Garden Ecology Lab

Studying the plants, insects, microbes, and decisions that improve or degrade a garden’s ability to promote environmental and human health.

Research

Our current projects focus on native plant - pollinator interactions, microbes in garden soils, urban agriculture and food production, and garden biodiversity. We work directly with gardeners to identify high priority projects that align with our areas of expertise. We are always on the lookout for new projects, but need to consider new projects in the context of current lab capacity, expertise, and funding.

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Teaching 

Teaching is a core component of the Garden Ecology Lab mission. Our group teaches credit, non-credit, and community classes on a variety of topics related to gardening and urban agriculture. Effective and supportive mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students is central to our work.

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From our Blog

Garden Ecology Lab

Garden Ecology Lab Feed

Garden Science: Reducing Ecological Traps in Gardens

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Mar 5, 2025

This post was originally written for the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon (HPSO) Quarterly magazine and was greatly improved by the HPSO editorial team. Part of the joy of gardening is seeing the beautiful birds, butterflies, and other charismatic fauna … Continue reading

An Update on Native Plant Studies from The Garden Ecology Lab at Oregon State University

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Feb 17, 2025

A version of this article was originally written for the ‘Growing Knowledge‘ section of Digger Magazine, published by the Oregon Association of Nurseries. The Garden Ecology Lab was founded in 2017 to advance an understanding of how to plan, plant, … Continue reading

The Ethics, Politics, and Science of Lethal Insect Sampling

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Nov 7, 2024

A version of this blog post was written for the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon (HPSO) Quarterly Magazine, and was greatly improved by comments and feedback from the HPSO team of editors. I had been to my mom’s hometown of … Continue reading

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