A Splash of Nature in San Roque Gardens, Santa Barbara, CA

• Date: Mar 24 2014 Time: 18:31
• Description:
  We moved into this residence a little over 17 months ago. The front yard was filled with over a dozen dead rose bushes which were all surrounded by concrete sqaures. There was lots of other dead overgrowth and it was just a mess. So as time passed we slowly removed the bushes and concrete and with the help of Jeffrey Adams from Watershed Management Group (WMG)*, we put in a swale and water wise plants/flowers (which are intended to attract butterflies & hummingbirds). I love it! Prior to that, I attended a class on May 18, 2013 at the Louise Lowry Davis Center, "How to Save Water and Have an Ocean Friendly FrontYard." I was inspired and hence we installed a swale. 470 gallons per inch of rain is captured; 8460 gallons per avg. rain year. The swale/basin are sized to hold about 1 inch of runoff. We purchased materials from Goleta Building Material, Buell Flat Rock, La Sumida & Terra Sol Nursery. Cost was $612.00 * WMG got a grant from Santa Barbara ChannelKeeper to provide a limited number of rainwater harvesting rebates. The funds were from a settlement with the City of Santa Barbara for an environmental violation.