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. 

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.

I remember my German-American grandmother, who made the most amazing mulberry preserve (all mulberries and very little sugar).  I remember mulberry cobbler straight from the oven, and a scoop of Breyer’s vanilla ice cream. That was a once-a-year Sunday dinner surprise somehow connected in my brain with the final days of the school year.

Bowl of Mulberries

I vividly remember the huge mulberry bush that defined the border of the side yard.  May or June in Pennsylvania came,  and suddenly fruit appeared, along with the myriad of finches and sparrows, and other more exotic birds that are in my memory but precede my understanding of birds. As a child I sang “ring around the mulberry tree” and caused great sorrow on washing day with my indelibly purple-stained smocks. As a young adult, I practiced driving to the old homestead jonesing for the berries.  Mulberries are full of the promise of glorious summer produce straight from the victory garden.  Mulberries in May. Heaven.

Pasadena Sponge Garden Gals

It all started in August 2011, when the Pasadena Planning Dept.’s Cultural Arts Division teamed up with Pasadena Power & Water and the Public Works Dept. to consider building a garden through community participation. Nancy Long from Power & Water called G3 to meet a site that was going to host a public art installation, and the artist was keen to have a “rain garden” surrounding the art.  Although this first site didn’t gel, eight months later, the Pasadena Sponge Garden at the corners of Union and Catalina Aves. became a reality. Here’s a Plant List:  G3 Design Studio Pasadena Rain Garden Plants and Planting Plan: Pasadena Sponge Garden Design 042812 for the garden.  Additionally, we’ve included a Hydrozone List: Hydrozones Pasadena Sponge Garden for the plant selection. For more great information about lots of Water Conservation topics, check out Pasadena Power & Water’s website.  G3′s looking forward to the next collaboration with the amazing team from the City of Pasadena. 

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.

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. 

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. 

We have a new venue for the Core Concepts Workshop in Ventura on April 24, 2012:

City of Ventura Public Works Maintenance Yard

336 Sanjon Road
Ventura, CA 93001

This one-day seminar and quiz is THE PREREQUISITE FOR ALL G3 PROFESSIONAL TRAINING PROGRAMS.  

Can you explain clearly exactly how much water a landscape requires? Are you able to calculate how much water your soil holds? And are you able to calculate the exact amount of water to apply and when to apply it?.  What about rainwater harvesting: How much water falls on your landscape?  How do you contain it cost effectively, and where do you reuse it?  This Workshop will provide you with or sharpen these critical skills for landscape, water efficiency, and watershed professionals.

The morning will be spent in the classroom, and the afternoon will be in-field conducting a Site Evaluation at a local garden. Breakfast, lunch, and snacks are included.  Bring a hat, suscreen, closed-toe shoes, and a water bottle for field work.

The Ventura County CCW is being offered courtesy of the CA Coastal Commission and Sufrider Foundation’s Whale Tail Grant. Professionals with home or office addresses within Ventura County are eligible for a Scholarship, provided they agree to volunteer to assist with site preparation and follow-up for the Ventura-based garden that will be retrofit during the Volunteer Workday on May 12th, or work with the Ventura Surfrider OFG Committee to lead a Lawn Patrol Neighborhood Walk.  Use the Discount Code VCOFG when registering to receive the scholarship. Regular price is $250.00

If you have taken a CCW or T3, you are always welcome to join us! You too can receive a Scholarship. Use one of the following Discount Codes:GROWG3T3  (If you have taken a T3), G3CertProf  (If you are a Certified Professional), or G3CCW11  (If you have taken a CCW).

PAYMENT IN FULL must be made at time of registration either by check or Paypal.  Paypal will accept credit card and check payments. Just follow the Event Registration instructions. 

Biosphere2 Rises In The Desert

A whirlwind week of exploring Biosphere1′s Green Infrastructure and Low Impact Design (LID) throughout Tucson, Arizona brings itself to a conclusion with a journey to the desert home of Biosphere2. Biosphere2 is an Earth systems science research facility owned by the University of Arizona. Its current mission is to serve as a center for research, outreach, teaching and life-long learning about Earth (Biosphere1), its living systems, and its place in the universe.

Cisterns Capture Rainwater

The grounds are landscaped to capture rain water passively in the landscape and actively in cisterns. An experiment with twenty or more mini-greenroofs explores the best growing conditions for living roofs in arid environments.

Passive Capture In Landscape

Biospherians (yes, that’s what they call people who lived in the Biosphere) inhabited the enormous enclosed structure from 1991 to 1993 and then again for six months in 1994.  Intervention into the two-year living experiment came when oxygen levels dropped precipitously and Biospherians found they could not cultivate sufficient calories to sustain the more than 65 hours of work each week required to maintain life within the enclosure. While it is no longer inhabited, the enormous (two and a half football fields under glass) structure is now used by the University of Arizona as a collective research facility, and interesting experiments in Earth-sciences are constantly underway. TreePeople’s Edith de Guzman and her husband Jolly joined G3′s Pamela Berstler and Surfrider’s Paul Herzog for a two-hour tour of the facility. Nearly twenty years have passed since the original Biospherians were locked inside, and the various biomes have grown significantly.

Rise Above Plastics Research

In the more than 600,000 gallon “ocean” an experiment is being conducted on the rate of plastic decomposition.  Another experiment is growing Arizona desert native plants in different controlled environments to determine the effects of climate change on desert flora.

Climate Change Experiment

Compared with The Eden Project in Cornwall, England, Biosphere2 seems a bit too “engineered” and sterile.  But the research conducted within this controlled environment undoubtedly will contribute to a better understanding our fragile, blue world — and that makes it one of the great wonders of our time.

Surfrider's Paul Herzog Starting LID Tour At BICAS

The holy book (Rainwater Harvesting For Drylands And Beyond Vol. 1) requires that, at one time during their lives, all Green Infrastructure pilgrims must make their way to Brad Lancaster’s neighborhood in Tucson, Arizona, called Dunbar Spring. Perhaps the most stunning aspect of this oasis of rainwater endowment is the birdsong choir that follows one throughout the visit — birds of all sizes flit from native Mesquite (Prosopis pubescens) to Ironwood (Olneya tesota) and surf the fragile branches of Chuparosa (Justicia californica) and Palo verde (Cercidium microphyllum and Cercidium floridum). Watershed Management Group, hosts of the 2012 Tucson AridLID Conference, arranged for a bicycle tour of Dunbar Spring to get up close and personal with the simple curb cuts and sunken water wells around native trees that identify the neighborhood as the most water-progressive in Tucson.

Curb Cuts

Embracing Water As A Resource

The bicycle tour started at BICAS (Bicycle Inter-Community Art & Salvage), a collectively-run community-based non-profit education and recycling center for bicycles, devoted to the facilitation of affordable alternatives to travel by auto. BICAS and other people-scale businesses arrived in this neighborhood in the mid-1990′s, around the same time Brad Lancaster was making his first, subversive curb cuts allowing stormwater to flow on to his property from the street. This neighborhood-scale green infrastructure is so very simple — cuts or cores in the curb, native and edible trees and understory plants strategically placed in depressions to receive the flow, meandering decomposed granite pathways, traffic-calming water receptacles in the form of bump-outs and circles, and using paint to create perpendicular parking instead of parallel parking, effectively narrowing the wider of the busy streets.  The effect is stunning.  Time slows to the pace of a stroller or bicycle. Dappled sunlight filters through wispy, native trees. Colors seem brighter in shaded bird and animal refuge nooks. People smile — laugh — enjoy living in Dunbar Spring.

TV Killed Thinking Man

Now that we have experienced the transformative experience of community-based green infrastructure, we are thinking about how best to transport these lessons to the urban deserts of California. What medium best suits the message of cherished resources and better quality of life? Maybe via cave paintings…