Mother Oak’s Garden was started by Renée Velkoff, a landscape designer and retired high school teacher, on Long Island as a way to translate her love of gardening into advocacy for utilizing locally sourced native plants and sustainable maintenance practices in the North Shore, woodland landscape. We offer landscape consultations, design services, classes, and a growing inventory of products suited to gardeners who share our philosophy.
This blog is dedicated to the “Mother Oak” trees found all across our communities; mature trees which anchor our neighborhoods. These majestic giants provide a home for many species that live among their branches and roots. These mini eco-habitats allow for native plants, mammals, birds, amphibians, bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, fungi, lichens, mosses, bacteria and so many others to perpetuate the rejuvenating cycle of life. For without the mother oaks, and all those species which comprise the larger skin of the earth, there can be no life. Thus, the earth is our mother, and we must take care of our habitat. Organizations that aim to help the Suffolk County, Long Island portion of our planet:
The Huntington-Oyster Bay Audubon Society
The Sierra Club, Long Island
Long Island Native Plant Initiative
New York State Department of Conservation
Cornell Cooperative Extension, Suffolk County
For a complete list of resources, visit our Links page.