World Water Day March 22nd!

Tomorrow is World Water Day!

Celebrate your love of clean water and spread the word by doing one or more of the following:

1) Change regular sprinkler emitters to Hunter MP Rotators: Each emitter only costs around $5 and is 40% more efficient than regular spray emitters. Available at your local irrigation supply or Home Depot.

2) Remove unnecessary lawn: Replacing water thirsty turf in your front garden or parking strip with drought tolerant and native plantings can reduce your water use by 70% or more and eliminates the need for water polluting fertilizers and other chemicals.

3) Replace one or more downspouts with a rain chain and rain barrel: 1" of rain can generate several hundred gallons of water coming off of your roof, save that water and re-use it in your garden at a later time!

4) Mulch your planting beds: Mulching your plants with a shredded mulch helps to soak up rain, prevents plants from drying out as fast, and helps improve soil condition by allowing it to take in more water.

5) Build a dry stream: creating dips and swales in your garden that allow water to sit and soak in reduce the amount of water pollution generated during rain storms and save water use in the landscape by creating a "water bank" in your garden's soil.

6) Tell a neighbor about what you are doing and why.

 

7) Sign up for the Surfrider Foundation's Ocean Friendly Gardens program to learn more about how you can save water and prevent water pollution by making these and more simple changes in your garden!

Planty Globes

While garden design can certainly be called an art, local container designer Britt of Tend has truly found the perfect blend between art and landscape!   Working with a local glass blower who blows each globe by hand, she then picks the perfect blend of succulent or bromeliad, sand and stone to fill each piece with a delicate but perfect contained landscape.  Too much fun!  I think I'm going to need one of these myself!!

Now available at Bliss 101 in Encinitas, Pacific Station (next to the soon-to-be-opening Whole Foods!)

Potholes or Road Pottery?

British artist/designer Pete Dungey has found a colorful and organic way to deal with potholes in his area!  I wonder if CalTrans will pick up on this idea...

Check out the full article with more photos here!

Favorites From the Home and Garden Show (Part 1)

The greatest part of the Home and Garden show is that every designer brings out their best ideas and the bar is set a little higher every year.   No matter who is involved though there is always one garden that I look forward to most and that is the garden by Falling Waters Landscape and they definitely win my "Best In Show" this year!

Their recycled wood fencing shows that even the scrappiest piece of lumber can still be put to gorgeous use, their simple water feature fits any garden from natural to modern, and their firepit is a metal sculptors dream come true (I am definitely finding a use for some of those steel spheres!!). 

Check out the photos from this year's show, amazing as usual!

Del Mar Spring Home and Garden Show

It's been another year already and the Spring Home and Garden show is here again!

 Stop on by and visit our garden in the Garden Masters exhibit in Bing Crosby Hall at the Del Mar Fairgrounds!  We have some great features this year:  a mosaic surfboard shower by local artisits Jane and Will Fowler, pottery from Courtyard Pottery in Solana Beach, and furniture from Bliss 101 in Encinitas.  The garden features all California native plant materials (except the potted succulents) and almost all reclaimed materials.

Here's a sneak peek and stay tuned for photos of some of our favorite garden features from the shows other contributors!

Blissful

A new store has opened in Encinitas and after only one week it is proving to be one of the hottest new places to find amazing, unique pieces for the home and garden!!  From benches and mirrors made from reclaimed teak boats from Bali to handmade local jewelry Bliss 101 has something for everyone.

The first shop to open in Encinitas' new Pacific Station they are located right next to the soon-to-come Whole Foods and behind Barracuda Grill.
Head on up to Encinitas and check them out!!

NASA article about turf

Check out this great article written by a NASA scientist! It's a few years old but what it covers is pretty up to date. Did you know that turf is the single largest irrigated "crop" in America, more even than corn?


While she notes the obvious about the impact of lawns on our water supply she does note that it is useful for carbon sequestration which is being used as an argument by the turf industry for why lawns are actually environmentally friendly. Unfortunately they don't mention that ALL plants sequester carbon and the overall surface area of leaves from a 5x5 drought tolerant shrub is probably at least if not more than a 5 sq. foot patch of lawn and it takes less water, less maintenance, and doesn't need fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides to thrive!!

Check out the article here.