Seminars: Lifesaving Garden Strategies

LA’s iconic Descanso Gardens will host two seminars exploring the many ways in which our public landscapes and private gardens can mitigate or exacerbate LA’s potential natural disasters. Conservancy docent Hilda Weiss will be on panel to speak about the Shotgun House’s coastal garden at 1 pm.

Mitigating LA’s Natural Disasters with Smart Landscape Choices / 10:30-noon, Van de Kamp Hall

Seemingly unstoppable fires raged throughout the west in 2017, and California counted heavy losses in lives and property.

• J. Lopez, assistant chief, County of Los Angeles Fire Department, Prevention Services Bureau
• Kitty Connolly, executive director, Theodore Payne Foundation for Native Plants
• James Carlson, management analyst, City of Sierra Madre
• Moderator: Cassy Aoyagi, president, FormLA Landscaping

Attendees will learn what combustible, invasive plant life to avoid, which plants have protective qualities, and which design strategies best protect homes.

From Tragedy of the Commons to Uncommon Fortune / 1-2:30 pm, Van de Kamp Hall

Our minds often skip over the spaces between our public buildings and our roads, be they expanses of turf grass, weed-filled or paved medians. These places can be harnessed to increase LA’s resilience, mitigating our fire, flood and slide danger, and also increasing our neighborhoods’ social capital and home values.

Learn how to transform the tragedy of the commons into a powerful tool for building your neighborhood’s fortune. Our expert panel represents communities who have successfully transformed common spaces from the foothills to the beach, from the Valley to South LA. Expert panelists include:

• Suzanne Haller, Sierra Madre Gardening Club, Authentic Foothill Gardens
• Roger Klemm, rocket scientist, JPL, Sunland Welcome Nature Garden
• Hilda Weiss, docent, Shotgun House Coastal Garden, Santa Monica Conservancy
• Maria De Leon, project manager, From Lot to Spot
• Moderator: Cassy Aoyagi, president, FormLA Landscaping

Attendees will learn about the processes, people and resources it takes to transform community space, and the various models that have led to success.