Join our Design Studio! Landscape Designer & Landscape Designer / Landscape Architect
About our Practice: Focused on creating productive landscapes that provide ecological, social and economic benefits, Offshoots, Inc. is a landscape architecture, planning and horticultural installation company in Boston. We specialize in the planting design and the...
Superfund, Meet Super Plants
Plant microbiologist Sharon Doty is using microbes naturally associated with Poplar to increase success of phytoremediation efforts. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/science/superfund-plant-microbiome.html?smid=em-share
We are working remotely!
To Offshoots friends and family, We wanted to make you aware of our plan during these difficult times. In order to protect the health of our clients and staff, Offshoots is implementing the following policies: - Our office is open for business and all design projects...
Phytomining in the New York Times
"What if, as a partial substitute to traditional, energy-intensive and environmentally costly mining and smelting, the world harvested nickel plants?" Read the New York Times article here
Kate presenting at the Resilient Landscapes Symposium
Kate will be presenting her talk "Phytoremediation: Pollution Purging Plants" at the Resilient Landscapes Symposium this spring at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Can plants help remediate a site's contaminants when soil or water testing reveals something...
How can phytoremediation be used to clean up a landfill site? Ask the 7th graders!
Phytoremediation use at landfills is one of the most field implemented kinds of planted buffers in the field of phytotechnologies. Plants can be used to remediate contaminated groundwater generated by landfill leachate. Deep rooted plants such as poplars and willow...
Can Lead in Soil be Remediated with Plants? Check out this radio interview.
Phytoremediation of lead is a tricky topic! This recent radio interview from the mid-west does a good job explaining how phytostabilization is a form of phytoremediation that can be utilized to help mitigate risk of lead exposure:...
Lynn Wolff Garden Dedication
The Lynn Wolff Garden Dedication Ceremony was held on one of those perfect Boston evenings. The Garden was created to honor Lynn Wolf’s commitment as a volunteer to the Women’s Lunch Place, a day shelter for women in need. Lynn was a pioneer in the design world, a...
Phytoremediation in the Great Lakes
Willows and Poplars, two common Phytoremediation species, hard at work cleaning the soil in the Great Lakes Region. Photo credit: Ron Zalesny. Source: USDA "In the Great Lakes Region, phytoremediation work is expanding on a massive scale mainly due to word-of-mouth...
Ecosystem Services of Poplar Clones for Phytoremediation
A recent peer reviewed article examines the ecosystem services of poplar at long-term phytoremediation sites in the Midwest and Southeast, United States, and presents data for 5-15 year old poplars grown in phytoremediation plantings. Trees that are grown in short...