This article is a partial re-post of Rob Maday’s insights regarding easy landscape savings for property managers on www.propertymanager.com.

Out of the countless ways a conventional landscape can become more “green” and sustainable, we’ve compiled a list of 3 suggestions with the best ROI for property managers.

1. Install a Smart Irrigation Controller (Rebates available in most municipalities)

At a time when cutting edge technology is so prevalent in our daily lives, it makes no sense that your irrigation controller is from the Stone Age. At a minimum, your irrigation controller should be connected to a rain sensor that will shut down any programming if a set amount of precipitation collects in a small basin. Also, your controller should have a “seasonal adjust” feature that allows you to quickly reduce your set watering times by a percentage, making adjustments to your program quick and painless. If you have a larger property, upgrading to a smart controller that accesses weather data, ETo, soil moisture, and other conditions will no doubt save you water, money, and keep your plants healthier. Read the rest of this entry »

Flanked by dated, silicon boom-era factories and office buildings on the I-880 in Fremont, CA, sits a gleaming, modern factory and stunning landscape that screams to be acknowledged even when clipping by at 75 mph. Although the serpentine gabion walls, the sinuous concrete fountain wall, or the animated masses of ornamental grasses could draw attention on their own right, the emblazoned company name forces the viewer to take pause: “SOLYNDRA“.

Read the rest of this entry »

Grand Opening Saturday, October 8
east bay wilds is opening their new nursery in the Fruitvale District of East Oakland on Saturday, October 8, 2011 from 9am til 4pm.
For more information about plants grown, please visit:

www.eastbaywilds.com

In an all too common sight, shrubs are mercilessly trimmed to ridiculous shapes and sizes for apparently no reason. The below Pittosporum tobira is a good example.

Read the rest of this entry »

Over the course of a garden designer’s career, very few have the opportunity to be involved with the creation of public gardens and parks.  And of the few, only a small number are successful at creating landscapes that suit the community, honor the place, and are flexible enough to evolve with the demands of time.  Of this small number of designers, Mayita Dinos sits firmly and comfortably on the list due to her involvement at Arlington Garden in Pasadena, California.

Read the rest of this entry »

An unseasonably warm February 12th welcomed a large group of native plant enthusiasts at the historic Camarillo Ranch Barn for the second annual day-long symposium hosted by the Channel Islands Chapter of the Native Plant Society (CNPS).

Informed and, at times, entertained by the likes of Bob Perry (Professor Emeritus & Author), Pamela Berstler (G3, The Green Gardens Group & Surfrider’s Ocean Friendly Gardens Program), David Magney (Botanist, David Magney Environmental Consulting), John Greenlee (The “Grassman”), and Lili Singer (Special Projects Coordinator of the Theodore Payne Foundation), the attendees ranged from tentative gardeners to active CNPS members.  The common theme of this event was the important role native plants play in sustainable landscapes. Read the rest of this entry »

The Sea Ranch, perched on the edge of the continent, is a ten mile long sliver of coast along Highway One that is physically and metaphorically separating itself from California.  Headed out to sea at a glacial rate of 5 cm per year on the Pacific tectonic plate, the stark character of place is markedly different from any piece of developed California.  Spend any length of time there, and you’ll feel as if you are already on an island.

Born in the late 1960s by a group of visionary designers and developers, including the late landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, The Sea Ranch is an unincorporated community at the northern end of Sonoma County that visibly demonstrates how large scale development can be done in a beautiful and sensitive manner.
Read the rest of this entry »

If you have ever been to a landscape seminar or exposition, you have undoubtedly sat through a presentation from a plant “expert” extolling a constant stream of facts and figures about specific plant characteristics.  Although most know their subject material intimately, it can often be a dry presentation with little to walk away with.  Your head is left abuzz with a dizzying amount of plant sizes, temperaments, cultural requirements, colors, leaf forms, and other information.  Teasing out helpful information later on is usually borderline impossible.

Bob Perry (renowned landscape architect, educator, author, and by all standards a plant “expert”) is a refreshing exception to the above observation.  Most recently at the Expert Guest Speaker Series at Tree of Life Nursery, Perry treated a crowd of landscape enthusiasts to a different style of landscape lecture. Read the rest of this entry »

As a society, we have all sorts or rules and regulations in place that are intended to protect and conserve the environment and natural resources.  Unfortunately, there is no appropriate recourse for negligent landscape management.

Take for example, this “professionally managed” apartment complex/water-park in the central coast.  Although accidents happen and sprinkler heads break and gush during irrigation cycles, the poor condition of this landscape is no accident at all.  Rather, years of neglect have created an eyesore with an irrigation system so mal-adjusted that every head (a minimum of 45) needs major adjustment or repair.  We won’t even start to discuss the condition of the plants.

  Read the rest of this entry »

It comes at no surprise that the ubiquitous use of pesticides is not only harmful to the environment, but especially harmful to humanity’s future:  its children.

For years, science has known pesticides (containing organophosphates, also known as “Nerve Gas Relatives” per Radcliffe’s IPM World Textbook) have been associated with adverse effects on neurodevelopment such as behavioral problems and lower cognitive function.  As such, there is a very good reason workers applying pesticides often wear rubber boots and gloves, protective eyewear, suits, and masks; they are protecting their health!

However, previously known scientific findings were based on studies of populations with high levels of exposure such as farm workers, residents of neighborhoods adjacent to industrial farms, and others with fairly regular contact with pesticides such as landscapers. Read the rest of this entry »