green gardens

this past saturday i attended the 3rd annual green gardens tour featuring sustainable gardens in santa monica. the tour benefitted the virginia avenue project, a free after-school program that uses the arts along with one-on-one mentoring to help kids discover their full potential.

the goal of the tour, themed "the value of trees" was to highlight environmentally harmonius landscaping practices, and it did a great job at that. here is an excerpt from the booklet that i received at the tour:

"in natural systems, rainfall is caught by trees or shrubs and released slowly into the ground. this natural cycle produces nutrient, fresh water and clean air. even in a semi-arid landscape like early los angeles, the eco-system was in balance, providing everything that native people, plants and animals needed for a sustainable and prosperous life.

in the los angeles of today, we have interfered with the natural cycles of energy and water with thousands of square miles of concrete, asphalt, skyscrapers and residential neighborhoods. in this system, rainfall is channeled to our roadways, where it picks up...a toxic soup of pollutants and washes into the over-taxed storm drain system and out to our beaches and bays. very little water remains to replenish the water table for later use.

two important and expensive problems result from this: we must import billions of gallons of water each year, turning other regions into deserts; and we spend half a billion dollars on massive flood control projects.

in order to turn things around, we need to begin understanding los angeles as a living ecosystemm and working with nature to rehabilitate its ability to protect and meet our needs. trees are central to this rehabilitation."

so what constitutes a "green" garden? aren't all gardens green? well, these gardens were chosen for their use of recycled materials, climate appropriate plants, urban runoff systems, organic practices, wildlife friendly-ness, edibles, water efficient irrigation, green building practices, mulch, and lawn reduction.



below are photos that i took of some of the gardens. i'll be following up with a series on green landscaping and my experiences in designing through a whole-systems approach.

green garden tours

the garden tour season is upon us here in sunny socal. this weekend there are two tours that i will be attending and both are focused on sustainable design in the garden.

the third annual santa monica green garden tours will be held saturday, april 28 from 10am - 4pm. advanced tix are $30, $40 at the door.

then learn how to save water in your garden at the theodore payne foundation native plant garden tour will be held saturday and sunday, april 28-9 from 10am-4pm each day. this tour is a 2-day self-guided journey through 30 local gardens. the criteria is that each garden contains at least 50% california native plants. admission is $20.

aglago sprouts

spring is sprouting here at aglago (my home co-op) and the garden seedlings are starting to come up. the peppers are growing and the strawberries are ripe and yummy. i am blessed to have a little permaculture escape here in the concrete jungle.



we bought our seeds this year from j.l. hudson, a family-run seedbank out of la honda, ca. their catalog of ethnobotanical seeds is beautiful and informative. check them out for your planting needs.

ugp wants you! well, your garden actually...

phew...i am still recovering from the boom that was ca boom design show. thanks to everyone i met and your efforts in the green design realm. i am in the process of writing a very detailed blog about it for worldchanging, so stay tuned.

now the big news...urban greening project is moving into our next phase of greening. we're taking the ugp outside of the blog-o-sphere and into the garden and we need your help. if you or someone you know has a house in the la area and are interested in a gorgeous green garden makeover, please contact me for details at urbangreeningproject (at) gmail (dot) com.

ugp growing up

phew, march has been a whirlwind. the lovelies kristy and aaron spent the beginning of the month with me and it was lovely as ever. they left el lay to continue forward to the east coast where they will wwoof it for the spring and summer (wwoof= world-wide opportunities on organic farms). i'm so excited (and i'll admit a wee bit jealous) for their adventures ahead.

as far as the urban greening project goes, i have some big changes in store for you over the next months. i'm really excited to share them with you as they develop. so stay tuned for more info yo.

in the meantime, the blog will continue to focus on el lay's urban permaculture scene with other sustainable design and art topics sprinkled in for inspiration.

image is by nyc street artista 'swoon' who just had an amazing show at the new image art gallery.