Commentary: In Burbank, irresponsible watering reigns
Posted by: Maven on June 16, 2010 at 8:05 amFrom the Burbank Leader, this commentary:
“Last Sunday I decided to dash over to the new Fresh & Easy store to pick up a few things.
It was after 7 p.m., nice and quiet with the lazy evening shadows just beginning to form. Along the way I enjoyed seeing the Claude Monet-like misting effect from several front lawns with their sprinklers on a veritable picture-perfect painting of small-town America in all its glory. But, hold on a minute, the name of this column is not “Pamela’s Altogether Perky Pumpkin Patch,” now is it
All half-dozen or so of those homeowners were breaking the law! They were each blatantly ignoring Burbank’s landscape irrigation regulations, which allows watering on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays only. Oddly enough, the very next morning on my drive to work, I saw still another handful of sprinklers spraying away at various residences and businesses, each again in complete violation of current water-usage rules. … “
Continue reading this commentary by clicking here.
Box designed to regrow plants in deserts could save drought-stressed California wineries
Posted by: Maven on June 12, 2010 at 7:29 am
From the TreeHugger blog:
“Pieter Hoff, a lily-grower-turned-inventor, took a good look at how seeds grow in dry areas — specifically looking at the way seeds distributed by birds can take root based on the protection and fertilization of the excrement with which it is mixed. Taking a cue from biomimicry, he created the Waterboxx, a highly intriguing way for plants in dry areas to have enough moisture to take root and survive. While it is intended for regrowing vegetation in dessert areas, it could also be a big boon for California wineries who also need to figure out ways to use as little water as possible on vineyards. … “
Continue reading from the TreeHugger blog by clicking here.
Water conservation garden: A step toward water wisdom
Posted by: Maven on June 11, 2010 at 6:28 amFrom the Highland News:
“At some point during the past 100 years, Inland Empire residents lost touch with their natural surroundings.
We've landscaped our homes, businesses, schools and parks with lush, often tropical trees, plants and shrubs that would never survive in our arid climate without substantial amounts of water, some of it imported from other areas.
But San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District (Valley District), the Inland Empire Resource Conservation District, the San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians, California State University, San Bernardino, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and the Water Resources Institute broke ground on a demonstration garden they hope will change the way current and future generations of Inland Empire residents landscape their surroundings.
The one-acre garden, to be developed along the sidewalk to the University's Coussoulis Arena, will showcase more than 200 varieties of California native trees, plants and groundcovers, many of which have become rarities, rather than hallmarks of this region in the past century. … “
Continue reading from the Highland News by clicking here.
Santa Monica announces winners of contest to design sustainable demonstration gardens
Posted by: Maven on June 3, 2010 at 6:40 amFrom the Los Angeles Times Home & Garden:
“A month after I reported on the city of Santa Monica’s design competition for three sustainable demonstration gardens, the public has voted on the three designs to be constructed on side-by-side plots on Airport Avenue. … “
Check out the winning designs by clicking here.
Descanso Gardens overhaul has water conservation at its core
Posted by: Maven on May 23, 2010 at 7:36 amFrom the Los Angeles Times:
“Nowhere in the West is sustainable gardening a harder sell than in Southern California. Public gardens preach conservation, but their grounds are surrounded by turf. The message to visitors: Eastern-style, highly irrigated gardening is not just OK here, it's the way it's done.
And so, it is beyond refreshing, more like happy dance exciting, that Descanso Gardens has begun what will be a long-range overhaul in which water conservation is the central theme. The messaging will start with the landscaping.
A 237-page review, grandly titled a “Long Range Conceptual Plan,\” outlines what will one day be a sweeping overhaul with a paean to water. “The structure of the garden plants, native and introduced, is informed by water. The Gardens' cultural heritage and current concerns center on the need for and use of water. Therefore this Long Range Conceptual Plan was informed : and shaped : by water.”
There will be a lot of fundraising to realize the plan drawn up by the Seattle-based Portico Group, the architecture firm whose design credits include the celebrated sustainability interpretive center, the Las Vegas Springs Preserve. But finally, after five years work poring over conservation possibilities, Descanso has a mission involving truly progressive goals, which include irrigation of its 150 acres with locally harvested water, capturing storm water with bioswales, generating enough solar power to take Descanso facilities off the electricity grid and composting all its own green waste. … “
Continue reading from the Los Angeles Times by clicking here.
Her garden goes native
Posted by: Maven on May 2, 2010 at 5:15 amFrom the Inland Daily Bulletin:
“No matter what kind of a day Brian Elliott’s had – what the traffic was like or the weather conditions – when he turns onto his street he starts to smile.
Pulling into his driveway, Elliott’s pearly whites are showing.“I just love looking at this garden,” said Elliott, who lives in Upland with his wife. Janice, the garden’s mistress. “She’s just done such a good job with it.”
Janice beams at her husband’s words. She’s proud of her accomplishment and has every reason to be.
The front yard is a complementary mix of drought-tolerant plants, mostly California natives with a few desert dwellers hailing from neighboring states.
Plants are of different sizes, textures and colors with various shapes, blooms and fragrances. This eye-catching array of foliage – without any grass, also houses some welcomed wildlife including birds, bees, butterflies, lizards and ladybugs. … “
Continue reading this article from the Inland Daily Bulletin by clicking here.
Western Weather Blog: Southern California and Arizona snow – Big changes coming
Posted by: Maven on April 29, 2010 at 9:42 pmFrom the Accu-Weather Western Weather Blog:
“It was hard to convince thousands of drivers this morning trying to negotiate travel through the Grapevine that it is really Spring in southern California. You know the time of year that shorts and t-shirts return as the daily outfit with nice, warm sunshine. Nothing could have been more different today.
Snow fell on the Grapevine this morning, the main route between southern and northern California along the I-5. It snowed hard enough to not only accumulate on grassy surfaces but also on the pavement. With temperatures below freezing by several degrees driving became very slick. The icy roads caused more than 20 accidents and the CHP was forced to close both the north and south bound lanes for several hours. This caused a huge backup on both sides of the pass. Travel has since returned to normal Thursday afternoon but cold winds continue to blow everywhere with gusts over 40 mph. … “
Continue reading this post from the Accu-Weather Western Weather Blog by clicking here.
San Diegans using synthetic grass to conserve water
Posted by: Maven on April 22, 2010 at 8:10 amFrom KPBS:
“Drought and the increasing cost of water are reasons many San Diegans are pulling up their lawns and switching to alternatives like drought-tolerant plants and water-wise landscapes. One alternative some people are using is synthetic grass, but not everyone agrees it’s the best choice.
San Diegans spend a lot of time and money maintaining lawns. They also use a lot of water keeping those lush lawns green, but not Alpine homeowner Diane Barnaba. Barnaba removed the natural grass in the front and backyard of her home. She replaced it with 750 square feet of synthetic grass.
“With the real grass, there was lots of gopher holes, tons of dirt, big dirt mounds,” said Barnaba. “And although the dirt was great for plants it wasn’t good for the yard. And then the biggest thing probably besides the gophers, were the rabbits. We had tons of rabbits coming in in the morning and at night grazing, eating all the grass down to the nub.” … “
Continue reading this story from KPBS by clicking here.
Mar Vista community rolls out the green carpet for 2nd Annual Sustainable Garden Showcase: Public invited to tour LA’s best and most innovative water-wise gardens
Posted by: Maven on April 20, 2010 at 6:22 amFrom the Mar Vista Green Committee:
“The Westside community of Mar Vista is pleased to invite Angelenos of all stripes, including gardeners, landscapers, environmentalists, nature enthusiasts and anyone else interested in natural, sustainable beauty, to the second annual Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase, a community-wide garden tour on Sunday, April 25th from 2 : 6pm.
Mar Vista residents have embraced water conservation as a way of life, raised it to an art form and become a model community for sustainable gardening best practices. Their free self-guided walking and biking tour is a celebration of drought-resistant gardens that showcase the wide array of possibilities in residential water conservation landscaping. California native plants, green patio decks, vegetable gardens, lawns transformed into drought-resistant landscaping and rain barrels from the Rainwater Harvesting Program, are just a few of the wide variety of sustainable approaches available for viewing on the tour. … “
For more information, click here.
Chance of Rain blog with some words for the new CEO of the Los Angeles Arboretum
Posted by: Maven on April 19, 2010 at 5:45 amFrom the Chance of Rain blog, journalist Emily Green talks about her recent interview with Richard Schulhof, the new CEO of the Los Angeles Arboretum:
” … The recent decision to interview the Titanic's, excuse me, the Arboretum's new CEO was a reluctant one. In fact, it was made only after Schulhof gamely responded to a dismissive reference on this site to the effect that the Arboretum's 127 acres are a monument to the gardenesque philosophy that is draining our water supply.
“I thank you for throwing the gauntlet!\” Schulhof wrote back in February. “We look forward to enriching those picnics with peacocks, and are making steady progress with new programs focused on permaculture, and the best of adapted plants for Southern California.
I don't recall having said anything about the want of permaculture programs, but he invited me out there, I went, and, last week, the resulting interview appeared in my column in the Los Angeles Times. It being an interview, it was fitting that he did most of the talking. He has nice ideas, which I hope were recounted respectfully. But since one of the things that he emphasized was that he is in listening mode, it would be remiss not to thank him by also giving him an earful. … “
The Dry Garden: Previewing more stops on the Theodore Payne garden tour this weekend
Posted by: Maven on April 10, 2010 at 5:42 am
From the Los Angeles Times:
“You might set out on the Theodore Payne Foundation tour this weekend for righteous reasons — to save water, or to help birds and butterflies. But the sheer beauty of Wynne Wilson's Altadena home will have you wondering, why doesn't everyone garden with natives Her partnering of indigenous coral bells and lilac with the Mediterranean staples of citrus and lavender is so stupidly beautiful, you want to cry.
Wilson_WhiteSage Granted, the backdrop of Angeles National Forest is part of the effect. Gardens come big in this slice of foothill country — in Wilson's case, with a stand of five-centuries-old cedars. Yet while previewing gardens on the Payne tour, I found that the look of Wilson’s place stems from her ability to tie her woodsy, casually domestic foreground into the wild grandeur of the background.
Wilson is good on the dirt end of gardening; if you have a technical question and you're on the tour, ask her. But where she departs from most gardeners is in vision. … “
Continue reading this article from the Los Angeles Times by clicking here.
The Dry Garden: Previewing Theodore Payne’s annual native garden tour
Posted by: Maven on April 3, 2010 at 7:44 am
From the Los Angeles Times, this from the Chance of Rain’s Emily Green:
“Yes, yes, yes. We all know that native gardens save water, curb greenhouse gas pollution, save homeowners thousands a year on mow and blow fees and entitle their owners to eco-sainthood. But what do they look like Are they beautiful If so, are they hard to plant and maintain Where can you put down the baby Will those who might want one still be allowed a patch of lawn
To help Los Angeles homeowners see the almost endless possibilities open after they start incorporating local flora into their gardens, the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers and Native Plants calls upon its members every spring to open their homes to the public. The upshot is a tour in which the smartest, most experienced native gardeners in Southern California get down with whoever shows up asking for help.
If you want lives of the rich and famous, this is not your tour (go on the Garden Conservancy one). The Payne tour is by gardeners, for gardeners. Its host run a gamut — from a Latina born in East Los Angeles to an Englishwoman from London, from single young hipsters to retired grandparents, from sculptors to aerospace engineers. There are bankers, dentists, photographers, office workers and the newly unemployed.
All find joy, accomplishment and, above all, meaning in their gardens.
So, for the next three weeks, this column will dedicate itself to visiting a selection of the 50 homes participating on the foundation tour on April 10 and 11, starting with two coastal properties this week and then moving inland to the valley, and finally to the foothills. … “
Next stop, Emily takes you to another home on the tour in North Hollywood that mixes poodles with plants:
“It was a hybrid call of the wild that Gilda Garcia heard when she decided to do a native garden in the frontyard of her North Hollywood home in 2006. As she recalled it during a mid-March visit, “The challenge was how could you mix native plants, Mexican art and poodles … \”
See the result in this next article in the series by clicking here.
I am so looking forward to this series, especially as I contemplate landscaping changes around Aquafornia headquarters. I like this series so much, I just may have to go on the garden tour myself! Feeling the same You can find out more about the Theodore Payne Native Garden Tour by clicking here.
Attractive landscaping, which saves water to be on display
Posted by: Maven on March 19, 2010 at 5:23 amFrom the Riverside Press-Enterprise:
“For the 10th year, Buck and Yvonne Hemenway will open their now-extreme drought-tolerant gardens in Indian Hills free to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 27 and 28.
The couple hopes to encourage others to convert their lawns and gardens and educate them how to do it.
“This is why we do the open house every year, to educate the public,” said Buck Hemenway.
The couple, both born in the rainy, emerald-colored Pacific Northwest, became enchanted with the forms of succulents and cactus and turned their hobby into a business raising and selling cactus and succulents through their Prickly Palace to nurseries. They have also traveled across the world in search of new and different plants. … “
Continue reading this article from the Riverside Press-Enterprise by clicking here.
Column: A growing admiration for California’s drought-resistant native plants
Posted by: Maven on March 11, 2010 at 5:25 amFrom the Daily Breeze:
“Like so many transplants, I arrived here packing bad habits. Used to places where rainfall exceeds 20 inches a year, places where a month without rain brings out the cloud-seeders, places where a sprinkler system was something oscillating at the end of a garden hose, it seemed reasonable enough to waste vast amounts of water coaxing English tea roses and St. Augustine grass out of soil that was trying to tell its own story.
I was here a year before I realized where that water came from and at what cost to the lakes, rivers and delta from which it was drawn.
What’s more, that water came with a back story, with the nefarious land deals committed by the Chandlers and other city fathers, men who promised water to a thirsty Los Angeles but channeled it instead to the San Fernando Valley, then a place of fruit crops and ranches. Most of which they bought up at bargain prices before attaching it to a taxpayer-financed aqueduct and the city they controlled. All that high-level larceny spawned a fantastic movie, “Chinatown,” written by a San Pedro native and directed by a Polish child molester who was allowed to complete this instant classic after his arrest. Seriously, how could I not fall in love with the place
What took me awhile was coming to grips with the nature and needs of a land long covered over with imported plants. … “
Read more from the Daily Breeze by clicking here.
Orange may drop lawsuit against couple that pulled out front lawn
Posted by: Maven on March 3, 2010 at 6:17 amFrom the Los Angeles Times L.A. Now blog:
“The city of Orange may drop its lawsuit against a husband and wife cited for not having enough plants in their frontyard, officials said.
The case against Quan and Angelina Ha could be dropped without fine or penalty, officials said Tuesday hours after the pair was arraigned on charges of violating city ordinances when they removed their lawn to try to save water.
Officials determined the yard met city standards after re-examining the property about noon Tuesday, said Paul Sitkoff, a spokesman for Orange. A city ordinance requires that 40% of a front lawn be landscaped with live plants. … “
Read more from the Los Angeles Times LA Now blog by clicking here. Coverage from the Associated Press by clicking here.
Orange officials sue couple who removed their lawn
Posted by: Maven on March 2, 2010 at 6:38 am
From the Los Angeles Times:
“Some Southern California cities fine residents for watering their lawns too much during droughts. But in Orange, officials are locked in a legal battle with a couple accused of violating city ordinances for removing their lawn in an attempt to save water.
The dispute began two years ago, when Quan and Angelina Ha tore out the grass in their frontyard. In drought-plagued Southern California, the couple said, the lush grass had been soaking up tens of thousands of gallons of water — and hundreds of dollars — each year.
They said they were trying to do something good for the environment. “We’ve got a newborn, so we want to start worrying about her future,” said Quan Ha, an information technology manager for Kelley Blue Book.
But city officials told the Has they were violating several city laws that require residents to cover significant portions of their frontyards with live ground cover. On Tuesday, the couple is scheduled to appear in Orange County Superior Court to challenge the city’s lawsuit against them. … “
Read more from the Los Angeles Times by clicking here.
Peter Gleick on grass: “Maybe it’s time to put the residential turf lawn in the same category as smoking on a plane: socially irresponsible, undesirable, and ultimately, eliminated.”
Posted by: Maven on February 21, 2010 at 7:17 amFrom Peter Gleick at the City Brights blog:
“I am participating this week in the 15th Annual Water Conservation and Xeriscape Conference and Expo, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and I’ve been thinking about grass. Those of us who work on water issues in the western US and elsewhere know that a part of our water quantity and quality problems is the consequence of the vast amounts of water consumed by ornamental grass, or turf, or lawns. When early immigrants to this country came over from Europe, they brought with them their ideas of landscaping, mimicking the grand English gardens with sweeping expanses of green, manicured lawn. And when those early Americans moved west, that idea came with them again, into a climate that was completely unsuited for grass and a landscape that couldn’t afford the water.
Water Number: 3 to 5 acre-feet per acre. This is how much water, in hot, dry western climates, that turf grass can suck out of our rivers, streams, and groundwater aquifers to evaporate into the air. As Amy Vickers, a leading water conservation expert and anti-lawn crusader has put it, “America’s biggest drinking problem isn’t alcohol: It’s lawn watering.”
Today, more than half of all urban water use in most western states goes to landscaping, and most of that goes to trying to maintain green turf. In places like Las Vegas, as much as 70% of all residential water use goes to outdoor landscaping. … “
Continue reading this post at the City Brights blog by clicking here.
HOAs, homeowners in turf battle; Assembly bill would allow artificial grass
Posted by: Maven on February 16, 2010 at 6:33 amFrom the San Diego Union Tribune:
“SACRAMENTO Rocky Wilson figures that just by landscaping his small front yard with artificial turf, he could save enough water annually to take a five-minute shower daily for about six years.
If only his homeowners association would let him. Wilson has been working with the governing board of La Costa Greens, a master-planned community of single-family residences in Carlsbad, for nearly two years to secure permission amid steep water shortages and rationing across California.
“Why waste water\” he asked. “I was born and raised here. There's always been drought.
Wilson's case isn't isolated, according to state water officials and water districts in San Diego County. … “
Read more from the San Diego Union Tribune by clicking here.
Garden designer John Greenlee’s love affair with grasses
Posted by: Maven on January 31, 2010 at 8:19 am
From the San Diego Union Tribune:
“Plantsman, nursery owner and garden designer John Greenlee first fell in love with meadows as a youngster playing in a field of ear-tickling grass near his Orange County home.
Decades later, the allure of this iconic landscape remains irresistible, “like a seductive mistress,\” he writes in his new Timber Press book, “The American Meadow Garden. “Grasses are sensual. You can smell them and hear them and watch them move. Meadows are sexy, just like lovers they never stop changing, never ceasing to surprise.
Starting in the 1980s, Greenlee has spurred a horticultural revolution that has put a growing array of ornamental grasses into nurseries and gardens everywhere. Now he wants homeowners married to “time-consuming, synthetic chemical-sucking\” lawns to abandon turf in favor of shimmering meadows alive with grasses and flowers, birds and butterflies. … “
Read more from the San Diego Union Tribune by clicking here.
Native landscaping saves money and water
Posted by: Maven on January 20, 2010 at 4:12 pmFrom Barry Nelson at the NRDC Switchboard blog:
“Most Southern Californians know that gardening with native plants saves water. But here is something that might come as a surprise: it also saves money.
Journalist Emily Green shows the breadth of these savings on her blog, Chance of Rain. She explains that the City of Santa Monica did a demonstration project in which gardeners planted one yard with conventional landscaping and one with native vegetation (you can see side-by-side photos here).
The results are stunning. At first, the native garden costs $4,300 more to install. But over 10 years, it saves an astonishing $22,000 in maintenance fees compared to the conventional yard. Meanwhile, the native garden uses roughly one fifth as much water as the traditional one. A table from the City of Santa Monica's brochure lays it out nicely. … “
Continue reading Barry Nelson’s post at the NRDC Switchboard blog by clicking here.
Urban ‘green’ spaces may contribute to global warming
Posted by: Maven on January 20, 2010 at 8:00 am
From the American Geophysical Union, this press release (hat tip to Chance of Rain):
“Dispelling the notion that urban “green\” spaces help counteract greenhouse gas emissions, new research has found in Southern California at least that mowing and other lawn maintenance emit much larger amounts of greenhouse gases than the well-tended grass sequesters.
Turfgrass lawns remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and store it as organic carbon in soil, making them important “carbon sinks. However, greenhouse gas emissions from fertilizer production, mowing, leaf blowing and other lawn management practices are four times greater than the amount of carbon stored by ornamental grass in parks, a new study shows. These emissions include nitrous oxide released from soil after fertilization. Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas that’s 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, the Earth's most problematic climate warmer.
Previous studies have documented lawns storing carbon, but this research was the first to compare carbon sequestration to nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide emissions from lawn grooming practices.
“Lawns look great they’re nice and green and healthy, and they’re photosynthesizing a lot of organic carbon. But the carbon-storing benefits of lawns are counteracted by fuel consumption,\” says Amy Townsend-Small, Earth system science postdoctoral researcher at University of California, Irvine. Townsend-Small is the lead author of the study, which has been accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). … “
Read more from the American Geophysical Union by clicking here.
High Country Gardens’ 2010 crop of water-wise plants
Posted by: Maven on January 12, 2010 at 3:34 pm
From the Los Angeles Times:
High Country Gardens, based in Santa Fe, N.M., has a reputation for introducing enticing new water-wise perennial plants to American gardeners every year. Its main catalog features 300 plants that have been grown and evaluated in its nursery trial gardens.
President David Salman says High Country ships plants to customers in all 50 states; California is second only to Colorado for customer volume. While Santa Fe's winters are decidedly colder than Southern California's, its limited precipitation and hot summers are pretty similar to our gardening conditions. “My focus has always been on plants for the western garden,\” he says. “Our approach is not only to conserve water, but to make the landscape more resource efficient.
Salman is not a huge fan of the word “xeric,\” which is the accepted term for low-water landscapes. “Some people call it ‘zero-scaping' and equate it with one-inch of gravel with a yucca sticking out of it,\” he says. “We like to focus on a green style of xeriscaping. That means creating habitat where possible, using organic methods and promoting healthy-living soil through the use of compost and natural soil amendments. … “
Read more from the Los Angeles Times by clicking here. Check out High Country Gardens website by clicking here.
Water conservation ordinances could limit suburban lawns
Posted by: Maven on January 11, 2010 at 3:45 pmFrom the New York Times:
“John Boyle, a 51-year-old venture capitalist in Menlo Park, built a new home on his property more than a decade ago largely to create a big lawn where his children could play football or baseball.
So Mr. Boyle, who is also a city councilman, is particularly sensitive to the idea that a proposed municipal ordinance to cut landscaping watering would prohibit other people from doing the same. He says he applauds conservation but is against the government dictating how to do it.
“I think it is important, where possible, for people to design their yards the way they want,\” he said in an interview last week.
The all-American suburban lawn, the backdrop for everything from the illustrations in old Dick & Jane readers to House Beautiful, long ago began to fade in the drought-prone suburbs around San Francisco Bay. … “
Read more from the New York Times by clicking here.
Eyeing the fruit tree, irrigated front lawn
Posted by: Maven on January 9, 2010 at 8:17 amFrom the Los Angeles Daily News:
“Amid thoughts concerning alternatives to the front lawn, I recently came across “Self-Reliance,” Ralph Waldo Emerson’s classic essay, composed in 1841. “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,” he wrote. “Whoso would be a man must be a non-conformist,” and, finally, “Insist upon yourself; never imitate.”
Emerson’s non-conformist, if not rebellious, tendencies are distinctively American, and are more and more in evidence as you drive the streets of Los Angeles. Slowly but surely, front lawns are shrinking and, in some cases, disappearing altogether. Will lawns some day be as exotic as typewriters, cloth diapers and rotary phones
Of course, there are legal and economic aspects to having a lawn, and/or conventional sprinklers, which make rebellion easier.
No one wants to be told when or how much to water what grows in front of the house. However, as long as you have a lawn or even a lawn-less yard, but with conventional sprinklers, you will be under the watchful eye of the local water police. And, even if you obey all the water laws, if you use more than your allotted quantity of water, you will pay a huge premium for it to LADWP. … “
Read more from the Los Angeles Daily News by clicking here.
Utilities commission skeptical about water plan; Landscaping ordinance would limit turf areas, require more native plants
Posted by: Maven on January 8, 2010 at 7:23 amFrom Palo Alto Online:
“A proposal by Palo Alto’s Utilities Department to save water by shrinking the size of people’s lawns was greeted with skepticism from the city’s Utilities Advisory Commission Wednesday night.
The ordinance, drafted by the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency (BAWSCA), would apply to landscaping projects in which the overall irrigated area is 1,000 square feet or larger. Single-family homes and non-residential projects would be included.
The ordinance would limit the turf area allowed to 25 percent of the irrigated landscape. It would also require at least 80 percent of the plants in non-turf landscape to be native plants or plants that use little or no water. In both cases, an applicant could alternately develop and commit to a water budget.
All landscapes greater than 5,000 square feet would require irrigation meters. … “
Read more from Palo Alto Online by clicking here.
Menlo Park proposal would restrict lawn size
Posted by: Maven on January 7, 2010 at 7:34 amFrom the Mountain View Voice (thanks, Danny, for sending me the link!):
“If a showdown were brewing in Menlo Park between environmental activists and defenders of private property rights, what would be a more appropriate setting for the drama to play out on than a lawn
No fisticuffs have broken out thus far, with the debate playing out only in the demure confines of the City Council chambers.
But deliberations over a revised water-efficient landscaping ordinance are sure to bounce between those two ideological poles, as the city weighs restricting the size of homeowners’ lawns, and when they can water them.
The proposal currently on the table would prevent people from running their sprinklers during the day. It would also limit lawn size to 500 square feet, or 25 percent of the total landscaped area for properties with over 2,000 square feet of landscaping. … “
Read more from the Mountain View Voice by clicking here.
The Dry Garden: Instead of New Zealand flax, try the giant wild rye called Canyon Prince
Posted by: Maven on January 2, 2010 at 7:47 am
From Emily Green at the Los Angeles Times:
“Of all the creatures that disperse plants in nature, we humans may be the quirkiest. Take how we distribute New Zealand flax. We fight back its blades along what seems like every other front walk.
This column is to commend an indigenous alternative to New Zealand flax for the gardens of greater Los Angeles: a type of giant wild rye called Canyon Prince. Ninety-nine percent of the time that flax is used in California, this cultivar of Leymus condensatus could perform the same function, but better.
The first reason is size. As beautiful as New Zealand flax is, it needs space. You could hide a rugby scrum behind many full-grown specimens. By contrast, the “giant” in “giant wild rye” is a relative term. This beautiful cultivar introduced by the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is giant only among grasses. It may reach 3 feet tall. … “
Read more from the Los Angeles Times by clicking here.
Developments facing new laws for landscaping in 2010
Posted by: Maven on January 1, 2010 at 9:03 amFrom KPBS:
“A little noticed change in the law will affect landscaping in new housing developments in the coming year.
California legislators passed a law in 2006 that requires cities and counties to develop ordinances to save water use in new landscapes by 30 percent. The law goes into effect tomorrow.
Toby Roy of San Diego County Water Authority says the state only came up with a model ordinance last October. She says San Diego county agencies have worked with cities and the building industry to develop a model ordinance for this region.
“As new development goes in, it will be designed to the new standards,\” Roy said. “Residents installing landscapes for new homes will come in to the counter and get information on how to design a landscape but they wont have to go through a permit process. … “
Read more from KPBS by clicking here.
New law frees Californians to garden to conserve water
Posted by: Maven on December 25, 2009 at 9:11 amFrom KUOR, Southern California Public Radio:
“If a “xeriscape\” garden is your dream, next year could be your year to plant it. A new law will make it easier for some homeowners to install drought-tolerant landscaping.
A third of California homeowners live in what are called “common interest developments. They're condominiums, apartments and timeshares governed by homeowners associations. … “
Read more from KUOR by clicking here.
New water rules weighed: Developers in the Temecula area would be required to use water-saving technology
Posted by: Maven on December 10, 2009 at 6:38 amFrom Riverside’s Press-Enterprise:
“A Temecula-area water district may charge developers a fee and require low-flow toilets and similar features so future growth doesn’t tax already strained water supplies.
The Rancho California Water District board of directors will decide today whether to hold a Feb. 11 public hearing on a proposed New Water Demand Offset Program.
The seven-member board would vote on the program following that hearing. The program would take effect immediately after.
Today’s meeting starts at 8:30 a.m. at the district headquarters, 42135 Winchester Road in Temecula. The district serves more than 120,000 people in Temecula, part of Murrieta and nearby unincorporated areas. … “
Read more from the Press-Enterprise by clicking here.
No such thing as a green lawn: Maintaining the American lawn wastes energy, water and money
Posted by: Maven on December 8, 2009 at 7:55 amFrom the O. C. Voice:
“Which consumes more fossil fuels: lawn maintenance with gas-powered tools or lawn watering For residents of Southern California, the correct answer is watering because of the energy it takes to transport water to the region.
Southern California (SoCal) is a semi-arid desert. Rainfall averages only 15 inches per year, for example, in the Los Angeles area. Local water sources have fallen far short of meeting the region's water needs for more than a century.
With two-thirds of the state's rainfall in Northern California and two-thirds of the water demand in SoCal, the state deals with this imbalance by pumping in half of SoCal's water supply from sources hundreds of miles away, the Colorado River and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. … “
Read more from the O. C. Voice by clicking here.
‘Sustainable Landscaping for Dummies’ author lays out 9 steps for a greener future
Posted by: Maven on December 6, 2009 at 8:04 am
From Emily Green at the Los Angeles Times:
“The idea that suburban gardens might be “sustainable\” came late to Southern California. Modern Los Angeles was sold on the promise that anything grows. Exotic plants were status symbols. Sunshine was constant, and the only worry about water was finding plants best suited to go next to the swimming pool. More than a century later, the fantasy style is out. Sustainable is in. There's only one problem.
What does sustainable mean
Landscape architect Owen Dell has cut through the eco-babble to offer not just a definition, but also a how-to book. The Santa Barbara-based author of “Sustainable Landscaping for Dummies,\” published by Wiley this year, begins by defining sustainability. … “
Read more from the Los Angeles Times by clicking here.
Paso adopts stringent water rules for developers
Posted by: Maven on December 6, 2009 at 7:44 amFrom the San Luis Obispo Tribune:
“Paso Robles developers have to cut back on the size of lawns and how they water them to comply with a new state law taking effect in January.
The rules won't affect owners of existing properties because the city can't retroactively require them, officials said.
The new regulations are expected to reduce Paso Robles' outdoor water consumption by at least 19 percent when compared to projects without these restrictions, according to city documents.
“The goal is to make sure the landscaping that is initially installed is water-conserving right out of the chute,\” Community Development Director Ron Whisenand said. … “
Read more from the San Luis Obispo Tribune by clicking here.
Water regulations are planned for Costa Mesa
Posted by: Maven on December 3, 2009 at 7:48 amFrom the Daily Pilot:
“Costa Mesa city staff is working on an ordinance that will require multi-family residences and businesses to conserve water.
The ordinance will require new landscaping installations or rehabilitation projects of 2,500 square feet or greater to be water wise, which includes picking drought-tolerant plants and installing irrigation systems that use less water, said Minoo Ashabi, Costa Mesa senior planner.
Assembly Bill 1881 was adopted by the state in 2006 to encourage water conservation, and now all California cities must abide the new requirement beginning Jan. 1.
“This is intended to encourage drought-tolerant plants in the most conservative way for water conservation,\” she said. … “
Read more from the Daily Pilot by clicking here.
Cities adopting state-mandated water ordinances
Posted by: Maven on November 27, 2009 at 7:36 amFrom the Pasadena Star News:
“Like it or not, mandatory restrictions are coming by the first of the year for homeowners and developers with large pieces of property to water.
Under the state’s Water Conservation in Landscaping Act of 2006, by Jan. 1 cities must adopt local ordinances that restrict water usage for developers – and also for public agencies – who construct new projects that include 2,500 feet or more of landscaping.
The restrictions will also apply to homeowners with landscape projects of 5,000 feet or more.
If cities don’t implement local laws by the deadline, a provision written into the act ordering the restrictions will simply take over.
Water-saving ordinances will likely vary – at least slightly – from city to city. But in general, affected developers and homeowners will have to apply for permits and submit their landscaping plans to cities for review. … “
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