Our Temenos

We look forward to representing sustainability in the built environment at the New York Build event on the 12 and 13th of March!

We are proud members of the Ecological Landscape Alliance!

Join the Conversation! Save the date for a lively panel discussion on Labor in the Landscape moderated by Director at Large at the American Public Gardens Association- Toshi Yano. Panelists include the founder of Our Temenos- Rosemarie Miner, Michael Ng, and Deputy Director of Horticulture at Brooklyn Bridge Park- Bella Ciabattoni. MARCH 18, 2025 The Central Park Arsenal Fifth Avenue and 64th Street Third floor: The Arsenal Gallery Doors open for refreshments at 6:00 pm Meeting begins promptly at 6:30 pm General meetings are free to Metro Hort Group members. No reservations are necessary. Guests are welcome to attend for a $20 contribution at the door.

I found a space of joy this past weekend participating as a panelist during Our Temenos's opening event. The intimate space they created offered a wonderful opportunity to connect authentically and exchange experiences through open dialogue with professionals across different sectors of the built environment. I enjoyed sharing about my journey in building RVS, a mission-driven for-profit business, and exploring how we're navigating the path of social responsibility within an industry often constrained by budgets and timelines. Through innovative approaches, we're developing creative solutions to meet these constraints while maintaining our environmental commitments, alongside other businesses driven by similar aspirations.   It was both encouraging and heartening to witness, both as panelists and through audience engagement, how similar values are being executed from different vantage points in the industry. We embody a common thread in our care and passion for the environment, utilizing its indigenous strengths to create healthy spaces that benefit the people we serve. Each of us is challenging the narrative around sustainable solutions - demonstrating that they can be cost-effective while showing how solutions with higher upfront investments often yield greater long-term returns.   I'm grateful to be further connected with even more professionals who share similar values and practices within their own businesses. Thank you to Rosemarie Miner and the Our Temenos team for welcoming us as panelists for this conversation. I'm looking forward to more gatherings to come! And a special thanks to Brian Timpe, PMP, CCM, DASM for creating the original post, as I'm notoriously terrible at documenting these moments😅.

As a changing climate continues to drastically alter life across the city, and around the globe, people are finding that a new environmental awareness is shaping our choices, whether that’s a product of necessity or foresight. Throughout 2024, ecological landscaping continued its slow crawl to the forefront of transformative trends, blending aesthetic appeal with a commitment to environmental stewardship. But we’re a long way from the finish line and a long way from greening the green economy. Let’s dive into the actually sustainable solutions we see on the horizon for 2025. 1. Biodiversity-Focused Designs: Many companies are feeling the nudge from clients to evolve their designs toward the nexus of beauty and biodiversity. Usurping the traditional urban monoculture of hostas and hakonechloa, standard landscapers and homeowners are beginning to incorporate several native plants, shrubs, and trees. This shift not only enhances the visual appeal but also creates a habitat that supports local wildlife, including birds, insects, and beneficial microorganisms. 2. Regenerative Landscaping: Regenerative landscaping goes beyond sustainability; it aims to actively restore and revitalize ecosystems. This approach involves practices like composting, rainwater harvesting, and the use of organic fertilizers or compost to build soil health. By mimicking natural processes, regenerative landscaping promotes soil health, carbon sequestration, and overall ecological balance. A lot of homeowners are accepting the charge of genuine stewardship for their backyards and we expect to see a lot more of that in the year ahead. 3. Smart Irrigation Systems: Water conservation is a top priority in green landscaping, and smart irrigation systems are becoming indispensable. These systems use weather sensors and soil moisture sensors to optimize watering schedules, ensuring that landscapes receive the right amount of water at the right time. This not only reduces water waste but also promotes healthier plants. 4. Edible Landscaping: Blurring the lines between ornamental and functional, edible landscaping integrates fruits, vegetables, and herbs into traditional garden designs. Homeowners are increasingly interested in growing their own food, or at least harvesting it when they remember to. 5. Permeable Surfaces: The trend towards eco-friendly hardscapes (any hard surface you walk on) is starting to become the standard in NYC with the use of permeable surfaces at the municipal scale. These surfaces, including our beloved permeable pavers and porous concrete, allow rainwater to penetrate the ground, reducing runoff and helping to manage record setting rain events, affectionately known as cloudburst events. 6. Green Roofs and Walls: Urban landscapes are embracing vertical and horizontal greenery (and I’m not talking about embalmed moss walls— yes they are dead). Living green roofs and walls provide insulation, absorb rainwater, and improve air quality.

A reintroduction is in order for 2025. Pictured here on a road trip to Wyoming in early summer 2020 is the founder of Our Temenos, Rosemarie. Rosemarie is a green infrastructure professional with more than 12 years of hands-on experience in nature based solutions to climate change. With a B.S. in Ecology and LEED AP Neighborhood Development accreditation, her goal as founder of Our Temenos is to build a business that models what can happen when we center ecology and workers’ rights across the industry. Drawing on her history as a community organizer, Rosemarie continues to work tirelessly to build environmental and social resilience. In 2012, she served as AmeriCorps with New York Restoration Project and subsequently joined as staff. In her tenure, she worked on several facets of the Million TreesNYC Initiative. She was the first Organizing Fellow with 596 Acres, engaging communities across Brooklyn to increase access to vacant public space. Rosemarie enjoys writing, community theater, dancing, making potions, cooking from nose to tail and a good book. She is known to burst into spontaneous song. Rosemarie currently serves on the board of MetroHort and Artemis Collective. She is an advisory board member for BkROT and does her best to center motherhood in her worldbuilding efforts.

Our Temenos spent this particular Sunday in late September spreading compost with volunteers and the incredible Friends of WNYC Transmitter Park. The day started with us facilitating an educational discussion on soil and soil health, and ended with all of us amending the park soils with over 3 cubic yards of compost! Building soil and community at the same time — name a more iconic duo. #workerowned #womenledbusiness #downanddirty #greennyc #greeninfrastructure #sustainability #landscaping #landscapedesign #valuesdriven

Thank you Gotham City Networking for the 2024 Gotham Green Award!

Did you know we are a bonded landscaping contractor? What does that mean? A surety bond is used by investors in construction projects and large scale public works. Construction bonds protect against disruptions or financial loss that may arise should a contractor fail to complete a project or to meet specifications in the contract. These bonds ensure a construction project’s bills will get paid. The most common form of bonds are: Bid Bonds - protection against a winning bidder backing out Performance Bonds - protects the owner from financial loss associated with poor performance, defective or not up to spec. Payment Bonds - a guarantee that the winning contractor has the means to pay their employees, subcontractors and/or suppliers  Surety companies evaluate the financial merits of the bonded party on behalf of all those involved. It is an important opportunity for owners to vet firms and for firms to showcase their reliability.

Yesterday was the annual MWBE Procurement Fair, a city sponsored event that creates opportunities for Minority and Women owned businesses to meet with large established contractors and agency reps. I had the opportunity to sit in on the Green Economy workshop with speakers from NYC Department of Environmental Protection, NYC Department of Parks, NYC Economic Development Corporation and the Mayor's Office for Climate and Environmental Justice. A lot of the conversation in the Green Economy is centered around emerging technology and the massive city, state and federal investments in critical tools for adaptation to a future with an unpredictable and unstable climate. It made me realize that we are also purveyors of an important technology, one that many don't understand the nuance of. Gardens and green spaces, most recently referred to as Nature Based Solutions to climate change, require highly attuned and skilled technicians. Land stewards who recognize plants by name, know what their state of health is a signal of and know which plants can be allowed to spread in an ecosystem versus those that will do damage. This knowledge and skilled maintenance is critical to the success of these multi-million dollar projects. And yet, it is always an afterthought. The first budget line cut when the strings are tight on a project. However, the GREEN in green infrastructure brings immense value to our capital projects. Its a quality of life issue that determines the mental wellbeing of community members, residents and passersby. Science is recently catching up to the technology of plants and studies are showing correlations between the health of humans and the health of their surrounding ecosystem are intrinsically linked (go figure!). It is with this in mind that we are building Our Temenos to be the Green Infrastructure business of tomorrow. One that prioritizes the health and longevity of its projects, invests in cultivating professional staff that are paid living wages and is deeply rooted in communities across NYC.