Business launch, long process, network slowly evolving...

Garden Design business in Woodland Hills, CA needs greater exposure in order to succeed, especially in this economy, but find I now need to be selective about the amount and type of free services I provide. Wheels are turning, gaining momentum on the networking front. Feeling my way around this work to find my competitive advantage. Sharing my passion for gardening, especially with edibles, promoting "enduring beauty" in the garden. Continuing to table at "green" events, providing practical information for the community to achieve beauty in the garden, while saving water and other precious resources. Recently presented this proposed design for City of Santa Monica's 3200 Airport Avenue Demonstration Garden Contest...


Many talented, experienced designers entered the contest for (one or more of) three side-by-side plots. Look forward to hearing who won. Remaining hopeful! Winners are to be presented at Alt Build Expo in early May.

April 3 (I know, early) Earth Day Festival in Calabasas drew quite a crowd. Here, at my table for the event, I showcased native and mediterranean drought tolerant plants for Nopalito Native Plant Nursery, Ventura, CA...


Along with the flagstone patio/dry stream model I built for a Design class a few years back...


Lots of folks were interested in the native plants displayed. Many snapped up copies of the coupons for Nopalito Nursery as well as information for their Lecture Series, shown here...


Also, shared tips about using drip irrigation, with a few examples of products and information available from Smith Pipe and Supply, Westlake Village and displayed my signed copy of Robert Kourik's book on Drip Irrigation...


As luck would have it, around 3 o'clock that afternoon, realizing I had not eaten lunch, I finally munched a LaraBar. No sooner did I take a bite, when the crew from Calabasas TV (CTV) showed up to interview me! So, I hid my snack behind one of the plants, and hopefully spoke intelligently.

Next to my table were Tom and Nancy Hawkins of Florasource Ltd. They are the source for UC Verde Buffalo Grass (locally adapted variant of Buchloe dactyloides.) See my post of for more information about UC Verde. Between us, we were able to offer folks real live products they can install in their water-wise home gardens. Florasource also markets modular green roofs, primarily used commercially, and gaining a lot of interest on the LEED building front.

Saturday, April 17 and sunday, April 18 I've been asked to set up a mini display of similar information at the Pierce Farm Foundation table for Ag Days Farm Center event at Pierce College.

Feeling guilty about time away from my drawing board AND my own garden, I'll only make a couple of brief appearances at this weekend's event at Pierce College. It is a busy spring around begarden's neighborhood!

Planting Lesson at St. Luke

We had a fun planting lesson with Sunday School this morning at St. Luke. Spencer Hammon muscled through tree roots, so we could find a few spots to place native and climate-friendly flowering plants. Yea! Kristofer and Niklas were the first student gardeners to arrive. Shortly after, Jennifer came with her mom, Lisa, who was a big help keeping things organized. Pastor brought over Isaac, Joe and Sam, and they all pitched right in. We had a lot of fun planting and spreading mulch. We commandeered another corner by the podocarpus tree, to plant the native iris. Kevin Hausner suggested we get more mulch and eventually rip out all the sod that is languishing under that tree, too. Maybe we can fit another planting lesson into the busy Sunday School schedule next month. Here are a couple more photos showing the handiwork of "God's Gardeners at St. Luke Sunday School"...

Flower bed under Chinese Pistache tree:


Flower bed by Podocarpus tree:


And, another shot of the crew:


We will be sure to keep an eye on our new plants, and water them when needed as they put down roots in our little garden. A big THANK YOU! to Nopalito Native Plant Nursery, Ventura California for contributing many of the plants. Antonio, Rick, and Kenji, you guys are the best!