Badge of Honor

After four years of drought, a green lawn is now suspect. It probably means you are using a lot of water. This is troubling to the rest of us with yards that now look like dead, spare lots. This does not seem fair, whether you can afford to pay for the water or not. It is not about the money, it is about the inequitable use of a scarce commodity.

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But, if you're using an alternative water source, like reclaimed, recycled, or collected water, this is a great time to proclaim it. These signs are like a badge of honor  for finding alternative way to keep the landscape green. Indirectly, this encourages the rest of us to get creative about maintaining our landscapes.

Gray Water in Dublin

A sign outside Home Depot in Dublin, CA grabbed my attention: Recycled Water Delivery. The Drought Savers website describes their services. They transport recycled water to your location in their tanker trucks, and offer a full line of storage tanks and pumps for managing the water. Their primary service area is Livermore, Pleasanton, and Brentwood. Pricing depends on water needs and location. This is a great idea – something for homeowners to help mitigate the drought.

Delivery service for gray water

I work in Dublin, and admire the city’s use of gray water for public landscapes (their beautiful street trees are irrigated with recycled water). The gray water infrastructure is managed by the San Ramon Valley Recycled Water Program, a partnership of two water districts. But currently, California regulations prevent single-family homes from tapping into the gray water infrastructure.

The Dublin San Ramon Services District (DSRSD) offers an alternative for residents in Dublin, San Ramon, and Pleasanton – free recycled water available for pick up at one of their fill stations. You bring your own containers, and get instructions on how to transport and manage the recycled water. One of the fill stations is in Dublin, near the Civic Center. Water is heavy, so you need the right rig and containment to manage the water.

Trucks line up to pick up gray water in Dublin

 

This is the kind of innovation we need to help solve our water shortage! Gray water is being cleansed and recycled for landscape use. An infrastructure is being built to deliver recycled water to large scale landscapes. Creative solutions are available for getting recycled water to small landscapes. A few hurdles need to be worked out. Could a less affluent area afford a gray water infrastructure? When will California codes support gray water for single family homes? But the program in the Tri-Valley area is a good start, and a good test case for learning.

Ahead of Their Time

My grandparents, Nina and Lionel, moved to Hemet, California in the late 1960s. They bought a top-of-the-line, double-wide mobile home, and purchased a lot in the Sierra Dawn retirement community. Hemet is located in the beautiful Hemet Valley, only an hour from Palm Springs and Joshua Tree National Park. It was a great solution for hard working folks ready to retire. Great weather, and a great community.

Many of these folks had decided to retire their lawn mowers as part of their retirement. Instead of lawns, they put in rocks and gravel. There were several popular colors, typically beige, rust, red, and green. They decorated with an assortment of lawn ornaments. A few people planted a tree or shrub, or some cacti and succulents for a little green. But most of them liberated themselves from the burden of yard work forever. 

Gravel replaces lawns for time and water savings

When our family visited Grandma and Grandpa, from lush rainy Alaska, we couldn't help noticing the gravel yards, decorated with flamingos, trolls, woodland creatures, and the like. Quite appealing to us kids: there was definitely a grandparent vibe going on. But we could not help snickering at the neighbors out in their yards reverse-vacuuming their gravel (this was before the era of leaf blowers). The whole scenario seemed hilarious to us – to be out in your tiny rock yard vacuuming.

Now, looking back over 50 years and with an adult perspective, I'm thinking these folks were ahead of their time! Sure, their motivation was cutting down on yard work. But they were on to something! Now, we're cutting back on lawns, to cut down on water use. Luckily we have more options for our lawn-free yards, but I think these forward thinking seniors paved the way for our activities today!

Patio Furniture Facelift

My husband and I bought a Brown Jordon patio furniture set for our first condo in Anaheim 32 years ago. The table, four chairs, and umbrella filled the entire patio, and provided a cozy circle for Sunday brunch, and meeting the neighbors. Later we moved the set to our rambling ranch style house in Garden Grove, and enjoyed the shade of the umbrella by day, and barbeques and long discussions under the stars by night. When we moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, we moved the table and chairs with us.

Original Brown Jordon after 32 years of service in three locations.

The set is indestructible, but had started to show some wear. The cushions were faded, the paint was oxidized, and some of the straps were disintegrating. Understandable after 32 years. We shopped around for something new, and then came upon the Patio Chair Care booth at the San Francisco Garden Show.

Lots of choices for powder coating and strapping.

Patio Chair Care came to our home, showed us samples, and carried off the set to their factory in Concord. They applied fresh powder coating in their massive ovens, and replaced the strapping.

Before

After

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A couple of months later, they delivered our refurbished patio set. We added some snazzy new cushions, and the patio set is like new. We’re back in business, eating Sunday brunch, working and researching, and enjoying friends and family around the table. I expect the set will last another 32 years!

Like brand new.

Botanical Gardens: San Francisco Botanical Garden

The San Francisco Botanical Garden (formerly called Strybing) is located in Golden Gate Park. The 55-acre garden specializes in plants of the Mediterranean, South Africa, New Zealand, the Americas, California, and Asia. Special collections include plants from the cloud forests of the world, a moon garden, succulents, and ancient plants. The garden takes advantage of its temperate, foggy location in San Francisco, and grows over 50,000 plants from all over the world.



Printable version: http://www.sfbotanicalgarden.org/graphics/pdf/04SFBGSA_BW_Map.pdf

I visited the garden for the first time in July. With so much to see, I decided to make a sweep through all the major areas of the garden, and to spend some concentrated time in a few places that were especially appealing.

Main Gate entrance (Friend Gate is a second entrance)

Plenty of space to roam

I visited on a hot and beautiful day. The park was jammed with folks eager to be outdoors after a stretch of cloudy days. A plant sale was in full swing, and a couple of private parties were in progress. Adding to the festivities was the Sunset Piano, Opus IV. Twelve pianos were distributed around the garden, and played by professionals. What a pleasure to stroll around the beautiful grounds and come across small informal concerts with all types of music—jazz, gospel, show tunes, classical. Even with all the extra activity, the garden is large enough to accommodate the crowds.

Piano concert under the trees

I especially liked the groves of mature trees – the redwood grove, the Mesoamerican cloud forest, the Andean cloud forest, and the Southeast Asian cloud forest. They are each populated with native plants from the regions, and dense with vegetation. Signage provides information about the plants and their ecosystems.

Metrosideros excelsa from New Zealand. According to signage, the aerial roots descend to the ground and take root, becoming extra trunks that support heavy horizontal branches.

I stood for quite a while in the Mesoamerican cloud forest listening to the wind in the trees; enjoyed sitting beside the Bamboo Pond in deep shade watching shadow and light play over the water; and ate my lunch in the deep shade of the redwood grove.

Bamboo Pond

Redwood Grove

Docent-lead tours are available, or you can roam freely. The garden offers monthly plant sales (excluding several months), and an annual plant sale in the spring. I recommend this garden for a pleasant outing, or for learning more about plants from around the world. I plan to return to see what all I missed, and to see trees and plants in different seasons.
 

Address: Golden Gate Park; 1199 9th Avenue; San Francisco, CA 94122 Web Site: http://www.sfbotanicalgarden.org/ Golden Gate Park Directions: http://www.sfbotanicalgarden.org/visit/directions.html For other botanical collections in the San Francisco Bay Area see: http://www.edenbythebay.blogspot.com/2015/02/botanical-collections-of-bay-area.html

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