1630 Walgrove Avenue: Walgrove Elementary School (Calling All Kid Gardeners!!!)

  

Walgrove Elementary is established as a Certified Wildlife Habitat with the National Wildlife Federation and features a variety of green spaces in which children can learn, play, explore and create. The garden program extends across the campus and includes:

· a flourishing organic edible garden

· individual classroom garden boxes

· The Walgrove Wildlands, a 25,000 square foot outdoor eco-lab

· a kinder "garden" that is an official Monarch Butterfly Habitat

· an orchard with flourishing fruit trees

Daniela Roveda with her gardening squad

In the edible garden, students work weekly with Master Gardener Daniela Roveda and local environmentalist Jeanne Kuntz engaging in seed-to-table learning. This unique program includes classroom instruction on the life cycle of plants, plant anatomy, the role of pollinators, and the needs of plants (air, water, soil nutrients and seasonal preferences).  In addition to horticultural science, the students learn weights and measures (metric and US), geography, climate and the concept of variables in any scientific experiment.

Hands-on learning in the garden includes growing plants from seeds, transplanting, cultivation, harvest, safety (bees and tools) and cooperation.  The students also sample the produce.  This runs the gamut from sharing freshly picked radishes in the garden to sautéing garlic and kale.  With very few exceptions, the students enjoy the healthy snacks and, thereby, establish a lifelong appreciation of healthy eating.

BFFs in the Walgrove Wildlands!

In the Walgrove Wildlands, students have the opportunity to become stewards of their environment by engaging directly with nature. This urban eco-lab is designed for on-campus curriculum-based science education including lessons about native plants and animal species, ecosystems, watershed issues and more. It also facilitates the practice of council and a myriad of outdoor projects that promote learning and discovery. It even hosts theater performance and functions as an art space!

To celebrate the Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase, Walgrove Elementary is hosting a free community gathering called Monarch Fest from 12-4pm celebrating the myriad outdoor education spaces. Activities include kids’ yoga, live music, nature mandala sculpture building, food, and special performances by Walgrove’s own Musical Theater and Strings by the Sea violin program.

The edible garden boxes were gifts of the Walgrove community, including volunteers, teachers, students, neighbors, and families and were constructed in 2016 by Walgrove families.

The orchard was founded by formerly co-located Ocean Charter in the early 2000’s, increased to its current size in 2016, and includes citrus and fruit trees as well as providing shade and creative possibilities for students on hot LA days.

The Walgrove Wildlands was conceived and constructed by parents, staff, students and volunteers from throughout Los Angeles. They work with the LAUSD, Enrich LA, S.M. Bay Audubon Society, Whole Foods, Loyola Marymount's  CURes program, Common Vision, Surfrider Foundation, Million TreesLA, Kids4Trees, Theodore Payne Native Plant Foundation, CA Native Plant Society, Venice YouthBuild and volunteer groups from UCLA, Pepperdine and Santa Monica College, just  to name a few of their many partners and supporters.  We owe possibly the largest debt of gratitude to our landscape architect, Ryan Drnek of Sodder Studio.

Photos by: Jay Sharman Photography 

NOTE: entrance gate is on Appleton Way at Redwood Ave.

3379 Stewart

GET THE INSIDE SCOOP ON A BRAND NEW GARDEN.  See how the site plan was devised, what plants were selected and how the garden owners worked with experts on every choice to make their sustainable garden dream come true.  This is a not-to-be-missed opportunity to see sustainable garden design and execution.    

Hi MVGGS visitors, we're Julia and Zach and six-year-old Roman, all of whom love gardens.  We have lived in the Mar Vista neighborhood for 10 years and bought a home here six years ago. It had a sweet English garden look when we bought it with a big green lawn and a white picket fence. A few years ago we decided to let our lawn go and stopped watering it with dreams of transforming it into a water-wise garden. Our brown lawn was dreary and we knew that it was time to do something about it. Julia began a vision board of ocean-friendly landscapes and created a Pinterest garden board.   

Site Plan 

Recently, our front yard was selected as the home makeover for UCLA’s Extension Landscape Architecture course “Building a Garden Ecology with California Natives," taught by UCLA Ecology Professor Alison Lipman, director of environmental non-profit SELVA International, and Steve Williams of Surfrider Ocean Friendly Gardens and Selva EcoGardens. Steve also works as a conservation biologist at Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains. The challenge was to transform a relatively small front yard into an ocean-friendly CA native garden which also allows space for play and relaxation.  We chose a drought-tolerant so cal native zen playscape from the concepts submitted by 25 students. The team of students removed all grass and existing plants and replaced all that with a rain garden, pollinator garden, natural playscape and gorgeous all so cal native plants.

When we couldn't find the perfect water feature Zach designed a gorgeous fountain out of a perfect boulder and made a solar fountain in an afternoon. We also added big colorful boulders around the rain garden for our son to play on. We have plans to put in a zip line and nature-inspired climbing structure for our son's play corner. So far, the yard has been attracting all kinds of birds, bees, and butterflies!  

The garden was installed last December so is only four months old. The plants are still growing their roots now so are still small above ground, but we think it is important to highlight that establishment of a native garden requires a little patience. The plants establish best from 1-gallon containers.  A popular saying about native gardens is, "The first year they sleep, the second they creep, and the third they leap!" 

Steve Williams will be with us in the garden with info about Selva EcoGardens and Surfrider Ocean Friendly Gardens! We will have free low flow shower heads and sink aerators from LADWP for folks in their service area.  

Plan provided options for water and light features

Here are some of the CA native plants you will find in our garden:

• Purple sage
• Hummingbird Sage
• Woolly Bluecurls
• CA buckwheat
• CA fuchsia
• Carmel Sur manzanita
• Yankee Point ceanothus
• Creeping red fescue
• CA wild rose
• Narrow-leaved milkweed

Selva International

Surfrider Ocean Friendly Gardens

Selva EcoGardens 

3857 Coolidge Avenue

Come see what you can do with an old garden...and learn from a local naturalist!

Over the past three years, since the 2015 garden tour, this "California Garden" has been evolving.  Come see what’s changed and what’s stayed the same.  Gardens are dynamic, the challenge for owners is to be aware of what’s happening, and sometimes, just go with it.  This garden is a mix of new California natives and some non-native plants introduced years ago by the original owners.

One of the oldest California Avocado trees in the neighborhood is in their backyard. It has its own set of challenges and they've landscaped around it accordingly.   The garden is hand-watered and includes rain barrels and a rain garden.  It is a Certified Wildlife Habitat, Xerces Pollinator Habitat and Monarch Waystation.

Birds are an important part of the Coolidge

Garden. They are welcome!  This is the Year of the Bird, as designated by National Geographic Society and their partners the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, National Audubon Society, and BirdLife International. 

One of the garden owners is the former Executive Director of the Friends of Ballona Wetlands as well as a landscape designer (Giardino della Vita).  She is now the Dan and Susan Gottlieb Environmental Leadership Fellow in the Center for Urban Resilience (CURes) at Loyola Marymount University.

Organizations Lisa Fimiani is affiliated with or knows something about:

·         Center for Urban Resilience at Loyola Marymount University:  CURes works with faculty, staff, students and community members to develop research and other interventions that lead to more resilient and just communities.  The goal is to pair the study of urban ecology with local issues that can benefit from the talents and resources at LMU:  http://cures.lmu.edu/

·         Friends of Ballona Wetlands  – they not only do tours in the Wetlands, but also provide expertise on how to put in pollinator, rain, and edible gardens, as well as provide Summer Camp opportunities:   http://www.ballonafriends.org/

·         Los Angeles Audubon Society – their “Kill Your Lawn” cartoon book drawn by children will be available as handouts:  http://losangelesaudubon.org/photo-galleries-section/photo-galleries-category/kill-your-lawn-comic-book-gallery

·         Los Angeles Audubon Society –Tree Trimming Guidelines:  https://losangelesaudubon.org/tree-trimming-guidelines

·         Monarch Waystation Certification – through Monarch Watch

·         National Wildlife Federation – Certified Wildlife Habitat Program

·         SoCal Water $mart Residential Turf Removal Program –Bewaterwise.com

·         Xerces Society – Pollinator Habitat Certification

 How to register your garden as a Wildlife Habitat Yard

• Audubon At Home http://audubonathome.org/
• National Wildlife Federation http://www.nwf.org/gardenforwildlife/create.cfm?CFID=7177856&CFTOKEN=176461acda590e96-4839F373-5056-A868-A0F00601F3124B08
• Monarch Waystation Program http://www.monarchwatch.org/waystations/certify.html
• Xerces Society http://www.xerces.org/

Lisa Fimiani Contact Information:

Board Member, Friends of Ballona Wetlands  http://www.ballonafriends.org/

Treasurer, Ballona Discovery Park Partners  http://cures.lmu.edu/our-programs/education/ballona-discovery-park/

Gottlieb Fellow, Loyola Marymount University, Center for Urban Resilience  http://cures.lmu.edu/

Master Gardener and Restoration Specialist, Giardino della Vita  http://giardinodellavita.com/

Wetlands Restoration Principles Coalition Partner  http://wetlandsrestoration.org/

 Cell:  (310) 339-2737 lisa.fimiani@lmu.edu; lisafimiani@gmail.com

Visit my website: www.giardinodellavita.com “Garden of Life”

3300 S. Centinela Ocean View Farms

Don’t miss this Mar Vista treasure! 

Come for the compost tips, stay to tour the gardens!  Visit Ocean View Farms between 10am and 1pm for a tutorial on composting from OVF’s resident compost guru Karl Lisovsky.  One of OVF’s most important long-term commitments is to continually increase its awareness of, and participation in, our neighboring community.  One example of this synergy is a cooperative effort with the City of Los Angeles to reclaim and reuse city-collected stable waste in conjunction with a vigorous internal composting program. Today, OVF's composting program entails mixing reclaimed stable waste with the green organic waste produced in the garden. Last year, over 200 tons of shredded soft green waste, 900 cubic yards of woody material and 80 tons of stable waste were combined to produce a virtually unlimited supply of compost for plots.  Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase visitors are invited to bring home some compost from OVF’s supply.

500+ garden plots overflow with organic veggies, flowers and fruit, all organically grown. From artichokes to agave, OVF has it all. This season gardeners are planting tomatoes, corn, beans, squash, potatoes, chard, lettuces, and onions. Several gardeners have cactus and native plants, and the perimeter of the garden is filled with fig, avocado and citrus trees, as well as pine, eucalyptus, black walnut and palm trees.  Organic Gardening Magazine donated a 1,100 gallon cistern to OVF and it sits at the top of the hill (at the far end of the parking lot) and is connected to one of the dugouts near the Little League baseball field. Just one rainy day collects over 600 gallons of water! The water is piped down to the composting area to be used on the pile. Ocean View Farms is on six acres of land owned by the DWP and under the jurisdiction of the Department of Recreation and Parks and is the largest of more than 60 community gardens in Los Angeles County.

13014 Morningside Way

Come sit on one of these bonafide Dodger Stadium seats.

There's a lot to see and learn in this garden!  

On an average residential lot, these garden owners have used every inch to incorporate chickens, bees, vegetable garden - especially heirloom tomatoes and herbs - succulents and mostly low water California native plants. It's their "urban farm."

About 15 years ago, one took a class at Theodore Payne to learn about California native plants and was hooked. They removed the backyard lawn and installed an all CA native landscape complete with a fountain for birds and other animals. Recently they replaced one section with succulents.

Seven years ago, inspired by the tranquility of their new backyard, the homeowners decided to transform the front as well, incorporating a dry-rock river bed that serves as a swale into the design. They left several existing trees and a few camelia bushes, then filled in with drought-tolerant plants. Ceanothus, manzanitas, fairy duster monkey flower and blooming sages grow along the dry river bed.

The parkway has less dense plantings and decomposed granite to ensure easy access from a car parked on the street. A six-inch wide rock drainage around the parking strip to control water run-off from the sidewalk solved an erosion problem and also adds a design element. 

The areas that were once thirsty lawn now use almost no water except in severe drought. Irrigation is almost completely by underground drippers and individual bubblers.  

The owners keep two compost bins going, utilizing the chicken manure. They have several bird feeders and big pots with milkweed for the Monarch butterflies. The house has solar panels installed by Sungevity.

The garden owners will have information about free mulch locations and can help with questions about chickens and beekeeping. They'll also have forms for certifying your habitat with the National Wildlife Foundation.  There will be a beekeeping demonstration, as the homeowner is part of HoneyLove, and strained and comb honey for sampling.  

 

3784 Redwood Avenue

Photos by Renee Tondell

This is this garden's sixth Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase and visitors have watched it go from newly planted to paradise! About half the plants are  California Natives and half are Mediterranean climate plants from Australia, South Africa, Chile, The soil in these gardens - both edible & ornamental beds - is maintained exclusively with compost and compost tea. The owners have become such believers in compost tea and this biological method of garden maintenance that it has become the main thrust of their design and maintenance business - Compost Teana.  

They also added a grey water system to the backyard and took the beds next to the house off of the main irrigation line. These plants have been maintained exclusively with washing machine gray water since April 2011. They use drip irrigation - once every two weeks on one line and once a month on the other.

After tearing out the turf in the front yard, these homeowners created a Mediterranean style courtyard, with a small fountain in the middle encircled by a 3’ high berm. The berm is planted with climate-appropriate plants, focusing mainly on California natives. They removed two very thirsty birch trees and replaced them with two  beautiful, unthirsty, summer-flowering Chitalpa tashkentensis trees - which they received from the ‘Million Trees LA’ program.

Look for the surprise visitor!