Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, October 8, 2016

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Mountain View News Saturday, October 8, 2016 

Walking Sierra Madre…The Social Side 

by Deanne Davis


“I have said enough to last a lifetime and, for 
the last time, I wish you all a very pleasant 
good afternoon.....There will be a new day, and 
eventually a new year, and when the upcoming 
winter gives way to spring, ah, rest assured, 
once again it will be time for Dodger baseball!” 
he said. “So this is Vin Scully wishing you a very 
pleasant afternoon, wherever you may be.”

 What a class act! Vin Scully at the conclusion 
of his very last game, announcing for the 
Dodgers. As Bill Plaschke put it in Monday’s 
Times Sports page, “Silence. Chills. In the 
coming years, wherever Dodgers fans may be, it 
will not be the same without him.”

 Speaking of class acts, the gardens at our very 
own Sierra Madre City Hall are a very class act.

Our gardens are serving as an “International Model 
for Sustainable Landscaping.” That’s something for 
all of us to be very proud of and if you haven’t been 
down there to walk through and see the wonders 
that have been created, you need to!

 A nifty young woman, Danielle Killian, 
invited me to be part of the Greenbuild 2016 
Los Angeles Birds and Bees Garden Tour, which 
started downtown at the LA Convention Center, 
progressed to the Sierra Madre City Hall, then 
on to the residential garden in La Canada, 
winding up at Descanso Gardens. My walking 
buddy, John, and I are huge fans of what’s been 
accomplished here in Sierra Madre to create a 
landscape that is Lush, Leafy and Low-Water! 
The drought, apparently, is here to stay and we’re 
all going to need to readjust our thinking. From 
expanses of water-consuming lawns, we’re just 
gonna to have to move on to new gardens which 
use 60-80% less water but are still beautiful. 
We won’t be making sacrifices, we’ll be setting 
new standards and my time with the Garden 
Tour was a revelation. The Authentic Foothill 
Gardens (we do have an official name) are truly 
a city project, started purely to save water as they 
were all flat lawn and wistaria to start with but, 
thanks to all the folks here who weighed in with 
opinions and even nicer, a bunch of their own 
personal $$$, we now have five different areas 
suited to their location, with two different types 
of grasses and plants that are not only beautiful, 
but can mitigate fire, retain slopes, replenish 
the groundwater table and feed wildlife. I’m 
imagining these amazing plants all wearing 
Superman capes! 

 Actually, the folks who made this happen: 
Sierra Madre Community Foundation, Sierra 
Madre Garden Club, dozens of volunteers and 
installation by city staff, are the ones who 
should be wearing Superman capes!

 The Chapparal & Coastal Sage Garden (full 
sun) features the plants that once dominated 
our hillsides. These kids are tough, with thick 
leathery leaves that reduce evaporation and 
they’re beautiful! We have a Fire Garden – right 
next to the Fire Department – totally apropos. 
These are all fire resistant plants that can even 
cool off the area where they live and they retain 
moisture. The Fire Department had to promise 
not to do anything to the palm trees and to 
keep the wistaria alive. The Wildlife Garden 
is by the Police Department – these garden 
people have a sense of humor, don’t they – and 
will entice butterflies, birds, beneficial insects, 
hummingbirds and lizards. Maybe we’ll see 
more Monarch butterflies, which would be nice. 
The Edible Garden includes some nice picnic 
tables where we could bring our lunch, which 
we purchased at one of Sierra Madre’s dandy 
restaurants, and dine next to plants which once 
were used for food and medicinal purposes. The 
Shade Garden is, obviously, in a spot where very 
little sunlight penetrates and I noticed a nice big 
rock with a plaque, “In Memory of Jim Heasley.” 

 Many thanks to our garden’s designer, Isara 
Ongwiseth, for turning an ordinary spot into 
a fabulous place where we are welcome to visit, 
get ideas to take home and change our way of 
thinking. Signs in the garden ask, “Is your 
garden water wise?” “Plant Native this Fall!”

And, as scarecrows are the theme all over town, 
there’s one right there in front of City Hall.

 Remember the old song that Billie Holiday 
sang...just slightly changed...

“For there's a change in the weather

There's a change in the scene,

So from now on there'll be a change in me.

My yard will be different, it’s gonna be great,

Nothin' about me is going to be the same.

I'm goin' to change my way of livin' – 

Get rid of that lawn and go Native!

There'll be some changes made today

There'll be some changes made!”

Many thanks to Danielle Killian, Cassy Aoyagi, 
Eric Crow and all those who made this Garden 
Tour a success.

My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis

Blog: www.authordeanne.com

 “A Tablespoon of Love, A Tablespoon of 
Laughter” is available there…

As are all the Emma Gainsworth Adventures


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com