Melissa Ozawa

New York

Writer, Editor, and Content Creator at Freelance

Director of Content & Communications at Perfect Earth Project

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Articles

How to Reduce Invasive Plants Without Using Chemicals

3 weeks ago | gardenista.com | Melissa Ozawa

This is part of a series with Perfect Earth Project, a nonprofit dedicated to toxic-free, ecological gardening, on how you can be more sustainable in your landscapes at home. Perfect Earth Project presented their second annual sold-out symposium at Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture last week, gathering experts to address the management of invasive plants.
Melissa Ozawa on Changing Her Views on What Makes a Garden Beautiful

1 month ago | gardenista.com | Melissa Ozawa

For more than 20 years I’ve been lucky to travel around the country writing and producing stories about gardens—from sleekly geometric gardens in California to crisp, formal landscapes in Florida to grand estates in New York. But when I remember some of the stories I’ve written that perpetuated an unrealistic ideal of “perfection,” I cringe.
Invasive Nursery Plants to Avoid and the Native Plants to Grow Instead

2 months ago | gardenista.com | Melissa Ozawa

This is part of a series with Perfect Earth Project, a nonprofit dedicated to ecological gardening, on how you can be more sustainable in your landscapes at home. Last month we talked with Evelyn Beaury, a scientist and assistant curator at the New York Botanical Garden’s Center for Conservation and Restoration Ecology, about the dangers of invasive plants and what gardeners can do to slow the spread.
All About Invasives: How to Identify Them and What to Do to Help Curb Their Spread

Feb 20, 2025 | gardenista.com | Melissa Ozawa

This is part of a series with Perfect Earth Project, a nonprofit dedicated to toxic-free, ecological gardening, on how you can be more sustainable in your landscapes at home. Step outside for a nature walk and you’re likely to encounter invasive plants—barberry and burning bush, to name just two that are fast encroaching on Northeast woodlands. But you may be surprised to learn that there are nurseries and online plant stores selling these self-same invasive plants.
Expert Advice from Avvah Rossi of the Naval Cemetery Landscape

Jan 23, 2025 | gardenista.com | Nelson Byrd Woltz |Melissa Ozawa

This is part of a series with Perfect Earth Project, a nonprofit dedicated to toxic-free, nature-based gardening, on how you can be more sustainable in your landscapes at home. Not far from the Brooklyn waterfront, the Naval Cemetery Landscape (NCL) is both a memorial to the dead and a haven for the living, teeming with lush native plants and countless birds and pollinators.
Lindsey Taylor Shares Tips on How to Cultivate a More Sustainable Landscape

Dec 18, 2024 | gardenista.com | Melissa Ozawa

This is part of a series with Perfect Earth Project, a nonprofit dedicated to toxic-free, nature-based gardening, on how you can be more sustainable in your landscapes at home. This fall, Edwina von Gal, Perfect Earth’s founder, raised a call to action to all gardeners and landscape professionals to commit to making and caring for gardens that will heal and not harm the Earth.
Longue Vue's Integrated Plant Gardener Simeon Benjamin on Organic Weed and Pest Control Methods

Nov 13, 2024 | gardenista.com | Melissa Ozawa

This is part of a series with Perfect Earth Project, a nonprofit dedicated to toxic-free, nature-based gardening, on how you can be more sustainable in your landscapes at home. It can get hot in New Orleans, really hot—and really humid. Climate change can cause drought one month, followed by floods the next. Then there are insect and disease pressures, the proliferation of of invasive plants, frequent epic storms. What’s a historic garden to do?
The New York City Biodiversity Task Force on How We Can Help Better Support Our Ecosystem

Oct 15, 2024 | gardenista.com | Melissa Ozawa

This is part of a series with Perfect Earth Project, a nonprofit dedicated to toxic-free, nature-based gardening, on how you can be more sustainable in your landscapes at home. “New York City has a secret,” says urban ecologist and founder of NYC Wildflower Week Marielle Anzelone. “The Big Apple boasts more open space than any major city in the United States; more than Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia combined.
Native Plant Trust's Tim Johnson Explains Why You Should Embrace Your Inner Ethical Radical

Sep 26, 2024 | gardenista.com | Melissa Ozawa

This is part of a series with Perfect Earth Project, a nonprofit dedicated to toxic-free, nature-based gardening, on how you can be more sustainable in your landscapes at home. We all know our choices matter. What we buy, where we shop, whom we vote for—and how we garden. But how do we know what to choose? “We typically think of gardening as a neutral activity,” says Tim Johnson, the CEO of Native Plant Trust. “But over the years, I’ve come to realize that gardening can be a radical activity.
Andi Pettis Is Bringing Biodiversity Back at the Urban Island

Aug 21, 2024 | gardenista.com | Melissa Ozawa

This is part of a series with Perfect Earth Project, a nonprofit dedicated to toxic-free, nature-based gardening, on how you can be more sustainable in your landscapes at home. “We have declared 2024 the year of milkweed,” says Andi Pettis, director of horticulture at Governors Island. For the past couple of years, Pettis and her team have been busy incorporating milkweed into the island’s plantings.