Congratulations to G3 Associate, Morgan Vondrak, and volunteers with the San Diego Surfrider Chapter’s Ocean Friendly Gardens Program for building an Ocean Friendly display garden that shows Sustainable Gardening IS Attainable. The Surfrider display garden utilizes the three principles of OFG (Conservation, Permeability, and Retention or C.P.R.) to demonstrate to homeowners that an OFG can be fun AND beautiful while providing lots of watershed benefits like pollution reduction at the beach and water bill reduction in the wallet.
The San Diego (formerly Del Mar) Fair is an annual event at the Del Mar Fairgrounds with rides, games, and lots of exhibits, including their renowned Flower & Garden Show which features more than 50 garden exhibits from students, nurseries, and landscape professionals.
The Ocean Friendly Garden features a structure with a gutter, rain chain, and rain barrel to show how to direct and capture rain water from the roof. 
The rain barrel then overflows into bioswales directing water into the garden areas. Permeable paving is used throughout the design, along with native and climate-appropriate plant material that invite habitat into the site. All planted areas are mulched, demonstrating a key technique to building living soil. Seating boulders surround a fire pit repurposed from an old washing machine drum and the native sages (Salvia apiana), buckwheats (Eriogonum fasciculatum) and mountain lilac (Ceanothus ‘Concha’) add color and fragrance to the garden.
Visit the Ocean Friendly Garden at the San Diego County Fair in person. For more information about Ocean Friendly Gardens, visit the Surfrider OFG website.
