Green Jay Landscape Design was born an ecological, organic, environmentally-responsible company.
The vision began with Jay Archer, a lifelong outdoorsman, naturalist, environmental educator, landscape designer, and gardener.
Jay began to notice the vast discrepancy among the vibrant, life-supporting natural ecosystems he spent years exploring, and the overly-manicured, sanitized landscapes most common in his community. He felt at home in the forest and wetlands surrounded by birds and wildlife, but felt no sense of place within the sterile landscape environments of suburbia.
Eager to make a difference, after studying horticulture and design at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG), Jay Archer continued his education at Rutgers Center for Urban Ecology.
Jay returned to NYBG and the Institute for Ecosystem Studies to develop, teach, and lecture on a brand new, one-of-a-kind, ecologically-based curriculum including wetland and ecological restoration, bioengineering, storm water management, and landscape construction and site development utilizing natural Earth materials.
Green Jay Landscape Design launched in 2013 and quickly disrupted the landscape status quo.
With the aims of reducing our environmental impact and creating safe, healthy, and inviting landscapes for all, our staff became NOFA Accredited Organic Land Care Professionals.
We rejected commonplace landscape practices, from gas-powered leaf blowers to any and all toxic chemical applications. Every property’s design program begins with a common tenet: First, Do No Harm. We evaluate each landscape on its ecosystem health and human health impact, seeking to improve both.
Our landscapes are ecological models.
They encourage children to grow up fearlessly embracing nature and admiring butterflies in the pollinator garden; storm water gets collected, treated, and stored on-site; layered plantings create habitat and sequester carbon.
Equally as important, we want our clients to be engaged by their landscapes – they must be livable, beautiful, inviting, and exciting. Because every day that we spend outside we are reminded that nature is medicine and that nature needs saving. We’re bringing back the birds and butterflies because wilderness is the salvation of the world.
Let’s discuss your goals and determine if we are a good fit for your project.
