Jesse Elwert Peters, owner/operator of the sustainable landscaping-design business, Jessecology Organic Garden Design, will be permanently established in the Saratoga County business community as a resident and homeowner this fall.

For the past three summers, the environmentally conscious landscape designer has commuted to Saratoga Springs, Ballston Spa, Clifton Park and other Saratoga County locations for landscaping projects from her home just north of Lake George. This September, Elwert Peters will buy a home with her husband in Greenfield, which will establish Jessecology as a fixture of the Saratoga business community.

Elwert Peters considers the move a positive one for her business's future. The Saratoga Springs atmosphere is a copasetic fit for the personality of her naturally beautiful, low-maintenance landscape designs. Though Jessecology's service area will continue to include surrounding counties, Elwert Peters is excited to grow her business right at home in Saratoga Springs and especially hopes to make inroads with developers for landscaping at new construction sites.

"In the past three summers, so much of my working time has been consumed with commuting to Saratoga County," she said. "This community has given my unique approach such a warm welcome; it really just makes sense to invest in a life here."

The Jessecology portfolio includes many residential homes spanning from Lake George to Saratoga and the capital region, several businesses including Somewhere in Time, a Bolton Landing bed-and-breakfast event center where rain gardens were established; a Clifton Park Edward Jones office that sports a woodland habitat garden; and recently a municipal project for the Town of Queensbury at the landscaped site located on the corner of Bay and Quaker roads.

Jessecology designs exclusively use plant material indigenous to the local region, which creates remarkably sustainable and low-maintenance landscaping. Besides being a landscape designer, Elwert Peters is also a garden writer and frequently gives public speaking presentations on topics ranging from "Butterfly-habitat gardening" to "Kid-friendly birdscaping."

Elwert Peters graduated from Skidmore College in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in ecology, botany and horticulture. She has completed several internships and apprenticeships with other ecologists and landscape designers, and draws heavily on her experience in ecological field work when generating a property design. Her passion for gracefully restoring habitat in the home and business settings is paralleled by a deep love for the unique ecosystem of Saratoga County, which she writes about prolifically on her Web site.


 --Jennie