Are you set for spring? Your ultimate guide to all things outdoors.

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

Our late winter put spring on the back burner. But while most people were digging out from an atmospheric river of snow and ice, the promise of better weather signaled an on-time arrival for the season we all love best.

For landscapers and property professionals both, winter is traditionally the best time to review the scope and specs of your landscape maintenance plan, think about your wish list, and assess the quality of your landscape services..

If you don’t have a landscape partner procurement plan in place or are seeking better outcomes, here’s what we recommend you look for.

  • A landscape company that can bring innovative and sustainable solutions to increase the value of your business and the value of your landscaping.
  • who can knock it out of the park day-in and day-out with high-quality service and a genuine commitment to meet your needs.
  • that understands the ‘why’ behind your mission and is three steps ahead, thinking strategically to avoid problems before they happen.
  • who build relationships on transparency and mutual understanding.
  • who exceeds minimum prequalifications standards, has a closed loop delivery model, is compliant in risk management.
  • who can align scope of work with expectations and budget, having outstanding communications skills, and can develop a program that meets the needs of your landscape and can help you meet your short and long-term objectives.
  • and who is eager to invite  you into their operation, introduce you to their team, and offer you a tour of their facilities–a token of trust and transparency that shows you exactly what you can expect.

DID YOU KNOW?

We believe that business is built on friendships.Our client retention rate is consistently over 90%. That’s a lot of loyalty over the 49 years we’ve been in business, and a lot of friends.  We couldn’t be more honored by your trust.

THE ELM ADVANTAGE.

  1. Optimized total cost of service.
  2. Integration of services and delivery.
  3. Ability to meet your environmental impact objectives.
  4. Service quality management.
  5. CRE-trusted partner of choice.
  6. Certified in landscape and snow and ice management.
  7. Member of BOMA Westchester County, BOMA SoCt, Bridgeport Regional Business Council, National Association of Landscape Professionals, Snow & Ice Management Association.

INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE?

Learn more about ELM’s Award of Excellence winning landscape services; its sustainability and green-build goals, and its ability to deliver unrivaled value to college and university campuses, multi-acre corporate sites, multi-family, and mixed-use..

Operating in Connecticut and Westchester County, New York since 1976.  Contact CEO Bruce Moore Jr. at ‭(203) 316-5433 for commercial landscape services unmatched in meeting client needs.‬

Photo: New Canaan Library. Winner of a Silver Award of Excellence 2024 from the National Association of Landscape Professionals.

Nature is Just What the Doctor Ordered

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

For more than thirty years, our healthcare facility specialists have been helping hospitals improve patient quality of life with plants and therapeutic landscapes that reduce patient stress, increase well-being, and strengthen the healing environment.

Beyond the human health benefits linked with landscapes, there are financial benefits as well. Trees and landscaping can increase property value,  improve return on investment, and when coupled with a program for sustainability, be part of the strategy for certifications in WELL, LEED and green building.

From meadows to garden views and beautiful outdoor areas, there are ten ways to be more purposeful about hospital landscapes.

  • Focus on low maintenance ornamental grasses and flowering perennials that attract birds, butterflies and wildlife; contribute to biodiversity, engage the senses, and are less susceptible to pests and disease.
  • Create plant-filled, multi-level, interactive courtyards and gathering spaces with accessible walkways to ensure safety for all levels of mobility.
  • Add water features, waterfalls, ponds and contemplative fountains for relaxation.
  • Transform underperforming outdoor areas into low-maintenance meadows, adding trees and natural elements that enhance the patient experience.
  • Integrate patient-centered landscape features to accommodate limited mobility —  handrails, grade-sensitive walkways, accessible ramps, and seating.
  • Bring the outside in. Create atriums, green walls and enclosed all-weather landscape pavilions that provide high-value impact, improved access to natural light, and make nature available year-round.
  • Choose seasonal plant and tree for their vibrant foliage color and texture; plants that are non-toxic and non-thorny; and emphasize high contrast plantings to help patients with low vision; plant shade trees and lush perennial shrub and herb borders to create a sense of serenity.
  • Mitigate environmental risk with organic plant health care applications, integrated pest management and sustainable plant and soil health care practices.
  • Have a winter safety and risk management plan in place for 24/7 emergency snow and ice removal services.
  • Keep grounds clean around the clock. Parking lots need to be meticulously maintained, shrubs, beds and borders should be trimmed with no overgrown plants or weeds, there should be no litter and nothing that gets in the way of making people feel better just by looking at how beautiful it is.

ELM serves the health care network across Connecticut and Westchester County, New York, including specialized and acute and primary care facilities, ambulatory centers, and major teaching hospitals.

To learn more, contact Bruce Moore Jr., president, at 203-316-5433.

Take a look at how ELM is giving a next generation of healthcare, benefit from nature.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IMuxQGIAOM

Photo: Stamford Hospital, Stamford Connecticut

Greener Pastures for Mixed-Use

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

The way we use flowers, plants and trees to transform spaces into places people love serve multiple purposes.  For mixed-use projects, plants open up a world of economic possibilities.  From public plazas to rooftop gardens, the ROI is better than ever as smart landscapes continue to increase property value year-after-year.

On trend 

A new way of looking at beauty is in. For landscaping, that means more nature, more natural solutions, more perennials, and more trees to help cool the air.  Conventional lawns are being replaced by eco-friendly meadows, and we’re swapping-out high-maintenance plants for plants that can go with the flow when weather shifts

We recommend 

  • Smart technologies that monitor resources and water 24/7
  • Predictive AI, analytic tools and market intelligence to identify cost effective solutions
  • Digital platforms that facilitate improved communication and reporting
  • Integrated pest management to reduce chemical applications
  • Plant and soil health programs to boost the landscape’s ability to thrive
  • Noise-reducing EV and battery powered equipment
  • Stylish planters and screening shrubs that create a sense of seclusion
  • Controller-based drip systems in containers and plants lightly fertilized with non-toxic products for minimal impact
  • Colorful annual rotation 4/x year to soften surrounding hardscape
  • Zone hardy, climate-adaptive plant material that can go with the flow when weather shifts
  • Climate-positive landscaping strategies, more plants to decrease pollution, and healthier soils to sequester carbon

Learn More

Discover the importance of ROI for sustainable decision-making. Contact Marc Angarano and Ted Marron at sales@easternland.com to learn more.

 

 

Climate-Positive: Our Path to a More Sustainable Future

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

Eastern Land Management is committed to providing significant economic benefits through sustainable best practices that improve landscape and ecosystem health, protect and conserve resources, and enhance healthier, higher-performing commercial landscapes.

On approach to 2026–our 50th year in business–we are doubling-down on our commitment to do our part to create a more sustainable,  more environmentally-resilient,  and more climate-positive future.

The path forward 

  • Recruit, train and develop landscape and snow professionals, and technical specialists who support our commitment to sustainability and drive progress on goals.
  • Partner with the commercial real estate (CRE) community to  provide landscape services and nature-based strategies that minimize environmental impacts, support green infrastructure, and harness the unique capacity of landscape to reduce and sequester carbon dioxide.
  • Help our clients in commercial real estate and property and facility management to create sustainable value by conducting business with integrity and a shared commitment to advance climate action goals.
  • Help our commercial real estate clients achieve net zero emission goals through a range of options, including robotics, autonomous mowers, smart technology framework, and alternative fuels.
  • Help commercial real estate clients accelerate its transition to a regenerative economy through our commitment to and use of practices that drive carbon sequestration through soil regeneration, plant and ecosystem health.
  • Help commercial real estate clients achieve a climate-positive profile through ongoing improvements in water conservation, irrigation technology, smart water management, ground water health, green waste composting, integrated pest management, resource conservation, erosion control, improvements in energy efficiency, and the use of green technologies that support green building and LEED initiatives.
  • Help commercial real estate clients benefit from the ‘E’ (environmental) metric in ESG, and derive economic benefits that come from high-performing landscape and grounds management services.

Alliances

Our green framework is anchored by a network of sustainability thought leaders and stakeholders who care about these issues as much as we do.

For instance, we …

  • partner with Aquarion Water Company to increase awareness and approaches to water conservation and drought management.
  • are Premier Partners with global irrigation technology pioneer Weathermatic.
  • train with world-class EV manufacturers and sustainable snow and ice consultants.
  • are EV-certified through the American Green Zone Alliance (AGZA).
  • are active members and leaders of national and local trade associations across the industries we serve, including the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP),  Snow & Ice Management Association (SIMA), Building & Office Managers Association (BOMA) Southern Connecticut Chapter and BOMA Westchester County, and the Bridgeport Regional Business Council.
  • are certified professionals with advanced accreditation from both the Green Industry and Snow & Ice Industry.
  • have a dedicated sustainable snow/ice and winter operation at our green hub and brine-making facility, located in Monroe Connecticut.
  • provide services that support LEED criteria and work with LEED-certified properties across the CRE spectrum.
  • are experienced in navigating complex logistics for on-structure landscapes and complex commercial sites, including environmentally-sensitive watershed-adjacent, multi-grade, and elevated terrains.
  • have won national Awards of Excellence for our clients across categories, including recognition for Class A green roofs and “green cities” initiatives for urban redevelopment.
  • were recognized as a 2030 Sustainability ChangeMaker by Fairfield County for drought and water management leadership and contribution to urban sustainability.

Advocacy

  • We believe landscape professionals are uniquely situated to advocate for and lead on sustainability, and  will continue to collaborate with clients, suppliers and allied professionals to champion better ways to make Connecticut and Westchester County, NY, water smart, green smart, and healthier, more beautiful places to live, work and play.

For more information on ELM’s path to sustainability, go to: Sustainability | Eastern Land Management | Commercial Landscaping CT & NY

References:

https://www.easternland.com/meet-elms-silent-weapon-in-climate-positive-noise-reduction/

https://www.easternland.com/elms-green-infrastructure-program-is-tackling-urban-stormwater/

https://www.easternland.com/from-the-ground-up-why-soil-regeneration-leads-to-healthier-landscapes/

https://www.easternland.com/elm-is-driving-the-e-in-esg-heres-why-that-matters/

Your Landscape is More Than Just a Pretty Face

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

Stunningly beautiful, incredibly lush–the look and feel and relationship people have with your landscape is part of the interplay between your business and biodiversity, and the economics of investment into one of the most important ways to create and sustain asset value.  The starting point is understanding the business case landscape makes for having more nature outside your front door.

With spring ushering in longer days, and even longer to-do lists, getting your landscape ready to take on summer puts your property in the cross-hairs of opportunity: make progress on EV and net zero goals,  improve water management and plant health, tackle pests and disease, upgrade worn or dated hardscape, green-up infrastructure, and take action on nature and climate-related risks.

Finding the right partner can help.

Our full-service all-season landscape maintenance contract includes a good turf and perennial program, annual flower rotation, spring and fall seasonal issue targeting and clean-up, irrigation maintenance and water conservation, tree and shrub care, aeration and overfeeding, plant health care, and mulch.  We also have a wide range of enhancements that improve green performance and curb appeal, a strong sustainability framework in place that includes snow and ice services in winter, and ways to help you drive progress on net zero and climate-action goals.

It’s not complicated to get started. We’ve made the process easier than ever. Follow these four simple steps.

1.  Send us a RFP – Request for Proposal – with specs and scope of work, and stretch goals we can look at separately. This will give you a quick apples-to-apples number plus learn if your stretch goals are a cost-efficient tuck-in.

2.  Ask us about our employees’ training and certification, and verification; about our memberships in professional organizations, the awards we’ve won, and our leadership in sustainability.

3.  Don’t forget to ask about our reputation for quality and delivery, and experience on projects just like yours. Ask us what we’re doing to improve water conservation, drive progress on green goals, or meet LEED criteria; and be sure to check out social media to see what others have to say about the work we do.

4.  Include deadlines and timelines so we can get you what you need when you need it, with some wiggle room up front so we have time to cover everything.

Better yet, give us a call. We’d love to add you to our list of CRE partners in Fairfield, New Haven and Westchester Counties.

Contact us at ‭(203) 316-5433. We can’t wait to hear from you.‬

 

 

 

Jordan Skiba, ELM Intern, Seeds His Climb to The Top

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

A recent UConn grad with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration is this summer’s intern.

“An intern with a path to the future,” says Bruce Moore Jr. who’s pegged Jordan as someone who adds the kind of high-energy talent that easily translates to a long-game role.

Jordan brings a lot of plusses to ELM: he’s Stamford born and raised. He worked in the hospitality industry through college, has had a passion for landscaping since forever, and likes being hands-on. Plus, he’s smart, a nice guy, and loves sports and family.

Jordan currently has his hands full with research projects, learning the lay of the land, and getting to know people and projects.

Jordan says, everyone has been so welcoming and helpful, he can hardly wait to grow his career while doing whatever it takes to support ELM’s success.

Welcome, Jordan. Go Huskies.

 

 

Green is the color of second chances.

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

Underutilized office properties have found new life in greener pastures. With the addition of diverse amenities, enhanced sustainability, and tax incentives, landlords find that converting tired properties into dynamic new communities is environmentally more sustainable, more practical, and more cost-efficient than building new.

This is good news on a lot of levels. As sustainability becomes more of a strategic imperative and less of a service, landscaping will play an ever greater role in optimizing the environmental impact of adaptive reuse by decreasing the intensity of carbon, reducing debris and waste, and creating lively outdoor spaces that people want to live, work, shop, socialize, and play in.

Eastern Land Management has worked closely with its CRE clients over the years to green up both old and new properties, helping its clients forge a vision for greener footprints–enhancing plant-filled college campuses, nature-rich downtowns, and pedestrian-friendly outdoor spaces–where our collective passion for nature, excellence and renewal can improve the quality of life.

We think revitalization is the future of urban living with its focus on water, resource and energy conservation,  and drought-tolerant landscaping that is chosen as much for visual interest as it is forage for the birds and the bees.

ELM won an Award of Excellence for Downtown Stamford urban beautification from the National Association of Landscape Professionals in 2022, and a Fairfield County ChangeMaker Award for Sustainability in 2019, but our change journey didn’t stop there. Our diverse segment portfolio is steeped in awards and success stories, with landscaping that compliments riverfronts, waterways, trails and bike paths, corporate plazas and college dorms, university athletic fields, hospitals, HOAs and senior communities; and on-structure ‘green roof’ landscapes featuring recreational amenities and bocce ball courts where you’d least expect to find them.

Nature isn’t nine-to-five and neither are we. We’re working 24/7 to increase asset value through better, faster and smarter ways of delivering value and working with commercial property thought leaders to green light a healthier future.

Bruce Moore Jr., president of Eastern Land Management, is an active member of the greater business communities of Connecticut and NY Metro.  He is a member of SoCT BOMA Board of Directors, and a member of Westchester County BOMA.  To partner with ELM on green building strategies or to learn more, contact Bruce at 203-316-5433.

ELM was a Bronze Sponsor for June 9, 2023, Westfair Communications Annual Real Estate event, “The Conversion of Commercial Properties: What are the creative options?”

How Colleges Can Optimize the Value of Landscape to Meet Strategic & Academic Goals

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

As a campus facility manager, you know that staying competitive means continually investing in your grounds. But with undergraduate college enrollment in its steepest decline on record, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and data from the National Student Clearinghouse, making the case for continual improvements gets harder, pushing many facility managers to seek landscape service partners that can identify new ways to keep your campus landscape a high-performing resource.

Knowing how to respond to challenges and how wisely money will be allocated is an opportunity to ensure that the full potential of the value of the investment in landscaping can be realized. To Eastern Land Management, this means delivering more innovative solutions and a value-based approach to landscape and grounds services.

With 48 years’ experience spanning public and private K-12, to land grant and private colleges to the Ivy league in Connecticut and New York, ELM has a long-history as a discreet and unparalleled landscape partner-of-choice. The company’s proactive, professionally managed approach to maintaining campus landscape and grounds is a process that ensures that the school, the land, the natural resources, the landscape and the built environment work in harmony with the school’s commitment to excellence.

Key elements that make us strong campus partners

  • We work with facility managers to reemphasize the flexible space between buildings, and meet landscape, grounds and site objectives at a strategic level.
  • We improve data driven decision-making with technology platforms.
  • We find creative ways to rise to the challenge of deferred maintenance.
  • We advise on energy management programs to reach sustainability goals and drive cost savings.
  • We follow best-practice guidelines in horticulture, plant health care, integrated pest management, and water conservation to break new ground on sustainable solutions.
  • We create a consistent and reliable approach to service excellence, working with facility managers to set priorities and deliver the greatest value.
  • We provide multiple delivery models, including outsourced partner, onsite partner, consulting partner, or in specialized service areas, such as water management and athletic fields.

Leading change in four critical areas

ELM received the Fairfield County ChangeMaker Award for sustainability in 2019, and we continue to support sustainability goals in the following ways:

  • Safeguarding water
    • Reducing runoff
    • Promoting permeable paving
    • Collecting rainwater, where feasible
    • Implementing landscaping that has high rate of absorption
    • Incorporating bioswales and bio-retention areas, and constructed wetlands
    • Utilizing drought tolerant planting
    • Installing high-efficiency irrigation systems and digital water saving technology
  • Conserving resources
    • Reducing green waste
    • Minimizing waste impacts
    • Using renewable, biodegradable, low-impact, and non-toxic materials, as feasible
  • Improving energy efficiency
    • Planting deciduous trees for seasonal shading
    • Using energy-efficient equipment
    • Using renewable technologies
    • Increasing the use of cost-effective tools and alternative fuel
  • Enhancing environmental quality
    • Creating healthy outdoor spaces and landscape solutions that support learning and enhance the quality of life
    • Restoring soil health to improve carbon sequestration, combat soil erosion, retain water and nutrients
    • Using non-toxic products, as feasible, to improve plant health and reduce pests and disease
    • Increasing the use of low-maintenance, drought tolerant perennials, meadows, eco-lawns, groundcover
    • Protecting habitats and promoting biodiversity
    • Using eco-friendly alternatives to salt for winter snow and ice management

At ELM, our goal is to make all the elements of the landscape work together for a more sustainable and resilient future. To learn more, contact sales@easternland.com

 

 

Eastern Land Management Wins Award for Urban Renewal

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

From the Fairfield County Business Journal, September 17, 2022

by Edward Arriaza

Eastern Land Management (ELM) has recently been awarded the Silver Award of Excellence by the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) for its renovation of Kiwanis Park, a placemaking and urban renewal project of Downtown Stamford’s Special Services District. In addition to Kiwanis Park, ELM was honored for developing a streetscape design in the heart of the downtown business district that included 250 hanging baskets, foliage containers and refurbished annual beds.

Founded in 1976 by Bruce Moore Sr., the Stamford-based company provides full-service landscaping and snow removal services and has 120 seasonal employees who work as landscape gardeners, landscape crew leaders, heavy equipment mechanics and plant health care technicians. According to Bruce Moore Jr., the son of the founder and ELM’s president, the company began “with a vision to maintain commercial properties in Westchester and Fairfield County” and later added New Haven County to its service area.

Moore knew he wanted to join the business when he was young, and immediately went to work for the company in 2005 upon graduating college.

“Growing up in the business, I really grew a liking to working with all the different people and working with horticulture and seeing what goes into the maintenance and snow removal of all these properties,” Moore said. “It was something that I always was passionate about.”

As a full-service land management company, ELM is able to act as a single-source provider for its clients, offering landscape management, water management and snow removal all in one.

“All those services are provided by our own personnel,” Moore said. “The customer has a single point of contact to use for pretty much the entire exterior of their facility.”

Among the services ELM provides for landscape management are turf fertilization, lawn mowing, tree and shrub pruning and integrated pest management. For water management, ELM provides troubleshooting and repairs, scheduled maintenance programs and system design and installation, among other services.

Moore believed that ELM’s award-winning work brought life to the underutilized Kiwanis Park, making it a “more welcoming, cleaner space.”

“What was originally just a cut through from lower Summer Street to Atlantic Street now is more of a place for people to sit, relax, hang out or have a conversation with friends, have a bite to eat and just in general socialize and mingle with people,” Moore said.

Though ELM has received accolades for its quality of work, it has still experienced its share of difficulties — the sharp increase in fuel and wages due to inflation has been felt acutely by Moore and the daily price fluctuations of material has required ELM to reach out to its vendors constantly in order to have up-to-date prices.

“We are working pretty hard every day to try our best to not pass off a lot of those increased costs to our customers,” Moore said. “We’re trying to manage it to the best of our ability, but we have had to make some adjustments over the last year to accommodate for all of the inflation on material prices.”

ELM has also dealt with labor shortages, facing some difficulties in recruiting people for its production teams. However, it had no issues in maintaining its workers the past couple of years and has even brought on board an employee relations coordinator to amplify employees’ voices. As a result, ELM has increased wages and implemented recruiting bonuses.

“We’ve made a big adjustment to ensure that we’re working really hard to become an employer of choice, and to make sure that we’re retaining our people,” Moore said.

Moore added that ELM will continue to keep its eyes on the changing weather and preparing for the first storm of the season.

“Right now, we’re working to allocate equipment and ensure that we have everything in place and prepared to go for the upcoming winter season,” he said.

Original can be found at Westfaironline.com: https://westfaironline.com/real-estate/eastern-land-management-wins-an-award-for-its-urban-renewal-work/

Photo: © PJ Kennedy