• Go Native: Native plants are finally getting their due with professionals and hobbyists alike recognizing their natural beauty and incredible impact on the greater food web for native insects, birds, and mammals. Whether it be scattering natives into an existing design or going all out with a completely fresh design Glengate’s designers can help you achieve your green goals and introduce you to some spectacular native species. Once your design is installed our horticultural staff is educated and equipped to provide Five Star Service for your plant material, allowing it to grow and benefit your local ecosystem for years to come.

• Turfing Out Traditional Lawn Care: Glengate’s Organic Lawn Health Care program can turn your lawn from a resource desert that provides no sustenance or shelter for beneficial insects into a space that benefits you as well as your local pollinators. Speak with any of our licensed professionals to see how we custom tailor our Lawn Health Care programs to fit your needs.

…Don’t Spray It. Eschewing pesticide and herbicide usage is a great way to lower your negative impact on the beneficial insect community.  Did you know that Glengate only hires and trains state-certified pesticide applicators to service your property? Our staff combined with your customized Property Care Agreement work to guarantee that smart horticulture is being practiced on your property.  Interested in learning more? Call today to have a customized agreement prepared for you.

The post Earth Day 2021: Join Forces with Aspetuck Land Trusts Green Corridor appeared first on Glengate Company.

Which is why we are thrilled to kick off 2021 by announcing that Glengate has been honored with two Northeast Spa and Pool Association (NESPA) Gold Awards for one of our recent projects—the stunning transformation of a waterfront Westport, Connecticut home. Selected by NESPA from hundreds of entries, our design features a soaring glass entry that connects visually to the land-and-waterscape beyond by a dramatic floating walkway. This path elevated over water leads to an elegant swim pavilion and breezeway. The sophisticated space is further enhanced by a custom water-side fire lounge.

2020 NESPA Gold Medal Award winning pool recognized for its elegant architectural integration.

The floating walkway adds drama and a sophisticated sense of adventure.

Captivating sunsets at the custom fire lounge overlooking the Smith Beach Harbor

Industry recognition plays an important role in Glengate’s multi-faceted strategy to excel in all aspects of its business. Brandon Jones, partner and design director, shares, “as a company, we have developed a highly orchestrated, even choreographed, group of professionals—from our landscape architects and designers, to our construction project managers and teams in the field implementing our designs. Our success depends on everyone working toward a collective goal of nothing less than perfect.” Jones, who’s led the growth of our design department over the past 15 years, adds, “our success, and the success of our clients’ projects, is a direct result of the pool of talent we have assembled. It is why we have earned the reputation as one of the region’s premier design-build firms.”

In addition to being celebrated for our waterfront Westport project, Glengate received recognition for a Rye, New York property, including an Association of Professional Landscape (APL) Designer Gold Award. This coastal project also made us an At Home Magazine A-List winner, and a finalist in HGTV’s Ultimate Outdoor Awards (https://www.hgtv.com/design/packages/hgtv-ultimate-outdoor-awards/2019/gorgeous-gardens/gorgeous-gardens-flower-fields-by-the-water). For our client in Rye, we created a visually captivating tapestry of color and texture using native plantings on a once-degraded site. The APL jury lauded Glengate’s ability to balance the homeowner’s goals while preserving and enhancing this beautiful, yet sensitive, ecosystem.  

Ecologically sensitive native plantings provide habitat and a year-round tapestry of color and texture.

A favorite new family gathering spot to enjoy the stunning views

A unique green-roof storage solution for kayaks and other watersports equipment

These are just two recent projects that have been commended by industry leaders; over the course of 50 years, Glengate has been recognized by and received awards from many of the most prestigious organizations in our region including:

• Innovation in Design Award presented by Connecticut Cottages and Gardens Magazine
• A-List Award presented by At Home Magazine
• APLD (Association of Professional Landscape Designers)—in 2012 Brandon Jones, Partner and Design Director, was recognized as International Designer of the Year
• HGTV Ultimate Outdoor Awards
• New England Home Magazine’s, annual “Five Under 40,” recognizing rising design leaders in our community; two of Glengate’s most accomplished design team members were selected: Cheryl Russ, Landscape Architect; and Brandon Jones, Partner and Design Director.

On behalf of the entire Glengate Family, we extend  our heartfelt thanks to our clients for allowing us to partner with them in creating truly world-class designs.  View more of our award-winning work by visiting https://www.glengatecompany.com/#portfolio  And if you would like to explore how we can help you make your dreams reality please contact our Design Team at 206-762-2000 or email: ClientManager@GlengateCompany.com

The post Industry Awards Reflect Our Passion for Design appeared first on Glengate Company.

When this pandemic is over, residential property services will be regarded very differently- by homeowners, service providers and local governing bodies.

Our residential property services business was listed as “essential” by Connecticut and New York. This has forced us to look at what we do from another perspective – reframing our work in terms perhaps considered as secondary, up until now. Our entire workforce is re-tooling and learning how to speak differently about what we do; and for the folks in quarantine at this time, THEY want to know what we’re doing too!

The "Stay-cation"

I remember watching my beloved grandchildren bounding off into the woods behind our house to find Easter eggs; my first thought in that moment was to hope the latest cedar oil tick spray did the trick.

We think differently about our properties today than just 20 or so years ago when tick-borne illness was not as prevalent as it is today in Connecticut and New York.

So, why are landscape services essential?

The landscape and pool industry learned a valuable lesson in 2002 that [I believe] paved the way for our present government response in naming us “essential.”

In 2000-2002 a Florida economic downturn caused an unexpected health crisis in residential neighborhoods that made headlines in our national papers. A massive influx of mosquitoes hitting residential neighborhoods at the time was traced to foreclosed “Zombie Homes” where the pools had been shut down and the water allowed to go green.

This happens to pool water very quickly when no one is maintaining it- actually, it happens in about 3-4 days once sanitizer levels drop to zero. Why? A pool is more like a petri dish than an ecosystem.

A Florida “Zombie Home” quickly became a huge problem after landscape and pool services were abruptly stopped. It was during this time that West Nile Virus was discovered on our coast. This also found its way into prominent national news.

With the very publicized advent and recent increase in tick and mosquito-borne illness it has become crucial to maintain properties clean and well-maintained.

The Essential Local Ecosystem

Another important point to make is in regards to our trade’s increasing contribution to a healthy ecosystem.

In recent years fears of honeybee populations dwindling or dying off has hit home!
The Audubon Society and other Naturalists have studied and concluded that landscape companies can help greatly by planting native species that cause our pollinators to thrive.

Essential Summary

In a strange way this pandemic has taught us to articulate what makes us “essential”…
Sure, we make properties beautiful and provide recreational water, but…

• We’re not just mowing lawns, we are controlling tick and mosquito habitat.
• We’re not just maintaining swimming pools, we’re conserving water and preventing mosquito-borne illness.
• We’re bringing back the pollinators and varieties of birds that were disappearing from our area.

It took a pandemic for the average landscape or pool service crew to realize that we are essential to the health and well-being of our residential communities and our ecosystem.

Glengate employees however are not average. As an “essential” residential service we follow CDC guidelines –  this has also proven challenging –  but so is everything else in this pandemic. “Normal” activities like, buying food at the grocery store or pumping gas are all a challenge! A challenge we have accepted.

We are happy to do our part and serve our community in this way.

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