Aloha and Happy Holidays from Oahu's North Shore!

Aloha! The North Shore has been fantastic, we made it just in time to catch the end of the Billabong Pipe Masters and the last solid week of sun apparently since it's been raining nearly every day since!
Since next week we bid adieu to our lovely tropical paradise we thought we'd share some of our adventures before we go. We've had a chance to check out the beautiful Waimea Valley gardens, meet a group of turtles camped out on the beach, taste some of the best poke around and, most importantly, do absolutely nothing for hours on end! (this is a vacation after all!)

Sunset over the lifeguard tower

Waimea Valley

Waimea Valley Birdsnest Ferns

Honu

Small and rainy

off the wall

Need a Florist?

Every week, as I sign in for my morning visit at Encinitas Chiropractic, there is a new gorgeous floral display waiting on the desk for me to admire as I wait for my adjustment.

Finally, this week I got to meet the artist:   Amy Samuel of The Flower Shop Encinitas. 

But these aren't just any vase of flowers, their arrangements range from sparingly zen to fantasticly colorful and are always amazingly detailed and fun!

Check out their website or visit their shop in Encinitas off Encinitas Blvd and El Camino Real!

The Designer is IN

Landscape Architect, Jeremy Sison of Artemisia Landscape Architecture will be at Las Pilitas Nursery in Escondido on November 6th and November 20th from 9AM to 3PM.
He will be providing design consultations for $20 per 1/2 hour (more than half the normal consultation price!!)
To reserve a time slot call Jeremy at 760-936-6534 or send him an email at jeremy@artemisia-la.com .

Kill Your Lawn!!

Thinking of finally cutting the cord on that turf?  Now's the time!

The Olivenhain Municipal Water District is offering $1/square foot rebates for all cutomers who remove their turf and install drought tolerant gardens!

The rebate is only good until December 1st though so don't delay! 

For more information and to fill out their application click here or visit the Olivenhain MWD website and find their link for Turf Removal Rebates.

Applicable Service Areas:
Olivenhain Municipal Water District (OMWD) includes portions of the cities of Encinitas, Carlsbad, San Diego, Solana Beach and San Marcos, as well as the communities of Olivenhain, Leucadia, Elfin Forest, Rancho Santa Fe, Fairbanks Ranch, Santa Fe Valley and 4S Ranch.

Mulch sales benefit Ocean Friendly Gardens Program

As many of you know we are volunteering with Surfrider's Ocean Friendly Gardens Program to help educate homeowners about the impacts that their landscaping choices make on water quality and our local environment. 

Well we aren't the only ones!  El Corazon (aka AgriService Inc.)  in Oceanside is now donating $2 to the local Ocean Friendly Gardens program for every cubic yard of mulch or compost sold!!

Mulch and compost are vital to building healthy living soil in our urban garden environments and are also one of the best ways to conserve soil moisture in your garden!

Check out AgriService Inc's website for more information about the different mulches that they offer!

For more information on the OFG program visit their San Diego blog here.

Potted!!

Finally something for my Los Angeles area clients!

One of my favorite places to visit when I'm in LA is a little greasy spoon called Eatz Cafe (aka Los Feliz Cafe... why on earth did they change the name!?!) on (you guessed it) Los Feliz Blvd. near Griffith Park. The food is old school diner (they actually have fried egg sandwiches!) and you can bring the pooches and go for a nice little walk along the river or take in a round of golf at the little muni course right next door.

But more special than all of that and the close to every visit to Los Feliz is a stop by POTTED to check out what latest garden accessory "the Garden Tarts" have added to their inventory.

This fantastic store features fountains, pottery, one of a kind garden accessories and every other bit of garden fluff you can imagine in everything from modern to whimsical.

If you live in or are visiting the area I highly recommend a visit to see for yourself and choose a fun accent for your own garden!!

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!!