APLD Docents Ocean Friendly Gardens In Mar Vista
Posted on 22. Apr, 2012 by pamela in APLD, G3 Associates, G3 Blog, G3 Community, G3 Design Studio, G3 Education, G3 Partners, Homeowner, Los Angeles/South Bay, Neighborhood Walks, Ocean Friendly Gardens, Surfrider Foundation
The Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase featured several Ocean Friendly Gardens that were docented by enthusiastic and knowledgeable APLD Greater LA District members. Each of these gardens was pre-qualified by an APLD or Surfrider member, who then worked with the landscape designer and homeowner to highlight the Conservation, Permeability, and Retention (CPR) elements of the garden. OFG signs were prominently and proudly displayed, and more than 1,500 visitors got a chance to interact with activists and designers who are making a difference in their watershed.
Joel Lichtenwalter, Crystal Robinson, and Richard Hayden from APLD GLA joined Steve Williams, Jacky Bolbat, and Paul Herzog from Surfrider’s OFG Committee in celebrating at the “After the Tour” Party, held in the OFG designed by G3 Associate, Joel Lichtenwalter. Other gardens on the tour included those designed by G3 Associates: Marilee Kuhlmann, Sheri Powell-Wolff, Jacky Bolbat, Tom Rau and Karen Stern, Marianne Simon, and John Tikotsky. The folks from Grow Native Nursery at the VA Hospital in Westwood, CA, joined in the festivities; their plants were featured in many of the OFGs. The fabulous Shirley Bovshow breezed into the party, showered everyone with her irresistible smile, and documented all the fun for her ever-growing audience.
OCLDN BBQ Inspires Core Concepts Workshop
Posted on 13. Aug, 2011 by pamela in APLD, G3 Blog, G3 Education, G3 Partners, Orange County, Professional, Surfrider Foundation
Paul Herzog and Lenica Castner Join OCLDN For Summer BBQ
A warm August evening. A stunning outdoor living space. Landscape professionals who can cook. Where are we? The O.C. of course! Once again the OCLDN hosts a great event. This time it was a barbeque to celebrate summer and introduce to the group Paul Herzog of Surfrider Foundation’s Ocean Friendly Gardens Program and Lenica Castner, City of Huntington Beach Water Conservation Specialist. Paul outlined the Ocean Friendly Gardens Program’s three principles of Conservation, Permeability, and Retention (C.P.R.), invited the group to review their past projects and to secure OFG Signs for their clients as well as submit the addresses to the Ocean Friendly Gardens Map. Paul also invited everyone to the launch of Surfrider South Orange County Chapter’s OFG Program with a class at the Dana Point Community Center on Saturday, August 20th.
Aug.20th OFG Class in Dana Point
Lenica explained the City of Huntington Beach turf removal rebates and how they would fit into creating OFGs. The turf removal rebates are now available (for a limited time) through the Metropolitan Water District of Orange County, so check your local city or water agency website to see where the rebates are being offered. Lenica also reminded everyone that Huntington Beach has a rain barrel program. Professionals can use these programs to leverage the investment made by their clients and help them move toward adopting the OFG principles.
As the evening wound to a close, the group agreed to help G3 host a one-day Core Concepts Workshop in Orange County on Thursday, November 3. The OCLDN realizes that understanding and being able to effectively communicate the underlying principles of sustainable landscaping including water conservation and low-impact design, is critical to the advancement of the landscaping profession in Orange County. Now let’s spread the word!
G3 Roadtrip to Berkeley Core Concepts Workshop
Posted on 16. Apr, 2011 by pamela in APLD, G3 Associates, G3 Blog, G3 Community, G3 Education, Professional, Rain Gardens, San Francisco Bay Area
Richard Hayden and Jill Sarick Bow To Cafrodite in Ventura
Richard Hayden, APLD Greater Los Angeles District President, and Jill Sarick, G3 Qualified Trainer from the City of Ventura, Environmental Services Division, put on their best traveling face. We made our early-morning rendez-vous at Cafrodite, where the Berkeley-bound adventurers got their caffeine fix from Michelle, the java goddess herself, before hitting the 101 North. After days of precipitation, the crystal clear skies were a welcome change. The Coreopsis gigantea (Giant coreposis) and Dudleya (Could those be Dudleya verityi?) greeted us all along the way, brightening the green and brown hillsides. Native dudleya in natural habitat are threatened by air pollution, and seeing them perched on the stone walls cut for freeways and knowing the incredible amount of air pollution given off by automobiles leaves me in no doubt that they will lose their battle.
G3 Dreams The Impossible Dream
The first rest stop found us tilting at windmills, an apt metaphor for our journey to a workshop on sustainable landscaping. We wound our way northward through cultivated land and oak savannah; During the swaths of oaks and bunchgrass meadows, Jill spent most of the time exclaiming “This is so gorgeous! Why isn’t there more of this?”
Lunchtime brought us to the famous Gilroy Bowl and Coffee Shop. The intrepid travelers sought refuge in this “local” diner offering Hawaiian, Japanese, and breakfast fare.
Bowling For Scholars
Finally, the group arrived at our destination in Berkeley at the Doubletree by Hilton Berkeley Marina and met up with G3 Associate and APLD maven, Maureen Decombe.
Now the preparation for the next day’s training could begin in earnest!
Star Trek Back From Berkeley Core Concepts
Posted on 08. Apr, 2011 by pamela in APLD, G3 Associates, G3 Blog, G3 Community, G3 Education, G3 Partners, Los Angeles/South Bay, Neighborhood Walks, Professional, Rain Gardens, San Francisco Bay Area, Ventura County, Watershed Notes
Follow the Algae-Lined Road
Ventura sand and sea beckoned, so Berkeley travelers, Richard Hayden, Jill Sarick, and Pamela Berstler, followed the steady stream of dry weather runoff from a nearby ocean-unfriendly garden, and ended up at the beach as the tide crept in over anemone-filled pools. But wait! Where was the pot of green at the end of the runoff? A quick look around found the answer: cleverly disguised as a fresh water “spring,” covered in bermuda grass and invasive plants, and seeped in a green, nutrient-rich muck, was the concrete pipe drain outlet that delivered the continuous flow of “urban slobber” to the beach.
Eternal Runoff "Spring"
In front of the outlet there were no anemones, no tiny octopi, no mussels — just ignorant tourists splashing and playing in the water they thought was clean because they were at the beach in sunny Southern California.
Our travelers were refreshed from scampering about the tide pools, but thoroughly disgusted by the runoff situation, and vowed to redouble their efforts at spreading the word of Ocean Friendly Gardens.
At the final stop before depositing Jill back home, Jill and Richard encountered a giraffe, and were set to dreaming about their own personal lap giraffe, courtesy of Maureen Decombe, who plans to build “a smallish tallish shed” for hers when it arrives in the mail. http://www.PetiteLapGiraffe.com/calves.php
Dreaming of A Lap Giraffe
Bay Area Friendly Toward G3 Core Concepts Workshop
Posted on 06. Apr, 2011 by pamela in APLD, G3 Associates, G3 Blog, G3 Community, G3 Education, Professional, San Francisco Bay Area, Speaker Series
G3's Maureen Decombe and Jill Sarick "Did You Bring A Calculator?"
A cadre of serious students gathered in Berkeley, CA for the G3 Core Concepts Workshop. G3 Associate and Richmond-based licensed landscape contractor and landscape designer, Maureen Decombe was on hand to assist G3 Qualified Trainer, Jill Sarick, from the City of Ventura Environmental Services Division in organizing the check-in for the class (and making sure everyone had a working calculator!).
What Are "The Three Questions?"
After a couple weeks of dreary and weeping skies, it was difficult to sit inside for such an amazing, crisp day of Los Angeles-style weather. But, our steadfast Bay Area class took the first step toward becoming a part of the G3 community by hanging in for the entire day of calculations and concepts on Water Budgeting and Low-Impact Design.As usual, the class was completed with a quiz (which was enjoyed by all) and the opportunity to partake in a glass of wine and plate of cheesy artichoke dip at the hotel bar.
Due to several family emergencies, the group participating in the G3 Intensive Seminar voted to reschedule that training event. The revised G3 calendar has the group back at the Berkeley Marina in September 2011 for the G3 Intensive Seminar and another make-up Core Concepts Workshop.
