. As you can see they are extremely beautiful so keep your eyes pealed to look for them!

An adult male House Finch- the trees in New York City are filled with these birds!

We also suggest that you fill your songbird feeders with safflower seeds instead of sunflower seeds. Your songbirds will enjoy it, but starlings detest it. In addition, purchase a feeder with a crescent shaped starling resistant entrance holes, which have proved to be 99% effective.

One of the main drivers behind Eco-Brooklyn’s actions is that belief that collective marginal changes can have a powerful impact. As natural landscapers we create environments that are the best for native species to thrive in. Hopefully in due time, the small impact that we make through out work and outreach will have a powerful impact in our neighborhood, city, country, and world.

Example of a crescent shaped starling resistant entrance feeder. Any crescent shaped hole on any feeder should work.

This roof garden relies solely on rainwater so we never have to waste water!

Our bees act as natural pollinators, [...]]]>

Eco Brooklyn’s green roof garden has been flourishing since we installed it over two years ago. Check out the photos below!

This roof garden relies solely on rainwater so we never have to waste water!

Our bees act as natural pollinators, ensuring beautiful flower blossoms for seasons to come! Not to mention they provide us with tasty honey.

Can you believe this self-sustaining oasis could exist on the roof of a New York City apartment? As a NY green contracting company, Eco Brooklyn can make it possible for you to have one of your own!

Arranging and installing the plants presents [...]]]>

This weekend we get a special treat: we’ll be taking delivery of over 250 tropical plants and installing two indoor living walls. It’s the culminating step in a complete renovation of Area Yoga Studio in Downtown Brooklyn and promises to transform the character of the space.

Arranging and installing the plants presents lots of artistic and technical challenges, but a lot of the success of the green wall has taken place quietly over the last few months, in the careful process of plant selection.

We enjoy pushing the envelope of green contracting in New York City, and we like to think outside the box in our species choices too:  the challenge is to avoid the tired old themes of corporate and institutional plantscaping without compromising ease of maintenance and good growth.

We start with a process of elimination based on temperature range, the space available, the access to sunlight and the budget.

Then we look at the things we can control, like light and water, and base our plant selection on what we can provide in a sustainable way. In this case we’re using T5 fluorescent lights, which have a great balance of energy efficiency, affordability and strong, broad-spectrum light for plant growth.  Water for the green wall is recycled from the sink of a nearby bathroom, reducing the building’s water use as well as the outflow to our overburdened sewer system.

Next we list what functions we want the plants in our living wall to perform. Where an outdoor green wall installation would consider the effect on insulation and shading, in this case we were looking mainly for air purification, and managed to include plants that reduce levels of formaldehyde, benzene, ammonia and others.

This brings us to the most gratifying step in species selection: aesthetics. A complex palette of leaves and flowers that will add a sense of depth to the space has to be balanced with need for a meditative atmosphere of concentration. It is a yoga studio after all. At the same time the plants and their built context have to be matched: a challenge in New York when most of the viable indoor plants are native to the faraway tropics.

And finally we have to source our plants. We try to get everything as locally as possible, but there’s only one place in nature where conditions match the low light and moderate temperatures found in a New York City building: the understory of a tropical forest. That’s where almost all houseplants come from, and it means that our closest source is Florida.

Transporting plants over those distances is decadent in energy terms, but it does give us an opportunity to advance state of the art green design. We may have brought the plants a long way, but we’re using them to experiment with indoor living systems for grey water purification, and creating a magical space for Brooklyn yoga students to rest their eyes in shades of green while they practice.  We think that’s work that needs to be explored, if anything to ultimately decide the process is not ecological enough.

So that’s how we arrived at the following list. They’re a beautiful bunch of plants and we can’t wait to get their hands on them.

Anthurium,  assorted colors

Bromeliad Guzmaniam, assorted colors

Gold Dust Croton

ZZ

Dracaena Dragon Series,  assorted varieties

Aspidistra

Spath

Aglaonema, assorted varietes

Spider Plant

Dens Orchid

Bird’s Nest Fern, Japanese and Kangaroo varieties

Nephthytis Allusions, assorted colors

Philodendron

Hoya

Pothos

So come take a class at Area Yoga on Montague street in Brooklyn and check out the new indoor living wall installation. It promises to be magical!

Anything [...]]]>

The New York area has a lot of brownstones with backs yards. What a lot of people don’t know is that those back yards are contaminated. As a New York soil remediation company we’ve become pretty obsessed with this. It is alarming how many yards come up high in heavy metals, especially lead.

Anything below 100ppm of lead in soil is considered safe by European standards. In NY it is anything below 400ppm. Seems like a big difference but the results we are seeing renders that difference irrelevant. The last job we did had 2,100ppm, more than five times the safe level in NY.

And this is common.

I first got into this a couple years ago when I tested the soil at the Eco Brooklyn green show house. The test came back with 3,500ppm.

I freaked.

I called up Dr. Cheng who runs the testing lab at Brooklyn College to see if there had been an error and if not what city agency do I call! His response was very nonchalant: “That number is pretty common,” he said.

And no he didn’t know of anyone who could help. This is the main guy in NY when it comes to this stuff.

Being a green contractor it wasn’t a stretch to educate myself and add soil remediation to the list of Eco Brooklyn’s services. It is such and important one.

100 years of lead from garbage incinerators, car fumes, and paint are the main culprits of soil contamination in NYC and it is amazing how many people are using back yards contaminated with it.

So test your yard! It is easy and cheap – $10-35, and Dr. Cheng just upgraded their technique so the test takes an hour. Just gather some soil and send it or bring it to the soil testing lab at Brooklyn College. They offer a great service.

My son exploring the lead free Eco Brooklyn green show house garden. It is designed to be a NY in the 1600's

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