From The Garden
Designs for Greener Gardens, Inc. strives to provide clients with only the best quality materials and horticultural techniques available today. Our goal is to create, maintain and improve gardens to enhance the individual character of your home or business. We pride ourselves on our attention to detail, our knowledgeable plant selection, our quality horticultural care and our personal work relationship with our customers. Our Fine Gardening Team is composed of experienced, courteous and passionate individuals. Their backgrounds include work in botanic gardens and nurseries and environmental preservation volunteer groups. They are dedicated, carefully trained and will provide your garden with the attention it deserves.
French Garden Antiquities
Elevate your garden creations with the addition of authentic French Antiquities. From hand carved stone troughs, metal garden urns to hand forged iron railings, we can provide you and your customers with unique pieces of garden art!
Did you know that for thousands of years, antique stone troughs (which we have a special affinity for) were hand-carved from a single block of stone? However, their production abruptly stopped 200 years ago, when the industrial revolution in Europe made cast iron a faster and less labor-intensive endeavor. Each chisel mark, still visible today on the rough surface of the stone, tells a story and we think you will agree that owning one of these antique troughs is akin to owning a piece of history, one that will never be duplicated. Nowadays, these beautiful rustic stone troughs are becoming rare and are used as garden features, planters or converted into elegant water fountains. The beauty of troughs‘ patina is unrivalled, and connoisseurs will appreciate their uniqueness.
Greener Gardens is committed to gardening with a conscience, paying special attention to our locally sensitive environment, the Chesapeake Bay. We strive to find ways to effectively control garden pests while minimizing risks to the environment and to human health. This is why we offer an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) service. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is being encouraged by the Maryland Extension Service as a sustainable way to prevent and control pests while enhancing the overall health of your garden. IPM manages pests by containing the use of physical, cultural, biological, and chemical strategies to control pest populations. It is a method of pest control that is designed to prevent devastating infestations not just treat them. IPM does not rely strictly on chemical pesticide applications because they eliminate beneficial organisms and pollute the environment.
Studies by Experiment Station and Extension Service entomologists have shown that scheduled preventative or cover spraying is not the most effective or environmentally sound method for controlling insect and mite pests of landscape plants. The best method is integrated pest management.
— Landscape IPM; Maryland Cooperative Extension, Bulletin 350
When we design a garden, physical aspects of pest control are considered. We use specifically selected pest-resistant plants and make sure they are placed in the most suitable location in order to reduce environmental stress. Maintenance and cultural controls are also important. When a plant or garden is properly watered and healthy, therefore not stressed, pests have a much harder time getting established. If an infestation does occur, which can happen even under the best circumstances, chemicals are not our first choice. Our Bay-friendly options will lessen or eliminate the impact of pesticides on your health and the environment.
Example of how IPM works in aphid control:
A common garden pest is the aphid. An IPM approach to controlling aphids could include releasing a beneficial aphid predator such as the ladybug, physically removing the aphids with water from a high-pressure hose, or spraying a natural insecticidal soap. If populations reach a threshold where severe damage is imminent, chemical pesticides may still be used but only as a last resort or in combination with other natural methods.
Every landscape is different and has a specific balance of insects, pathogens, and environmental conditions. Our five-step IPM service includes site evaluation/inspection, monitoring and implementing a personalized IPM program for your garden. You wouldn’t want your doctor to treat you the same as everyone else that came into the office! We know insects and pathogens are a part of the landscape and IPM is a proven method of sustainable pest control. Greener Gardens chooses IPM because we are dedicated to using only the best horticultural techniques available and want to ensure the success, beauty and health of your garden for years to come, with a commitment to a healthy environment.
Our Fine Gardening Team is composed of experienced, courteous and passionate individuals. Their backgrounds include work in botanic gardens and nurseries and environmental preservation volunteer groups. They are dedicated, carefully trained and will provide your garden with the attention it deserves.
© Katherine Frey
Nancy Lowry Moitrier CV, APLD is the owner of Designs for Greener Gardens. After receiving her Bachelor of Science in Horticulture from the Pennsylvania State University, Nancy spent several years honing her skills at various garden centers and at the U. S. National Arboretum. In addition to being an APLD Certified Garden Designer, Nancy is also a Certified Horticulturist, an Internationally Certified Arborist, a licensed Maryland Tree Expert, a Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional, and a Licensed Pesticide Applicator. She has lectured on various design and plant topics and has taught at the collegiate level. She is a skilled professional who will bring years of experience and knowledge to your gardening project.
Pierre Moitrier, is co-owner of Designs for Greener Gardens, he comes from France and brings his European flair to garden creations. He holds an Associates Degree in Landscape Design from George Washington University, and with more than 20 years of intensive gardening experience, is knowledgeable about a broad variety of woody plants, perennials and annuals and their many cultural needs. Pierre’s special talent is in crafting one of a kind garden hardscapes including rustic stone patios, walkways and walls, wood trellis structures and topiary work. He has lectured on the creation of structure and follies in the garden.
Designs for Greener Gardens, Inc. has been creating, developing and maintaining gardens in the Annapolis area since 1990. The company’s work has been featured in Fine Gardening, Adrian Higgins’ Washington Post column, Home & Design, American Nurseryman, Chesapeake Life, amongst others. Their creative hardscapes are highlighted in Pete Nelson – The Tree House Master’s book: Be In A Tree and in a 2007 HGTV episode of Landscaper’s Challenge.
Nancy & Pierre also contribute their expertise to Friends of the US National Arboretum’s quarterly publication: Arbor Friends.