Join us to celebrate the shift within the Mar Vista community from thirsty lawns to climate appropriate landscapes. 

Think of this as a virtual Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase (but not a replacement!). Instead of featuring a few garden clusters once a year, we’ll showcase gardens throughout Mar Vista on an ongoing basis. 

Let's inspire a new normal - gardens that: 

• Use less water and avoid water waste
• Include features to slow/spread/capture/sink stormwater so it drains into the garden instead of flowing into the street
• Provide healthy habitat for birds, bees, beneficial insects and our urban wildlife

Is your garden a WaterSaver? A Watershed SuperStar? Then we want to hear from you. Please submit a Mar Vista Save Our Watershed application and tell us about your garden.

Your landscape doesn’t need to be brand new to be featured here - it can even be a past Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase participant. It does need to be within Mar Vista (click here to view a map) and meet some minimum criteria.

The Mar Vista Community Council Green Committee looks forward to receiving your completed application. Questions? Contact us at gardens@marvista.org.

3967 Coolidge Ave

Volunteers from the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Foundation completed this demonstration rain garden in 2012. In 2015, DWP featured it in a Public Service Announcement: Pretend.

No herbicides were used in the turf removal. After not watering for a while, they simply dug it up.

All the plants are CA natives. The garden is full of sedges, rushes, grasses with interspersed colors and scents of California Rose and Yerba Mensa, Canyon Sunflower, Monkeyflower, Sages, Yarrow, Mugwort. 

Milkweed is planted for Monarch butterflies. The garden attracts many butterflies, bees, birds & insects. 

All the rainwater, which is captured by house and garage downspouts, flows into the garden. It is dispersed by the plants, and by French drains and underground gravel pits. 

All of the hardscape except the driveway is permeable. A redwood bridge across the swale connects with a pathway of small rocks leading to the house. In the backyard, the owners removed the concrete in front of the garage, replacing it with gravel. Living low water ground cover and mulch cover other exposed areas.

Mulch and compost tea - no chemicals - are added for maintenance. The garden is hand watered once a month in the summer and once every 2-3 week during the other seasons when there is no rain. Water collected in a bucket while heating up the shower supplements water from the hoses.

What qualifies it as a rain garden?
A rain garden is a garden of native perennials, shrubs and small trees planted in a small depression designed to temporarily hold and soak in rainwater runoff that flows from impervious surfaces such as roofs, driveways, walkways and compacted lawn areas. Basically a rain garden receives rainwater channeled via gutters and connected pipes, allowing the rainwater to soak into the ground, as opposed to flowing into storm drains. Compared to conventional lawns, rain gardens allow for 30% more water to soak into the ground. Most rain gardens are built to hold a 1" rain event.

Every time it rains, the water runoff from impervious surfaces collects pollutants such as particles of dirt, fertilizers, chemicals, oils, garbage and bacteria along the way. The pollutant-laden rainwater enters the storm drain untreated.  Storm water runoff accounts for 70% of all the water pollution nationwide. Rain gardens collect rainwater runoff allowing water to be filtered by vegetation. A rain garden retains water just long enough to percolate into the soil where the plants and soil microorganisms breakdown and remove the pollutants. By keeping the water onsite and preventing it from flowing onto impervious surfaces, a rain garden lessens the amount of contaminated water entering storm drains.

Native plants are recommended for rain gardens because they have adapted to Southern California's dry conditions. Native plants attract birds, bees, wildlife and beneficial insects that have evolved alongside these plants. In keeping with the idea of improving water quality, they do not require fertilizers. A rain garden using selected plants native to the region requires little watering once it's established. The plants are selected with large root structures to allow runoff to soak into the ground. Water that makes it past the roots moves through filtering soil layers before entering the groundwater system. Rocks may be strategically placed so that storm water runoff is slowed, allowing for better absorption and preventing erosion.

In summary, a rain garden:

• Attracts a diversity birds, bees, and beneficial insects.
• Protects oceans land-based runoff pollution.
• Provides an attractive alternative to a traditional lawn.
• Doesn't need mowing or fertilizer as with traditional lawn.
• Requires little watering after plants are established; 60% to 70% of drinking water is used for conventional landscaping.
• Saves money that would be spent on irrigation.

11430 Kingsland St

This garden has evolved over many years and, like an archaeological dig, contains many layers. Camellias planted when this 1948 house was new still bloom profusely. 

The garden's evolution reflects the evolution of the owners' knowledge of and commitment to sustainable landscaping. Their green journey began in 2002 with the garden's first ever landscape design (by Linda Endler). This effort removed the lawn, added many trees and defined the basic shape of the garden with DG and broken concrete pathways. 

When the front yard ground cover failed, the owners spread redwood chips instead and turned off some sprinkler heads. In March, 2010, Gary Kamisher of Gary's Greenery installed drip irrigation, planted the "lawn" area and updated the parkways, using many of his favorite Australian and California natives as well as other eco friendly plants. Old mingled with new in a wonderful mélange. Unfortunately, landscape cloth was introduced to part of the front yard, a choice the owners would not make today.

In 2012 the homeowners added four raised beds for edibles, bringing the total to six beds and 140 square feet. 

In 2014, Darla Murray Design did a major garden refresh. The owners presented Darla with the following goals: make the garden more drought tolerant, favoring California native plants, and easier to maintain; tame the parkways; reduce overcrowding. The result is stunning! 

Darla added many new California natives and enhanced the walkways. Some plants were relocated; others found new homes in other people's gardens. The owners especially love the addition of a dry stream bed. The owners are still adding plants here and there - landscapes are never finished! - but don't anticipate any more major landscape projects.

The garden's many trees provide habitat for a variety of birds. Retaining that habitat was a primary objective of the last tree running and there seem to be even more birds - including a hummingbird nest in a mayan tree. The hummingbirds especially like to feast on the various sage flowers and the bottle brush.

A huge, beautiful Brazilian pepper tree shades the house and front yard. A volunteer, it was moved to its present location around 1980. The owners were surprised to learn recently that it's considered an invasive plant! Thankfully, they haven't seen any others growing nearby.

A weather-based irrigation controller determines how often and how long to water. The rain barrel, the bucket of water collected while the shower warms, and water used to wash produce provide a little extra water where needed.

11928 Palms Blvd

In early 2011, the homeowners replaced the lawn with a meadow comprised mostly of native plants and grasses. The turf was mostly dead from construction; the remaining bits dug out the remainder. No herbicides were used.

The owners were inspired by "American Meadow" designs by John Greenlee and wanted to create a natural-looking, water-wise ecosystem that incorporated the three principles of an Ocean Friendly Garden: conservation, permeability and retention.

They kept existing mature Camellias and trees and planted a variety of California native and climate appropriate grasses, bulbs, ferns and flowering perennials that thrive in clay soil, provide wildlife habitat and bloom at various times during the year. 

A swale in the front yard is the main attraction with its colorful Iris, Coral Bells, and Meadow Foam blooms. Wildlife activity has noticeably increased since the meadow installation, not only in terms of birds, lizards, insects, spiders, but also under the surface, as earthworm populations have grown thanks to a heavy layer of mulch that suppresses weeds and feeds the soil biology.

Maintenance needs are minimal, involving monthly weeding, quarterly applications of compost tea and semiannual pruning, so the owners have time to relax and enjoy the garden. No use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, blowers, mowers or weed whackers is needed; the garden thrives on its own and provides a healthy and attractive environment. 

Other site features to retain water include a decomposed granite center strip in the driveway, two infiltration pits in the back yard, and rain barrels. Pathways are slate stones set on concrete allowing water to infiltrate in between and around them.

A real-time weather-based irrigation controller (ET Water) sets watering schedule according to weather, plant factor, soil texture, and so forth. The front meadow is watered with mini rotators set back 2' from the street to prevent overspray. The perimeter has 1/2" Netafim drip line. The backyard has drip line in some beds, the rest is non-irrigated. Watering times and duration vary depending on weather conditions; some areas get water about once a month, a few small areas weekly, and they water other established areas by hand occasionally a few times a year.

Landscape Architect and garden owner Tom Rau is the landscaper designer.

Lawn Transformation Resources

Mar Vista is recognized for our leadership in both sustainability and conservation. The MVCC Green Committee has compiled this resource information to help you install landscaping that

• Uses less water and avoids water waste
• Includes features to slow/spread/capture/sink stormwater so it drains into the garden instead of flowing into the street
• Provides healthy habitat for birds, bees, beneficial insects and our urban wildlife

1.  Recently revised Residential Parkway Landscaping Guidelines.

2.  Mayor Garcetti’s Save the Drop LA campaign.

3.  Los Angeles Beautification Team – Lawn removal conversion program – will upgrade your lawn to a beautiful, sustainable garden. Working with the LADWP turf removal rebate, you can do it yourself, do it with help or have it done for you.

4.  TreePeople - By using their complete assortment of workshops, videos and downloadable "how-to" guides, you'll learn what you can do yourself or what to ask for when hiring a landscape designer.

• Landscape - fun workshops to reduce your turf and how to get the landscape of your dreams.
• Trees - download this quick guide and watch their videos on how to plant and care for them.
• Water - guides to install and maintain a rain barrel and informative workshops on rainwater harvesting.

5.  G3 Green Gardens Group - Their purpose is to transform our environment by showing people how to use landscapes to save the soil, sequester carbon, secure the water supply, restore the watersheds, and employ a knowledgeable and motivated workforce.

• G3 Residential & garden steward programs – classes and workshops.
• G3 criteria for certification and List of G3 Certified Landscape Professionals (scroll down to view LA County landscape designers)

6.  Surfrider Ocean Friendly Gardens – Offers classes, workshops and on line material to revive our watersheds and oceans by applying CPR – conservation, permeability and retention – to our landscapes and hardscapes.

• A step by step guide to creating an ocean friendly garden.

7. California Friendly Landscaping in Los Angeles - Explains how to design and install California friendly landscaping. Take virtual tours of the California friendly gardens, browse climate appropriate plants and access planting and irrigation templates for their microclimate.

8.  Water conservation incentive programs

• LADWP Turf Replacement - LADWP has re-launched the Turf Replacement
  Program effective July 15, 2015. Approval of applications is on a first-come, first-served basis and subject to funding availability.

• Landscaping & Irrigation Rebate Programs - Find out about other landscape water conservation rebates offered by LADWP: weather-based irrigation controllers, soil moisture sensor systesm, rotating nozzles and rain barrels

9.  LA Stormwater Master Plan - Through the Stormwater Capture Master Plan identifies opportunities to increase stormwater capture in Los Angeles as part of its effort to increase the local water supply and reduce the dependence on expensive imported water for the City of Los Angeles. The Master Plan also recommends stormwater capture projects, programs, policies, incentives, and ordinances throughout the entire City of Los Angeles.

• Downloadable PDF of full report.
• So Cal Water Smart Rebate info for weather based irrigation controllers
• So Cal Water Smart Rain Barrel Rebate info
• Rain Barrels Intl event calendar for free rain barrels with rebate program

9.   Plant resource information –

• LA County Native Plant Guide – Downloadable list of over 500 native and drought tolerant plants.
• Drought Tolerant Garden – LA County downloadable handbook
•  Theodore Payne Foundation  - native plant nursery

Landscapers

These landscapers designed one or more MarVistaSaveOurWatershed gardens. Inclusion on the list does not imply an endorsement by the Mar Vista Community Council.

Tom Rau

    11928 Palms Blvd