Smartyplants Design

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Smartyplants Design A sustainable landscape design/build/maintain company focusing heavily on native plants. Seasonal container and color installations.

Serving greater Connecticut with seasonal projects on the southwest Florida coast.

Checking in from the Chamber of Commerce.. Back in the spring, the town requested that all Main Street businesses instal...
08/24/2026

Checking in from the Chamber of Commerce..
Back in the spring, the town requested that all Main Street businesses install red, white and blue flowers this year to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary. 🇺🇸
Challenge accepted! 🎇
We took the opportunity to show off some of our favorite annual flowers, Salvia farinacea and Catharanthus roseum. 😍
Neither requires much effort to put on this spectacular display. All we do is periodically check for rogue weeds and occasionally yell nice things out the window of the car when driving by. Example: I’m so proud of you! Look at you grow! 😆
In spite of three months of drought, these plants are the reigning champions of roadside plantings.

Wildlife sightings yesterday: This little sparrow moved into one of the junipers at the town hall about a week after it ...
07/05/2026

Wildlife sightings yesterday:
This little sparrow moved into one of the junipers at the town hall about a week after it was planted. 🪺🌲
I noticed a piece of straw sticking out of the tree (a tell tale sign of nest building) and was pleasantly surprised that we had a new occupant. It didn’t take long at all for someone to decide this is a good spot with a good food supply. 🪱🐛🦟
Fast forward to yesterday, I was watering the hydrangeas and watching mama sparrow when I glanced to my right and saw that I was being monitored by a fluffy little fledgling! Baby birds are so ugly and so cute at the same time! 😍
The last clip is a baby bunny that I hang out with at my office, I accept that they live here and try not to be a threat so while I know this guy is eating the coneflowers planted behind these hydrangeas, I also know that he’s part of the ecosystem and it’s my job to not plant too many tasty flowers without managing my expectations of what will happen to them. 🐰🌱

Flowers (and wildlife!) are appearing in the municipal pollinator gardens! 🐛🦋🌸It is remarkably dry and hot and I’m havin...
07/02/2026

Flowers (and wildlife!) are appearing in the municipal pollinator gardens! 🐛🦋🌸
It is remarkably dry and hot and I’m having to setup drip irrigation lines to help stay on top of things. This weather isn’t just tough on humans, it’s more difficult for the wildlife- as soon as I turn on a hose, I seem to have an entourage of squirrels and birds following me around, trying to get the water from the puddles I’m creating. There was a squirrel creeping around waiting for me to leave these drip lines so I hope he doesn’t chew the actual hose like the bunnies do and just drinks the water underneath it. 🥵💦
So many pretty flowers are coming into bloom right now in our gardens here in Old Saybrook. It is so exciting to witness the transformation of this space from crabgrass to native pollinator garden.
Slide one is Liatris spicata which typically blooms around mid to late July so it’s definitely early this year. Also blooming with the Liatris is Monarda punctata, a great plant for hot sunny spots. ☀️
Slide two is Culver’s Root, Veronicastrum virginicum, a tall back of the border plant with pointy candle type flowers.
Slide three is a closer shot of Monarda punctata.
Slide four and five feature the Achillea and Eryngium and you can see our coneflowers beginning to show off too.
Last three are videos- you can check out my ant removal technique for the valve box; some bumblebees buzzing around the Anise hyssop, and I caught a little video of a goldfinch having snacks on the anise hyssop in the rain garden.
Seeing the goldfinch this morning was so validating because that’s exactly what we’re doing this for. Bird feeders aren’t boxes hanging on poles in your yard. THIS is a bird feeder. Plants that attract insects are the best food source for birds.
If you’re local, you should stroll through the gardens and see what we’re up to! And if you’re not here but somewhere out there in Instagram land, don’t worry, we have lots more flowers to share! 🌸🌼🌺

GRATITUDE POST! 🌟Thank you to everyone that stopped by to see us at the Smartyplants annual garden party on Sunday. It w...
07/01/2026

GRATITUDE POST! 🌟
Thank you to everyone that stopped by to see us at the Smartyplants annual garden party on Sunday. It was a 10/10 day here in downtown Old Saybrook.
Our garden party is held during the Celebrate Saybrook street fair and festival, we had a fabulous time interacting with our neighbors and meeting fellow gardeners. 👩🏻‍🌾
This year’s event was completely free, we want to inspire more native plant gardens so we gave away a bunch of our favorite pollinator plants to anyone that stopped by. 🌻
We also had a stamp your own terracotta pot section, a scavenger hunt for the kiddos with plants for prizes, and our signature blue ice cubes made from organic butterfly pea flowers for the color changing lemonade. 🪴🦋
We are beyond grateful to the town of Old Saybrook and the hard working people that make this party happen.
Our greatest debt of gratitude goes to Jennifer Donahue, the town’s Economic Development Coordinator. Our garden party paparazzi caught a great shot of Jennifer when she stopped by, see the last slide to get a glimpse of the person who helped the garden party become so successful. 🌟
Additionally, we need to thank the Old Saybrook Department of Public Works.
Todd was really great about accommodating the request to park the machine in a different spot to allow good sight lines from the party. It needs to be accessible in case of emergencies but we easily compromised and gave him the prime corner parking spot.
And! Matt remembered that last year we had no trash can nearby and made sure to drop off a bag for us. These guys are the BEST! 🌟
I was still on the patio when they came around with the trucks and street sweepers. By 11:30pm Main Street looked like nothing ever happened. And it was a collaborative effort, even the boys in blue jumped in to help the public works team load up all the barricades.
It was a phenomenally-organized production all around. This town really knows how to throw a party and we’re so glad to be part of it. Thank you to all the organizers, participants and attendees for making our day an absolute delight.
See you all next year! 🌸

Early morning shots of the Sea Holly (Eryngium) coming into bloom at the pickleball park. It is so exciting to see these...
06/14/2026

Early morning shots of the Sea Holly (Eryngium) coming into bloom at the pickleball park. It is so exciting to see these plants coming up; we installed them in late October so there were no flowers present, just the rosette of leaves that sits on the ground. It’s fun to see these plants coming up and fulfilling their intended 3 dimensional form.
Those shimmery iridescent blue flower bracts are so eye catching! While this is not a native plant it is a well behaved introduced species that is welcome in my shoreline gardens due to its tolerance of hot, dry and sandy soil. 🌟

Happy Saturday! ☀️You can’t quite tell but this will be a very patriotic planting once the flowers open. 🎆I am having a ...
06/13/2026

Happy Saturday! ☀️
You can’t quite tell but this will be a very patriotic planting once the flowers open. 🎆
I am having a ball painting the town with flowers, I knocked out this planting all by myself yesterday morning with the help of my trusty Dewalt drill and fancy pink auger. My male colleagues tease me for having pink tools but I’ve never had a single item disappear from a job site cause my tools are all pink 😂

Can we stop for a second and just appreciate this native honeysuckle coming into bloom this week?!? 💥😍This trellis was p...
06/11/2026

Can we stop for a second and just appreciate this native honeysuckle coming into bloom this week?!? 💥😍
This trellis was previously covered with climbing roses that succumbed to rose rosette disease. I tried growing clematis here and while one spindly plant survived, it wasn’t enough sun for a respectable floral display. It’s partially shaded by a tree so I was wondering if the honeysuckle would get enough light to flower. And the answer is yes!! 🙌
Lonicera sempervirens is the only honeysuckle native to Connecticut and this is a cultivar called ‘Major Wheeler’.
I couldn’t replace the roses with more of the same with my understanding of cultural requirements so I’m pleased to see these buds forming and hope my clients are happy with them too! 🥳
Hummingbirds are frequent visitors in this garden due to the volume of appetizing plants, I’m sure it won’t take them long to discover the newest menu addition. 🌺

Project update! Things are really starting to take off! 🚀At the end of April, the Smartyplants team had the privilege of...
06/11/2026

Project update! Things are really starting to take off! 🚀
At the end of April, the Smartyplants team had the privilege of redeveloping the gardens at the Old Saybrook town hall. We took the opportunity and ran with it! While we considered the humans that will appreciate the flowers, we built the gardens for the benefit of the entire ecosystem.
🐝🦋🌳
We opted to remove most of the existing non-native plants in order to incorporate a predominantly native garden to support our local pollinators and wildlife.
(The blue hydrangeas, while spectacular, are purely for human enjoyment as they do nothing for the wildlife but they are so essential to the coastal Connecticut landscape.)
🪺🐦‍⬛
To help our plantings establish we included a number of soil treatments to feed the soil and therefore feed the plants. 🌱
We added a nutrient-dense compost application to incorporate organic matter and also added lots of beneficial microbes and bacteria to help promote root growth.
When working in areas that are depleted it is always a good idea to add some mycorrhizae to the beds. This is a fungus that helps plants grow bigger roots faster, thereby increasing the root system and the plants’ ability to uptake nutrients.
🪴💪
Our focus on any given project is replacing non native and invasive species with native plants.
Insects, birds and plants of any particular area have all evolved together over millennia. Replacing indigenous plants with species from afar means removing essential sources of food for our local wildlife. When there isn’t enough food, populations suffer and relocate. 🙁

By reintroducing native species we are providing larval food, nectar and shelter to the local wildlife that are the building blocks of our ecosystem. 🥳
Swipe to the last slide to see the bird nest that has already been built in one of our newly planted trees! 🪺🌲
Stay tuned as we feature each plant and share its attributes along with our best placement and care suggestions. 🌿

West Hartford plants from this week: 🍃Itoh tree peony, parrot tulips, (this year’s first!) eastern tiger swallowtail on ...
05/09/2026

West Hartford plants from this week: 🍃
Itoh tree peony, parrot tulips, (this year’s first!) eastern tiger swallowtail on viburnum, Carolina Allspice buds, species tulips, Fothergilla, Jack in the Pulpits
Spring cleanups are underway and there is always time to stop and appreciate the flowers! 🌸🌱🌷

Dogwood (dancing) days are here again 🎶🌳😁💃🏻🕺🏼My favorite spring bloomer that flowers on bare branches, our native dogwoo...
05/03/2026

Dogwood (dancing) days are here again 🎶🌳😁💃🏻🕺🏼
My favorite spring bloomer that flowers on bare branches, our native dogwood trees are lighting up the understory.
Choosing the native Cornus florida over the Korean or Asian one (Cornus kousa) will ensure that our early pollinators have sustenance that is not available from non-native species.
As the climate changes and weather becomes less predictable, it is important to support our local ecosystem every way we can. 🌎

Address

12 Coulter Street
Old Saybrook, CT
06475

Telephone

+18609197499

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