One Nature

A small city garden can become a whole world.

When we first arrived, this property was fragmented and underused. A patchwork of lawn, aging fencing, scattered plantings, ecologically devoid, and disconnected outdoor spaces left the space feeling smaller than it really was. There was little habitat, limited privacy, and few places where the family could comfortably gather outdoors.

A yard is simply the open space around a home. A garden is something entirely different—it is a place with intention, where people, plants, wildlife, water, stone, and the rhythms of the seasons are brought into relationship with one another. Gardens invite exploration. They tell a story. They become richer with time rather than fading from it.

Beyond the garden itself, this project was informed by principles of urban design. Rather than treating the property as an isolated parcel, we designed it as part of the larger neighborhood. Native hedgerows soften the transition between private and public space, reducing the visual dominance of the house while contributing greenery to the streetscape. As the garden matures, the architecture will become increasingly nestled within a living canopy, allowing the landscape—not the building—to define the experience of the place. We believe every property has the potential to become a small but meaningful contribution to a healthier, more beautiful city, demonstrating how private gardens can collectively shape a more inspiring future.

Over many months, we transformed this landscape into a layered ecological garden. A handcrafted cedar deck and gates, bluestone pathways, native hedgerows, flowering shrubs, habitat-rich plantings, and carefully shaped landforms now weave the property together into a series of welcoming outdoor rooms. Every decision was made to increase beauty, biodiversity, resilience, and the daily experience of living within nature—not simply looking at it.

This is what we strive to create: not yards, but living gardens that deepen their connection to both people and place with every passing year.

Ecological landscapes, built and tended over time.

Before/after of this ecologically restored lakefront.

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In honor of 10 years of Safe Harbors Green, take a tour with Bryan Quinn, the artist and applied ecologist who designed this special space. Recorded in 2015, we love how this video explains so much of makes Safe Harbors Green unique — and are grateful to Bryan and his One Nature (@1nature) team for all their work in stewarding it. Watch the full video at the link in our bio or on this webpage: https://safe-harbors.org/safeharbors-green/ The creation of Safe Harbors Green would not have been possible without the grassroots support of 167 donors and funders. We extend special thanks to these major contributors for helping bring the Green to life: Hannah Brooks Ralph E. Ogden Foundation, Inc. Church Communities Foundation Rhinebeck Bank Taylor-Montgomery, LLC Rowley Family Foundation Bank Of America Charitable Foundation Friends & Family of Donna Sunny Ketcham Douglas Land & Lynn Peebles James A. Moss Memorial Fund Bill & Mary Murphy Gerald A. Doering Foundation We are grateful to our stewardship sponsor, Resorts World Catskills & Hudson Valley, who have provided vital sustaining support for Safe Harbors Green since 2022. #SafeHarborsOfTheHudson #SafeHarborsGreen #NewburghNY

We just made our final payment on a $100,000 loan from Pursuit Lending that we received during COVID.

The 3% interest rate — which feels almost unbelievable these days — was critical for our small business at a very uncertain time.

Community Development Financial Institutions like Pursuit are so important for small businesses, especially when access to affordable capital is often limited and concentrated in ways that don’t serve smaller, community-rooted companies.

We’re grateful to the amazing team at Pursuit for their support, and proud to mark this milestone.

What Is a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI)? | Pursuit CDFIs are about more than just lending. They’re here to help your small business grow! Learn how they can take your small business to new heights.

For two or three years, we stopped selling plugs in our nursery because, frankly, we can make more money selling gallon and quart containers. The consequence, however, was that many of our customers couldn’t afford the herbaceous material we had in stock.

So last year, we started selling plugs again. This is another example of how we tweak our nursery business model over time to help achieve our environmental agenda.

We recently received a couple of new shipments from some of our trade partners and now have an abundant supply of low-cost material that’s ready and eager to be planted in your garden.

When planting plugs, it’s best to space them a little closer together and expect a slightly higher percentage of dieback than with more established plants. If you plant them this month at the appropriate spacing, by fall you’ll have something that looks a lot like a meadow.

We work hard to keep our nursery’s prices as low as possible so we can achieve our mission: getting healthy, native, edible, and medicinal plants into the hands of as many people in our community as possible.

Keeping prices low isn’t easy. We are committed to paying livable wages, prioritizing employee well-being, maintaining a chemical-free growing environment, and supporting nonprofit partners through charitable giving. These values are central to who we are, but they also add costs that many large-scale growers and retailers don’t carry.

Over the past 10 years, we’ve become increasingly efficient, working closely with our propagation partners, growers, and making smart logistical decisions to provide the best value we can. Even so, we may never be able to match the prices you’ll find at Home Depot, Lowes or Adams.

Price tags also don’t tell the whole story. Much of the nursery stock sold in our region is grown elsewhere- in chemical dripping operations in warmer climates where labor costs are lower and worker conditions are not always ideal. We believe the people who grow plants deserve fair wages, safe working conditions, and respect for their work. Ethical labor practices are an important part of how we choose our partners and run our nursery.

What we can offer is something different: vigorous, healthy, non-toxic plants grown with care and integrity. Our growing methods meet or exceed USDA Organic standards, and every purchase helps support a healthier local ecosystem and stronger community.

If you’re looking for plants that are good for people, pollinators, and the planet, you’ve come to the right place.

Golden hour photos from our demonstration garden. We have over 120 species (and counting) of plants! Built entirely from small-sized container plants and using low cost materials, this garden is designed to showcase many affordable options that help move suburbia from an ecological problem to a solution.

5 Things About Foxglove Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis)

1. It is a nectar station. The tubular white flowers attract native bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, making it an important nectar source during late spring and early summer. In flower essence traditions, Foxglove Beardtongue is sometimes associated with encouraging clear communication, self-expression, and confidence in sharing one’s voice.

2. Herbalists use it to help speak truth.Several Penstemon species have a history of use by Indigenous peoples and traditional herbal practitioners. In flower essence traditions, Foxglove Beardtongue is sometimes associated with encouraging clear communication, self-expression, and confidence in sharing one’s voice.

3. Gardeners use it to strengthen ecosystem function.Foxglove Beardtongue attracts beneficial insects, increases pollinator activity, and supports biodiversity, making it a useful perennial in food forests, pollinator strips, and native plant guilds.

4. Unlike James Hardin, the “beard” is the real deal.Inside each flower is a fuzzy sterile stamen called a staminode. This distinctive feature gives beardtongues their common name and helps distinguish them from similar wildflowers.

5. It is tough and adaptable.Native to eastern North America, Foxglove Beardtongue tolerates drought, deer, adapts to a range of soil conditions, and reliably returns year after year with minimal care.

We retrofitted this shade garden with a stepping-stone entry leading to a bluestone spiral patio, all without disturbing a single existing plant. The spiral unfolds subtly, beginning with larger stones and gradually transitioning to smaller pieces as it tightens toward the center. Spirals have a unique ability to draw us inward, creating a sense of movement, discovery, and quiet contemplation. Echoing patterns found in fern fronds, nautilus shells, whirlpools, and even galaxies, the form feels both timeless and organic. By inviting visitors to slow down and experience the garden from ever-changing perspectives, the spiral transforms the space into something immersive, intimate, and quietly captivating. One of the most rewarding aspects of this project was working within a modest budget. Constraints often force artists and builders to distinguish between what is essential and what is merely expensive. The challenge becomes finding substitutions, simplifications, and creative solutions that do not feel like compromises once they are built. In many ways, this mirrors the larger task of ecologically retrofitting suburbia. If sustainable landscapes depend on costly interventions available only to a small number of homeowners, they cannot achieve meaningful scale. Lasting change requires landscapes that are beautiful, functional, and attainable. The goal is not to create the most expensive solution possible, but one that people can realistically adopt—where thoughtful choices replace excess, and where the final result feels richer because of the constraints rather than diminished by them.