Terra Nova Ecological Landscaping blog

02 Jul

The value of design

There is nothing like thoughtful design to get a project going.
We support that at Terra Nova. We are proud to have on our team landscape designer Jerob Chop. Jerob is a top notch landscape designer and mural artist. Working as a team with Terra Nova owner Ken Foster, Jerob has all kinds of resources, plant knowledge and presentation skills to get our clients excited about the potential of their sites.
Click here to learn more about the design process.
Please do call us with any questions regarding our design services at 831-425-3514.

Here is Jerob with some of his design work and murals.

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Posted in Sustainable Landscaping by: ken
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23 Jun

Invasion Biology: Critique of A Pseudoscience

Here’s David I. Theodoropoulos after giving a class to our Permaculture Design Course on June 22nd, 2008 on the topic of his book: Invasion Biology: Critique of A Pseudoscience

Dave gave a very interesting talk explaining the reasons why he calls invasion biology a pseudoscience.

What is invasion bioloogy? It is the attempt to address through science the ecology, influence, and impact of introduced species.

Another Kind of Genocide book review by Toby Hemenway.

Click here for a book review by David Holmgren.

Here I am with David Theodoropoulos and Larry Santoyo at the Cabrillo College Horticulture Center with the Monterey Bay in the background for our Permaculture Design Course.

Here’s the cover of Dave’s book with a excerpt from a book review. Click here to order the book.

“In this provocative work, Mr. Theodoropoulos uses a combination of detailed bibliographic research, precise language, and skillful polemics to analyze invasion biology as a pseudoscience… it is an organic work of great analytical force and bibliographic intensity…. The credibility of the book’s arguments is based in fundamental evolutionary ecology…. Critics may dispute some of his analyses or judgments, but their own credibility would need to be measured against Mr. Theodoropoulos’s analytical rigor, clarity of expression, and transparency of agenda…. Mr. Theodoropoulos’ ideas are, in this book, ecologically coherent, precisely conceived, and effectively articulated.” –Dr. D.L. Scarnecchia, Washington State University. Book Review, Rangelands 26(2), April 2004.

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Posted in Sustainable Landscaping, Permaculture by: ken
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05 Jun

Green Roofs grow on you !

We have been fascinated with green roofs since we first learned about them.
Terra Nova won the Sunset Magazine’s WESTERN LIVING AWARD for a garden with a green roof we did at the S.F. Flower Show in 2004.
Here we are building that garden with a green roof using succulents and native grasses.

Below are pictures of that finished garden.

What follows is a story about a green roof that Terra Nova helped with in Carmel Valley with
Rana Creek Native Plant Nursery.

Go to the green roofs directory by clicking here.

Built as an embodiment of Nature?s gifts, the Feldman?s home, in the Santa Lucia Preserve (a 20,000-acre private preserve in Carmel, California), was designed as an example of sustainable Mediterranean Modernism. The house was designed to integrate itself back into the land through sensitive design including low water use, solar power and habitat enhancement. There are actually three small buildings that are built into the hillside where the hill seamlessly continues onto the green roofs of each one. Rana Creek ensured that an ecological design approach enhanced the project with a sustainable landscape and green roofs that consist mostly of locally adapted, indigenous plant materials already found thriving onsite prior to building. Their oversight of design and implementation focused on stabilizing all disturbed soils by planting grasses and forb mixes approved for the Santa Lucia Preserve, controlling non-native species, and simply allowing natural regeneration of the local plant assemblages. Adaptive management techniques proved to be the most valuable strategy, as the roof that was being ?taken care of? by weeding, pruning and irrigation was less successful than the roofs left unattended, due to lack of access.

There are 4250 square feet of green roof installed at a cost of $21 per square foot. The 6? depth of growing medium is composed primarily of sand, lava rock and amendments which allow for both moisture retention and drainage. The growing media included mycelial inoculants and supporting mushrooms that appear in the cool wet winters. The roofs were installed with irrigation to support the initial establishment of the plants and for minimal summer maintenance. The waterproofing membrane is American Hydrotech MM6125 followed by a Hydroflex30 Protection Course and Root Stop WSF40. The Drainage system is Floradrain FD40 underneath the growing medium layer and �? to �? gravel with perforated pipe and surface drains at the roof?s edges. The perennial plant species selected for the roof like Sand Sedge, Pt. Joe Fescue, Yarrow and Wild Strawberry are typical of the Oak Woodland understory and representative of the Monterey Peninsula region flora. A host of annual wildflowers were over seeded in the fall and by springtime tidy tips, lupine, poppies, and goldfields surprised the owners with a colorful spring bloom. These annuals continue to sprout and flower each spring.

The green roof design for the Feldman?s Hill House emphasizes low water use, sustainable landscape techniques and use of native plant materials. The green roofs are designed to provide usable landscape, filter and store rainwater, attenuate sound, increase thermal insulation and provide site sensitive beauty for the Feldman?s home. The Feldman?s benefit by reducing their energy consumption up to 30% during the summer months from the insulation of the green roofs. With a growing media depth of 6? the sound is reduced by approximately 43 decibels. The sounds from the humans and their activities within the buildings are also being buffered to protect the wildlife, given the sensitive nature of the habitat in the Preserve.

The Feldman Residence is a superlative example of a green roof?s potential to limit environmental disturbance and integrate architecture with ecology - the 33 species of native plants used have made for a successful recovery after the disturbance caused by building on the site. The ecology of the site will continue to become more complex and resemble the natural analogs that were emulated in the design!

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Posted in Sustainable Landscaping, Permaculture by: ken
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29 Apr

Terra Nova Voted Best ‘Green Service’ in Good Times poll

We thank everyone who voted for us for ‘Best Green Service’ in the Santa Cruz Good Times poll. We will do our best to live up to this honor. Although we have been in the Ecological Landscaping business for twenty years we promise not to rest on our laurels!
From all of us at Terra Nova again, THANK YOU !

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23 Apr

Permaculture Design Course Photo update

Our Permaculture design groups working/playing in the sand with their projects.

Tom Broz of Live Earth Farm giving a talk about his farm’s solar panels.

Brian Barth giving a talk at the Mataganza Garden Sanctuary.

Heather Flores author of Food Not Lawns teaching a class on seed saving.

Read the Book ! Food Not Lawns