Argia Designs 2012 Year in Review

Last year was another busy year here at Argia Designs!  We designed and saw installed lots of new gardens all over the county (and in LA too!), had a great year volunteering with the Surfrider Foundation's Ocean Friendly Garden program, and we're looking forward to even more fun in 2013!!

Here are some photos of a few highlights of 2012:

Our Aluminum Agave sculpture went on display at Southwest Boulder & Stone in Pacific Beach.   The sculpture was hand hammered, cut, and riveted by Morgan in 2009 from salvaged aluminum rain gutters.

Great Egret in Fallbrook Meadow garden.  We got lots of great shots from clients of wildlife visiting their gardens!

Foster the Future, brainchild of the band Foster the People, help install a school garden in Imperial Beach.

Argia Designs owner and head designer Morgan with Mark and Cubby of Foster the People.  We all had a great time installing veggie beds, native plants, and a birdbath for the new garden and lots of neighborhood volunteers showed up to help and donate items!

Surfrider Foundation OFG Garden Installation at the Del Mar Fair.   Such a fun project with lots of volunteer help!  We took home 3 awards!

Goldfinch or Warbler?  Who can ID this friendly little guy enjoying a clients garden?

Lots and lots of new gardens!!

Reclaimed redwood and iron sheet sculpture donated to the Southwestern College Native Plant Garden.  

New OFG in Oceanside!!

So excited about our newest Ocean Friendly Garden that we are designing with the Surfrider Foundation's San Diego Ocean Friendly Gardens Program!  The OFG program seeks to educate homeowners and professionals alike how to design and install sustainable gardens that reduce runoff pollution, reduce our need for fossil fuels through reduced maintenance and pesticide and fertilizer use, and reduce water use among other great benefits.

This property is a 5 unit rental which makes it the first San Diego OFG on a multi-unit residential property!  How cool are these property owners??

The GAP day installation is slated for Saturday December 3rd.  If you are free head on over and help our volunteers transform this old boring lawn into a gorgeous and sustainable Ocean Friendly Garden!

Here are the details below (check out the San Diego Ocean Friendly Garden facebook page for updates and more info and please RSVP for the address and other details!)

As the final part of our three part series, we will be transforming what was once a plot of grass into a beautiful Ocean Friendly Garden with our own hands! This is a great hands on way to learn some OFG techniques you can implement in your own garden! 

All are welcome, even those that were unable to attend our first two events. Lunch will be provided for participants. 

Please RSVP to ofg@surfridersd.org so we know approximately how much food to order. When you RSVP we will provide you with the street location.

Hope to see you there!

Sustainability Certification and Ocean Friendly Gardens

Heavens how time flies or as my grandmother used to say "tempus fugit"!!

Much has been happening the past several months and I've managed to stay incredibly busy thanks to all of my wonderful clients, nursery and contractor friends who have kept me going!

Along with design work our work with Surfrider's Ocean Friendly Gardens program allowed us to attend the G3 (Green Garden Group's) Sustainability Certification Program last week which was incredibly informative (even for someone who has been promoting native and drought tolerant gardens for her entire career!). I am incredibly thankful to The Surfrider Foundation for putting us through the program and look forward to sharing the wealth of information that was provided!

On that note!! The next series of Ocean Friendly Garden's workshops begin next Tuesday night right here in Encinitas! Even for folks who have already converted their gardens this is a great series of workshops that cover all subjects related to converting and maintaining a low impact landscape (building healthy soils through organic methods, reducing or eliminating rainwater and dry water runoff, efficient irrigation methods, and much more). It also covers information on our water crises here This is essentially a reduced version of the sustainability seminar that we took though G3 so there is something to be learned for professionals as well as homeowners.

For more information and to sign up please visit Surfrider's San Diego OFG Blog and support their efforts to keep our oceans clean and us healthy!

Lastly and on a related subject, Encinitas Chiropractic (who I highly recommend for any Chiropractic and Massage needs!!) will be hosting a Yoga in the Park class on Saturday the 28th at 9:30am in Encinitas at Cottonwood Creek Park. The class is for all levels and is donation only with all proceeds benefiting The Surfrider Foundation (see told you it was related!).

Hope to see you there!!