Point Loma house - San Diego, CA

Description

Our home is 200' from the ocean and has become known as the ”Hippie House” of Point Loma/Ocean Beach due to the colorful mural on the property line wall, along with a Peace Pole and hardscape designs that feature a peace sign and Ying Yang symbols in our front yard garden.

The home is owned by Scott Stephens, founder and manager of the award winning group Liquid Blue. The band holds the official world record for Most Traveled Band (116 countries performed in to date) and is a certified Green band. They have a page on their website dedicated to their green lifestyle. Please take a moment to check it out here: http://www.liquid-blue.com/Green.htm

Design:
Our garden was designed by Clayton Tschudy, the landscape architect who designed the Sunset Cliffs Natural Park that will be installed directly across the street from our home later this year.

Preparation:
We started our Peace Garden by removing the existing watering intensive landscaping and graded the land so that water runs away from house foundation and installed a multiple entry point drainage system that leads to an overflow valve depositing excess water onto the parkway area instead of the street. This in conjunction with a large bioswale helps to keep rain water on the property.

Installation:
Our new landscaping and hardscaping put in by John Noble of Coastal Sage Gardening utilizing only native California plants and flowers, based on Clayton’s design. John collaborated on the hardscape design elements with Scott Stephens, the homeowner to help realize Scott’s vision.

Irrigation:
The irrigation system is controlled by a smart controller that adjusts watering needs automatically to account for rain and also seasonal variations. It currently uses 50% or less than traditional landscaping as the plants are maturing and once the plants are established at the end of next year, this garden will use approximately 10% of the water that a traditional garden would use.

Materials sourcing:
All of our materials and plants were locally sourced and no chemicals were used during the installation and subsequent upkeep.
Cost: We spent about $25,000 total on the project.

Additional Notes:
The house is currently in the process of attaining a Build It Green (BIG) certification.
The home has been featured in several publications such as the San Diego Free Press and the OB Rag. The house and band will be the cover story in the May 2014 edition of Point Loma Magazine.

Contact information:
Costal Sage Gardening
3685 Voltaire St, San Diego, CA 92106
(619) 223-5229

Tschudy Ecological Designs
858.774.7692