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!!

Del Mar Faire and Surfrider

Whew! It's been another busy month for the designers at Argia and Artemisia Designs and this weekend is no different, here's a quick update on what we've been up to:




Finishing details are all that's left for Jeremy's Rain Vessels installation that we are working on at this year's Del Mar Faire. The exhibit is part of the new Container Garden category and will feature two ceramic Rain Vessels, pottery from Courtyard Pottery and pavers from RCP Block in Encinitas and is featured at the entry to Alvarado House, a historic building preserved at the Fairgrounds.

Join us tomorrow in Birdrock as the Surfrider Foundation hosts their first OFG Garden Assistance Workday where a member's lawn will be replaced with a native garden designed by Jeremy and volunteers will learn more about Ocean Friendly Gardens and how to design and install your own! Garden Assistance Program: June 6th
The event is open to any and all who are interested so stop by at 5560 Chelsea Ave, La Jolla, CA 92037 10 a.m - 4p.m.

Now, back to the drafting board!!

Vessels In Rain

Our partner company, Artemisia Landscape Design, is branching out and will be unveiling their new Rain Vessels later this month. Rain water cachement is an ancient method to collect and save rain water for later use and is coming into more popular use with our water crisis. Rain Vessels provide an artistic and aesthetically pleasing alternative to plastic rain barrels and will be available through Courtyard Pottery in the Cedros Design District in Solana Beach.

1" of rain over 1,ooo sqare feet of roof area can yield 6oo gallons of water. Collecting this water for future use not only reduces runoff pollution during rainstorms but saves on water bills when the garden becomes dry. The chlorine free water saved in smaller Rain Vessels can be used as an alternative to tap water for indoor and potted plants as well as a variety of other garden and home uses. Larger cachment systems can irrigate entire landscapes.

I've found them to be incredibly handy myself for keeping water on-hand for all of the potted plants in my patio area, instead of having to haul the hose around knocking over pots and creating a mess. Even after the rainwater has been used you can re-fill it with hose-water, pretty quickly the chlorine in the city water will evaporate and you are left with much healthier water for your plants!

Modern Outdoor Sculpture

Terra Sculpture, a Los Angeles based collaboration between designer Jennifer Asher and metal artist Mario Lopez, provides a line of beautifully sculpted garden art which is both modern and whimsical.

Their website shows their gorgeous selection of metal sculpture which has been featured in Garden Design Magazine and on The Outdoor Room with Jamie Durie (our favorite designer!)

Great for modern gardens but even better for to give that special artistic edge to natural and meadow gardens!

Green Roofs and Living Walls

As Earth's population grows living areas become smaller and our cities grow upward. That leaves alot of vertical space to cover, and what better way to cover it than with beautiful tapestries of plants!

Living walls and green roofs not only create a beautiful and calming atmosphere but they have wonderful benefits for the environment also, releasing more oxygen into the atmosphere and (in the case of roofs and outdoor walls) collecting rainwater thereby reducing runoff.

There is a slight downside in that many of the plants suitable for these gardens are quite shallow rooted and, given the lack of root space available in these situations, they tend to dry out rather quickly and need frequent watering in our arid climate. That makes choosing appropriate plants slightly more difficult in our region, but there is still a wide array of great choices!

The upside (apart from the calming and environmental benefits) are that, within even a limited plant palette, there are countless design options ranging from entire building walls, to tiny wall hangings to grace a well lighted room.

Check out a few of these websites for more ideas!

Vertical Garden by Patrick Blanc
Living Walls and Vertical Gardens

Mosstika Urban Greenery - Artist


(photos: top Boston art installation by Mosstika, bottom succulent garden art by designer Mia Lehrer)

Lots of Attention in Lakewood!

One of our native gardens in Lakewood is getting lots of special attention lately!

Our clients did a beautiful job installing the walkways, pottery features and native plants that we designed for them last April and their hard work is paying off!

The Los Angeles area native garden will be featured on KTLA Channel 5 on Thursday the 8th (this Thursday!) as well as being included in the Theodore Payne Foundation's Annual Native Garden Tour on Saturday the 10th!

Click here for more information about the tour and for those of you in the L.A. area be sure to tune in this Thursday!

April is here and so officially is garden tour season!

April 18th is the 8th Annual Oceanside Seaside Native Plant Garden Tour hosted by The Buena Vista Native Plant Club. The tour is free and I and other local native plant designers will serve as tour leaders.

Feel free to contact me if you would like to join the tour as part of my group!

Visit the BV Native Plant Club's Website for more tour info.

If you're in the neighborhood that weekend, the 5th Annual Encinitas Garden Festival & Tour will feature south Leucadia gardens and a free Marketplace at Orpheus Park.

Check out more San Diego Garden Tours arriving this month!