Currently, our homes and gardens are some of the highest contributors to pollution, waste, drought and climate change. In Southern California, most home landscapes are designed to continuously require great amounts of water, energy, chemical fertilizers and labor. In return, homeowners get high bills, extra costs and no sustainable return on their investment. Ecological design can transform home landscapes to regenerate and sustain human, environmental and even social health.

Join us to learn the basics of ecological garden design, installation and maintenance for your own home. In this 4-hour workshop we will:

• Learn the basics of ecological landscape design with considerations for saving water, energy and resources, while creating biodiversity and producing food sustainably
• Explore the basics of sustainable water, energy, soil and plant systems through observing and interacting with real-life examples at The Ecology Center
• Exercise with designing custom plans for your home eco-garden
• Participate in hands-on activities including rain barrel and sprinkler to drip system installation, composting, and design exercises among others.

Each participant will create and take home a draft design, a plant list, a list of organizations to purchase tools and resources from to create an ecological garden, and 1-2 informational hand-outs to complement the subjects covered in the workshop.