In Part 1 of our conversation with Our Land Organic’s founder, John Hemmerle reflected on the founding principles of Our Land Organics, how the company has evolved, and some of the changes he’s seen in the landscaping industry over the last 12 years. Here, John shares some of his hard-earned insights and favorite lessons related to native landscaping and ecological landscape design. We hope you enjoy his thoughtful reflections!

Twelve years ago, John Hemmerle founded Our Land Organics. In the years since, both the company and the landscaping industry have grown and evolved in positive and sometimes surprising ways. Here, John reflects on the early days of Our Land Organics, the company’s transformation over time, the value of ecological landscaping, and what he loves about working with Our Land Organics’ clients. Stay tuned for Part 2, where John will share some of his favorite lessons about ecological landscape design!

Adding native medicinal plants to your landscape maximizes the value of your yard by “stacking” functions. Not only can you provide food and habitat for wildlife, suppress weeds, reduce yard maintenance, and add beauty to your property. You can also take advantage of edible and medicinal benefits. Here, we’ve outlined six of our favorite medicinal native plants, all of which are frequent fliers in our ecological landscape designs. 

There’s an art and a science to managing weeds without toxic chemicals. Maintaining a low-weed garden requires ongoing landscape maintenance. We explain our organic approach to weed control and answer some of the weed-related questions that we hear most frequently from our clients. This information will support the reduction of weeds over time.

Join us on Saturday, July 18 to learn how ecological landscaping can relieve landscape headaches, enhance your outdoor living space, and benefit our ecosystems. Our Land Organic’s founder and managing director, John Hemmerle, is leading a workshop about Home Landscape Transformations that will feature real-world examples local to the Cincinnati region. 

Rowan Strippelhoff is our new Assistant Landscape Designer, bringing creativity and a passion for native plants to our ecological landscape design studio. Below, Rowan shares a bit about his approach to native landscape design and shares his enthusiasm for the tremendous value of native plants.

In ecological circles, bare soil is verboten. For many reasons, we’re a huge fan of covering soil. There are several ways to do this, but our designers are big proponents of using living plants as a “living mulch” or “green mulch”. In this post, we share our 6 favorite native groundcovers and their benefits.

We all have a role to play in restoring native forest ecosystems. No matter where you live within the Southwest Ohio region, the size of your land, or your ecological know-how, you can help reclaim our forests and sustain native woodlands. Join us this Saturday to learn how!