Lawndale Library OFG Stays Cool In Summer!
Posted on 04. Aug, 2011 by pamela in Build Habitat, G3 Blog, G3 Community, G3 Design Studio, G3 Partners, Lawndale Library, Los Angeles/South Bay, Ocean Friendly Gardens, Rain Gardens, School Yard Habitats, Surfrider Foundation, Watershed Notes, West Basin
Lawndale Library OFG August 2011
An Ocean Friendly Garden, like this one at Lawndale Library gets cooler as temperatures rise. Although the spring wildflowers mostly have finished blooming, the Erigeron glauca ‘Cape Sebastian’ (beach daisy) is going strong.
Erigeron Glauca Lights Up The Summer Garden
Both Encelia californica (coast sunflower) and Epilobium (California fuchsia) are moving around the garden, seeding freely and setting up shop in crannies more nurturing than where they were originally planted. The Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’ provides a deep burgundy color and spreads its branches, while the Rhus integrifolia (lemonade berry) and Prunus ilicifolia ssp. lyonii (Catalina cherry) hedges are shooting up like rockets. Why does anyone plant ficus when these amazing California native shrubs grow just as rapidly and provide a deep green, low-maintenance, habitat-creating, no-water alternative.
Cercis Canadensis 'Forest Pansy' Welcomes You To Lawndale
In the edible garden, grapes and blackberries are crawling all over the fence, turning the space into a secret garden.
Birds Love The Prunus Lyonii Hedge
The Library’s addition of two wood benches, hand-crafted by local Lawndale craftsman, Chris Swain, provide a welcome place to sit and be restored by the bounty and beauty of this people-friendly urban oasis.
The Lawndale Library Ocean Friendly Garden is located at 14616 Grevillea Avenue, Lawndale, CA. Parking is available on the street and in the adjacent Lawndale Library parking lot.
Lawndale City Council Applauds Teens’ OFG
Posted on 09. Feb, 2011 by Pamela Bee in Build Habitat, G3 Blog, G3 Community, G3 Design Studio, G3 In The News, G3 Media, G3 Partners, Lawndale Library, Los Angeles/South Bay, Ocean Friendly Gardens, Rain Gardens, School Yard Habitats, Surfrider Foundation, Watershed Notes, West Basin
Lawndale Library OFG Teen Friends
Teen Friends of the Lawndale Library were back in City Council chambers Monday evening, almost one year from their first visit to gain approval for building their garden dream. This visit was not to speculate on how much water would be conserved by converting 1,200 sq. ft. of turf into a sustainable landscape, but rather to receive commendations for their perseverance in building and maintaining an Ocean Friendly Garden that reached their stated objectives. The Teens showed the Council how the new landscape accomplished C.P.R. (Conservation, Permeability, and Retention) having reduced water consumption by 80%, and virtually eliminated all dry-weather and stormwater runoff. Director Donald Dear of West Basin MWD presented the City with a grant check for eliminating the stormwater runoff from the adjacent Community Center and directing it into their new garden. Teen Friends presented the City Council with their Thank You picture and offered an Ocean Friendly Gardens Yard Sign.
Master Gardener, Kim Lauritson, Dennis Yamashiro of Yamashiro & Sons landscape contractors, Surfrider Foundation, G3, and members of the community helped build the OFG through a series of hands-on workshops and volunteer workdays. The garden now features a native edible landscape as well as a vegetable garden tended by the Teen Friends, yielding lots of vegetables for cooking and learning about healthy food choices.
