Fresh Baked Plans For Los Angeles Rainwater Harvesting Project
Posted on 09. May, 2012 by pamela in G3 Blog, G3 Community, G3 Education, G3 Partners, Generation Water, Green Infrastructure, Homeowner, HOWs, Los Angeles Rainwater Harvesting Project, Los Angeles/South Bay, Neighborhood Walks, Watershed Notes
G3's Marianne Simon Joins Team At LARWHP Kick Off
G3 Associate, Marianne Simon joined Pamela Berstler and The River Project Executive Director, Melanie Winter, in kicking off an official pie eating contest in Studio City….
Melanie Winter at LARWHP Kick Off
Wait a second…That’s not what happened at Dupar’s in Studio City. Determined environmental advocate, Melanie Winter, officially kicked off the Los Angeles Rainwater Harvesting Project, after more than three years in the baking. Guy Stivers of Stivers And Associates Landscape Architecture will lead the design team for developing a homeowner-friendly model approach to using rainwater as a resource. Other team members include Marcus Castain of Generation Water providing irrigation auditing and retrofits, Mark Hanna of Geosyntec providing technical modeling, investigations, and monitoring, and Leigh Jerrard of Greywater Corps educating and advocating for residential graywater. G3 will provide Hands-on classes, coaching, and Site Evaluations to help people use their properties as healthy functioning watersheds that will gather rainwater as a resource.
Voila! Ventura Lawn Vanishes!
Posted on 09. May, 2012 by pamela in G3 Blog, G3 Community, G3 Education, G3 In The News, G3 Media, G3 Partners, Homeowner, HOWs, Ocean Friendly Gardens, Rain Gardens, Surfrider Foundation, Ventura County, Watershed Notes
Surfrider Ventura GAP Workday Site
The lawn at 1538 San Nicholas St. in Ventura vanished last week in anticipation of the Ventura Surfrider Ocean Friendly Gardens Garden Assistance Party Workday on May 12. The GAP Workday is the fourth and final event in the creation of an Ocean Friendly Demonstration Garden through a California Coastal Commission Whale Tail Grant for the County of Ventura. Since March, the grant has enabled more than 35 people to attend a Watershed Basics Class and Hands-on Workshop: Site Evaluation, as well as subsidizing a professional training Core Concepts Workshop. People who received scholarships to the Core Concepts Workshop are paying it forward by assisting G3′s Pamela Berstler and Renee Roth (Ventura/Santa Barbara G3 Regional Coordinator) in fulfilling the mission of the grant: to build an Ocean Friendly Garden in a highly visible residential site through neighborhood involvement, sparking change within a community. Learn more about what’s happening by reading the OFG Article Ventura Breeze 5.2.12 contributed by John Burke, a.k.a. LAJOHNNY, licensed landscape architect and recent CCW Ventura survivor.
Dan Long's Lawn Before GAP Workday
Since the grass on this property was mostly kikuyu and warm-season bermuda, a sod cutter was employed to remove the bulk of the organic matter on top. In preparation for the Workday, homeowner and environmental advocate, Dan Long, will be tackling some hand removal of the largest clumps of remaining grass roots and stolons. Dan also is arranging delivery of the materials: plants, compost, mulch, paper for sheet composting, and downspout redirecting supplies. Oh, and food too! Sign up for the event so we have enough pizza.
Pasadena Residents Learn HOW To Sponge Up The Rain Garden
Posted on 01. May, 2012 by pamela in City of Pasadena, G3 Blog, G3 Community, G3 Design Studio, G3 Education, G3 In The News, G3 Media, G3 Partners, HOWs, Los Angeles/South Bay, Pasadena Sponge Garden, Rain Gardens, Watershed Notes
Christie Beniston's Topairies At Pasadena Sponge Garden
A collaboration on the part of Pasadena’s Public Works Dept. and Power & Water, along with Pasadena Planning Department’s Cultural Arts Division and G3 led to the installation of an amazing Sponge Garden at the intersection of Union and Catalina St. through an all-day G3 Hands-on Workshop. The Sponge Garden (a.k.a. Rain Garden) was designed to complement artist Christie Beniston’s Topiaries sculpture, which, when placed in an urban setting, symbolizes the human drive to influence nature in all types of environments. Topiaries is one of several art installations on display throughout Pasadena as part of the Rotating Public Art Program, funded by Pasadena City Council in July 2010.
The Sponge Garden accompanying Topiaries is another manifestation of the human drive to influence nature. 25 Pasadena residents gathered first to learn about and then to implement the techniques of Conservation, Permeability, and Retention (from Surfrider Foundation’s principles of C.P.R.) and build a landscape that is friendly to people desiring a slice of nature as well as to nature herself. It is truly an Ocean Friendly Garden, despite being so far from the ocean.
Topiaries In Completed Garden
The new decomposed granite pathways wind through the garden, shaded by mature CA live oaks (Quercus agrifolia), which are nurturing a whole legion of smaller kin at their roots. Intersecting the pathways and seating areas is a dry creek bed, reminiscent of the nearby Arroyo Seco. No soil was removed from or imported to the site, so the contouring of the land was a result of excavating the paths and creek bed. Plants that thrive in the Pasadena climate, and are mostly native to the local ecosystem were placed atop berms comprised of the native silty loam (if they were dry-adapted) and within the creek bed (if they were comfortable with more water in winter). In the morning, residents learned how to figure out their grade change using a bunyip and how to determine their soil type and compaction profile. Although the turf already had been hand removed from the site, a demonstration of sheet mulching was conducted so everyone could envision how turf might be removed without chemicals.
After a delicious boxed lunch from Lovebirds Cafe, courtesy of Nancy Long at Pasadena Power & Water, the reinvigorated crew undertook to plant the more than 100 one gallon and four-inch container plants using the G3 Planting Technique of watering 5 times! That took a lot longer than everyone thought it would, but everything looked super perky when completed. After planting, a demonstration of installing on-line drip irrigation was conducted, and the site was thoroughly mulched 3″ – 4″ with natural woodchip mulch, courtesy of superwoman Karen Balchunas of Pasadena Public Works, and watered in.
G3′s Pamela Berstler conceived of the original site plan, which was taken by Pasadena Public Works Dept. and turned into the beautiful garden constructed during the HOW. Patrick Healy, Regional Manager of Merchants Landscape Services, Inc., a C-27 landscape contractor, installed the project and picked up any loose ends at the completion of the HOW. Now it’s up to Pasadena residents to add their personal experiences to the garden and enjoy it all year long. Read the City of Pasadena Website Article.
Ray At SEA Lab Endorses Ocean Friendly Gardens
Posted on 22. Apr, 2012 by pamela in Environment 911, G3 Blog, G3 Community, G3 Education, G3 Partners, Homeowner, HOWs, Los Angeles/South Bay, Nature Lessons, Surfrider Foundation, Water, Watershed Notes, West Basin
Ray At SEA Lab Loves OFG
Ray at SEA Lab pulled G3′s Pamela Berstler aside to share his concerns about the quality of ocean water and to heartily endorse Surfrider Foundation’s Ocean Friendly Gardens and West Basin MWD’s Ocean Friendly Landscape Programs. According to Ray, 80% of ocean pollution is from land-based sources. He recommended enlisting the help of soil-based microbes to halt polluted runoff before it enters the ocean. Soil microbes are accustomed to dealing with land-based pollution, while the ocean and waterways simply don’t have the funding, bandwidth, or technology to clean it up. That’s why Ocean Friendly Gardens get Ray so electrified! He understands that everyone who implements an OFG in their own yard is taking a step toward healing the ocean and local waterways through CPR (Conservation, Permeability, and Retention). When it comes to rainwater and preventing pollution, be sure to practice Ray’s Mantra: SLOW IT! SPREAD IT! SINK IT! You can make a difference by being part of the solution, not the pollution.
Inspired by Ray, G3′s Pamela Berstler worked with Elise Goldman of West Basin MWD to teach a couple hands-on workshops at Redondo Beach/SEA Lab’s Earth Day Event. This mini OFG program demonstrated how to select plants that are climate-appropriate, group them for maximizing water conservation according to sun, shade, or other microclimate factors, and place them in the ground at the appropriate distance.
Earth Day West Basin MWD Event
Other techniques included converting from a spray irrigation head to on-line drip tubing using 1 GPH pressure-compensating emitters, including adding mycorrhizae fun guys to the soil, planting correctly using sufficient water to wake up the soil party, and mulching heavily 3″ – 4″ total with the soil party pizza-equivalent: small-sized bark and shredded leaves.
City of Pasadena: HOW To Build A Sponge Garden
Posted on 14. Mar, 2012 by pamela in G3 Blog, G3 Community, G3 Education, Green Infrastructure, Homeowner, HOWs, Los Angeles/South Bay, Professional, Rain Gardens, Watershed Notes
Saturday April 28, 2012 – Saturday April 28, 2012
Catalina & Union Ave. Intersection
Description:
THE DATE FOR THIS EVENT HAS CHANGED AGAIN!!!! The City of Pasadena Department of Power & Water hosts its first Hands-on Workshop (HOW): Building a Sponge Garden. This is a hands-on experience, so join us to actually build the garden. Or, if you’re not the “hands dirty” type, pull up a chair and cheer the team. The event will be held at a pocket park on the corner of Catalina & Union Aves. You can’t miss it! Parking is fairly plentiful on the streets surrounding the site.
During this professionally-led HOW, we will learn to Slow, Spread, and Sink the most valuable FREE landscape resource of all — the rain. Food will be served, so you must RSVP to: Nancy Long @ Pasadena Water & Power: www.cityofpasadena.net/waterandpower/news/
