Seeds of Knowledge : It’s a Concept: 25 Acres of Public Education on Conservation, Landscaping
Botanical gardens have traditionally been places where plants are collected and categorized--public spaces where people can walk among giant trees and exotic flowers. But few public gardens offer more in the way of practical gardening information than a spattering of horticulture workshops and plant shows. That may change in Orange County if plans proceed for a public garden in Irvine that would be educational as well as aesthetically interesting.
The Irvine Gardens Environmental Learning Center--a proposed 25-acre, $25-million garden adjacent to the Irvine Ranch Water District’s reclamation plant near the San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh Reserve in Irvine--would be a garden dedicated to demonstrating how water, energy and other natural resources can be conserved while still creating attractive landscapes.
The project, conceived by the Irvine Ranch Water District board of directors, calls for a series of demonstration gardens appropriate for the average suburban yard, public landscapes such as median strips and a technology center using computers to help visitors design energy- and water-efficient landscapes and select appropriate plants.
The water district board expects to review in mid-November the feasibility study for the garden--including financing--and decide on whether to go ahead with the project. If final approval is given, it is anticipated the project would take two years to complete.
The master plan calls for the garden be a nonprofit, self-sustaining venture to be supported by private financing and public funding. The Irvine Ranch Water District owns most of the 25-acre site; seven acres would be donated by the Irvine Co. if the project proceeds. If approved, the district’s anticipated role would be to build, maintain and operate the facility. Private funding for building materials, technology and plants would be sought. A nominal entrance fee would be charged to help defray maintenance costs.
The idea to create a teaching garden came from a drought-tolerant demonstration garden created at UC Riverside during the last drought. The garden, opened in 1989, drew visitors from throughout Southern California.
“People were coming from Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Diego counties,” said Tom Ash, the horticulturist and education specialist who designed the garden. “And not just the general public but landscape professionals as well, because it was the only place they could come and learn anything about resource-conserving landscapes--this little one-acre garden.”
The water district’s board of directors decided such a demonstration garden would be a valuable resource in this area and hired Ash to plan one.
In planning the garden, workshops were conducted with local government agencies, homeowner associations and other interest groups. The input from these groups was given to the design team that included landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, based in San Francisco; RJM Design Group in Mission Viejo; Wolff Lang, Christopher Architects of Rancho Cucamonga; Environmental Research Lab at the University of Arizona and the California Academy of Science in San Francisco.
Every portion of the Irvine garden would be planted to show energy and water efficiency as well as economic frugality. In general, water use in coastal urban areas is distributed with 40% for outdoors and 60% indoors. The ratio of outdoor consumption dramatically increases in hotter inland climates.
“We want a garden that will incorporate energy conservation with the economical value of proper landscaping,” Ash said. “We’ll also have information on how much it costs to put in each planting and the cost to maintain them. Our hope is that not only homeowners but municipalities and landscape professionals will use the garden.”
The garden would be adjacent to the Irvine Ranch Water District’s state-of-the-art reclamation plant, which processes 15 million gallons of water a day. Visitors to the garden could also tour the plant to see where their waste water goes and how it is treated before reuse. Among other things, the garden would demonstrate how water reuse can begin at home by rechanneling water instead of dumping all household waste water into the sewers.
The proposed garden would be divided into several sections, all blending into one another. Here is what planners envision:
Home Demonstration Gardens
Home demonstration gardens would be arranged like an actual neighborhood with a main street/ walkway and front and back yards. Each lot would be geared toward maximum conservation of water. Large, single-family lots and small condominium lots would be represented.
The demonstration gardens would emphasize three themes: water, climate control adjacent to structures and the economic impact of sound environmental practices.
For instance, the home garden plot closest to the San Joaquin Marsh would have a natural-looking water garden to complement the view of the marsh. Other plots would emphasize edible landscape, cut flowers, a butterfly garden and a native plant garden, among others.
The plots would each feature a house facade representative of the works of renowned architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Irving Gill and Greene and Greene.
Visitors would walk down the street to a computer kiosk where they could enter information on their own yards, such as size, climate and sunlight orientation. The computer would then tell them which of the garden lots would be closest to their own yard. At that lot they would find information explaining how and why that particular garden was created. They would also receive a computer printout of all the plants and other elements in the garden, estimated cost to build and maintain the landscape and where in the county plant and building materials could be purchased.
Visitors would be shown how to develop a water budget, allocating certain amounts of water for each area of a yard, and zoned irrigation systems. In all the plots, drainage would be directed for harvest and reuse.
Technology Center
The center would include the main entrance to the garden as well as conference space, library, bookstore, exhibit space and food service.
Buildings would be constructed from recycled materials using the latest in environmental and economical construction techniques. Rather than cover up all the sub-structure, there would be glass windows in walls to show more efficient piping systems or electrical wiring.
Landscaping around the center would demonstrate proper garden organization and design and how that can result in increased property values and financial benefits in the form of energy savings and reduced maintenance costs.
The natural topography of the land would be used in the technology center by using the two small hills on either side of the site and linking them by the center’s plaza. As with all areas of the garden, grading would be kept to a minimum.
“The technology center will be an interactive area where visitors can use computer technology to link them with the latest information on water conservation and other environmental issues. It’s sort of a marrying of the Science and Industry Museum and a botanical garden,” Ash said.
Indoor exhibits would emphasize hands-on learning of water conservation and its role in ecology. Visitors would be able to design their own garden through use of computers. There would be a glass wall that would show the root systems of trees planted adjacent to the buildings so people can better understand why roots can tear up foundations. Outside, glass block paving would reveal subterranean irrigation and drainage systems.
There would also be a technology library and resource center dedicated to water issues that would be linked electronically with other libraries.
Urban Forest
The urban forest would show local habitats such as oak woodlands, chaparral, coastal sage scrub, riparian and grasslands. While introducing people to plant communities, the urban forest would also focus on demonstrations of irrigation, erosion control, slope planting and stream ecology.
The focus of the urban forest would be to help the public understand biomass as a key part of the ecosystem. Property values for urban forests have been calculated to be as much as $10 more per square foot for lots with trees than those without, according to Ash.
Entry / Streetscapes
The street medians and parking lot would show how paved areas can be cooled through the use of shade trees.
The three median strips would show different approaches: one planted with turf and large trees, such as palms, which require substantial watering; a Mediterranean planting, which takes minimal water, and a median with only California natives that receive no watering beyond rainfall.
The pavements themselves would be porous enough for water to percolate down to the water table, keeping polluted runoff from entering the riparian water system.
Composting Site
Green waste from the garden would be “chipped” and composted to produce organic material that could then be used to enrich the garden’s soil.
“The state says we have to cut the amount of green waste going to landfills by 30%,” Ash said. “That will mean telling the homeowner what they can do with grass trimmings and so forth. The compost site will show them.”
In addition, one of the home demonstration gardens would have an example of how to compost in the average suburban yard. Back-yard composting is an easy process by which lawn clippings, leaves, twigs and manure can be turned into rich organic material. Mixed together and left to decompose, these waste materials eventually become usable as fertilizer.
Archeological Site
The site for the garden contains an ancient Native American burial ground, which would be preserved. Working with the Native American community, part of the surrounding area might be excavated to help illustrate the lifestyle of those who once lived in the area.
The area would also be used to identify the elements in a coastal sage scrub plant community. Much of Orange County is still covered by these low-growing, drought-tolerant plants, but it is a habitat that is diminishing.
Constructed Wetlands
Wetlands are one of the most important natural water filters in the ecosystem. The four-acre, man-made wetlands in the garden would include interpretive information explaining the importance of these habitats. “You hear environmentalists talk a lot about the importance of wetlands, but the average person may not understand how a marsh can improve their way of life,” Ash said.
To show that, the wetlands would be used to filter-clean the system of streams, fountains and other water outlets in the garden’s technology center. A cross-section of the wetlands, above and below water level, would be viewed from inside the technology center to show how the bio-filtering process works.
Proposed Irvine Gardens Environmental Learning Center
Educating the public about water and energy conservation through more efficient landscaping
would be the focus of a proposed 25-acre demonstration garden being planned by the Irvine Ranch Water District.
