Friday, May 16, 2014

Let Your Garden Go Native!



Ocean Friendly Gardens Au Naturel

Third in a series of SurfWriter Girls Features on Ocean Friendly Gardens

Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to the following copyrighted material. For permission to reprint or excerpt it and/or link it to another website, contact them at  


With the spring planting season underway the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) picked the perfect place for its Garden Tour in May – the Seal Beach home of Greg and Sharon Goran.


Greg Goran, who is the Surfrider Foundation’s Huntington/Seal Beach Chapter Ocean Friendly Gardens expert, and his wife Sharon greeted everyone and invited them to view their garden...



which is made up of drought-resistant plants and utilizes non-polluting gardening techniques that help to protect California’s water resources and the ocean.


CNPS members Dori Ito...


and Sarah Jayne were eager to learn more about the different things people can do to make their gardens ocean-friendly.  

“Greg’s garden was an excellent example of practices CNPS encourages,” said Ito. “The use of drought tolerant and native plants – especially in this record drought year – water conservation and retention, and providing wildlife habitat.



Surfrider Foundation and its Ocean Friendly Gardens program has objectives which align with ours and we were very happy that his garden fit right in. One person at a time we are changing attitudes and the thinking about what makes a beautiful, responsible California garden.”   
 
Local homeowners dropped by, too...


and there was considerable interest in the fact that the Gorans had replaced their traditional, water-thirsty lawn with a variety of succulents – cacti, ice plants, aloe – 


sages, deer grass, fuchsias, and other plants with minimal water needs.

 



“When it comes to wasting water, lawns are the biggest offenders,” Goran told SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel, explaining why the lawn had to go. “The typical lawn uses 45,000 gallons of water a year.”


What’s more, much of that water used to keep our lawns looking green ends up polluting the environment as water runoff carries garden fertilizers and pesticides into the waterways and oceans. “Urban runoff is the number one source of ocean pollution,” said Goran.


So, it’s important for people to realize that, even if they don’t live near the ocean, the pollutants from their gardens can still enter drainage systems and make their way to the sea.

Among those taking in the sights in the garden was Surfrider’s H/SB Chapter Chairperson Tony Soriano, who pointed out that “ocean friendly gardens revive our watersheds and oceans by applying CPR – conservation, permeability and retention.”



Soriano added that the California Native Plant Society, which was started in 1965 to protect the state’s native plants and their natural habitat...


shares many of the Surfrider Foundation’s environmental objectives…including the use of native plants in landscaping.

The Gorans’ garden is made up of 80% native plants, which are lower maintenance, preserve the local ecosystem, and attract birds and butterflies.



It also utilizes a layer of organic compost that increases the permeability and biologic activity of the soil, creating an ideal environment for plant growth.

And, to further enhance their home’s landscape, the Gorans planted fruit trees and vegetable beds – providing visual interest to the garden and food for their table.


“People from the CNPS Garden Tour not only enjoyed all the color from the native plants in bloom,” Goran said to SurfWriter Girls, “but were also very interested in the edible component of the garden, which is watered mostly from a graywater (recycling) system.” 


Now Greg and Sharon have their dream garden – an ocean friendly garden that’s beautiful to look at and beautiful for the environment.


Sharon couldn’t be happier. “I really enjoy watching people stop by to take a close look at some of the plants in our yard. We’re excited about teaching people here in town about ocean friendly gardens and helping them to do it with their own yards.”


My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece. – Claude Monet


To find out how you can create your own ocean friendly garden masterpiece, contact the Surfrider Foundation or go online to www.oceanfriendlygardens.org. You’ll get all the help you need.


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