Well, this is certainly after the fact because the day is almost over and I had wanted to share something that I just read about how native gardens can offset CO2 whereas a traditional one, cannot. It resonated with a lecture that I had attended at the Theodore Payne Foundation last year with Steve Gerischer of Larkspur Garden Design.
The topic of the lecture was how to remove a lawn prior to doing a native plant garden and at time, Steve shared some very amazing figures about how much a “traditional” garden creates greenhouse gases and waste.
He gave out some very shocking figures about how the average landscape contributes to greenhouse gases due to the use of gasoline powered equipment, pesticides and fertilizers. And he also mentioned how much of our garden waste, fills landfills.
Composting is the answer for that, of course!
A native plant garden, per the National Wildlife Federation’s April-May magazine discusses this in detail. And if it’s done correctly, it actually can become a very effective carbon “sink”. Exciting to think about, huh?
And as of yesterday, the City of Los Angeles has mandated water conservation due to the obvious fact that we are in drought for these last three years and it’s time for people to re-think about those very, very thirsty lawns.
I’m not sure if the article is available on line but here is the “address” for the Wildlife Federation. This is an excellent article and it has some very good suggestions on how to make your landscape more friendly to the enviornment, regardless of where you live. Check it out!
My next post will be a follow up on the hike into Middle Lions in the Sespe Wilderness area and completing the re-route of the trail around the sinkhole. Plus, more pictures.
