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Commercial Work
Commercial: A struggling old shrub and memorial rose garden strip, which fed no one and nothing, gets reimagined as a native pollinator garden that celebrates creation and California. A habitat that gives back more than it takes and helps mitigate some of the challenges of the sun-blasted, hardscape-bound site.
The vision of Toyon, sages, buckwheats, yarrow and mondarella - all bringing life and movement with birds, bees and butterflies while restoring soil, sinking more carbon and water, reducing the ambient heat and air pollution from the pavement and building and adding beauty and scent while requiring no irrigation after establishment.
The baby native pollinator garden, all cleaned up and ready to grow.
The south face of the building gets blasted with sun. We can do better.
Imagineering the south exposure with shade from Ceanothus trees (which help rebuild the soil) and habitat, seasonality and color from native grape vines and other pollinating native perennials.
The front corner of the grounds. Without the budget to reimagine this area, how can we tie it in with the pollinator habitat strip and make the grounds begin to look cohesive and inviting to wildlife and people alike?
A native grape vine will soften this corner and wall and provide food for bees and birds (and maybe some people). This native variety, Roger's Red, has hand-sized green leaves that wave in the breeze and turn bright red in the winter. It will add an appropriate streak of crimson to the grounds of the church right at Christmas time. With native plants, sometimes just a little can have a big impact.
Another view of the walls. A lot of hard surfaces here and blasting sun. Without the budget to take up hardscape or plant large trees, how can we soften the edges and add habitat?
Reimagined with more natives, transforming hardscape into habitat.
And so the work begins. First, decades-old hedges and roses and weeds must go.
California natives look small now, but they get mighty!
From weeds and dying roses and non-native shrubs....
...to this...
...to this.
Native California plants look small at first, but grow large. Proper spacing is important to give the plants the air and light they need thrive and avoid pathogens. Often one gallon sized plants will catch up with five gallon sized plants within a year. Native plants grow their root systems first. While some natives grow faster than others, a helpful rule of thumb with growth expectations is the old saying: The first year they sleep, the second year they creep and the third year, they leap.
From a hodgepodge of dying rose bushes and hawthorn shrubs...
...to an orderly bed of hyperlocal California native pollinator plants, ready to grow into a thrumming habitat, bringing blooms and berries to each season. It will grow into a small but mighty example, for each passerby, of recentering nature, not people, in our landscapes.
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