Native Garden to Bloom in South Gate Park

Nestled between the South Gate Park soccer complex and the golf course is the beginning of something new.

In a 5,000-square-foot area, the start of South Gate’s first California native garden is starting to grow. Scattered throughout the garden are tiny plants that will soon grow to become one of five new native gardens sponsored by the Central Basin Municipal Water District.

Central Basin officials said the gardens serve “as a great opportunity to educate residents on how to incorporate California native and drought tolerant plants into their landscape.”

In the past several years, using California native plants for landscaping projects has become increasingly more popular. And now, there are numerous organizations dedicated to the movement, such as the California Native Plant Society, and many nurseries have begun to carry these plants.

For those interested in native gardens, the appeal is not only that they are ecologically friendly, but they also result in major savings in water use. With these demonstration gardens, the Central Basin is working to expand the public's knowledge and awareness of native gardens.

The other four cities included in the native garden project are Montebello, Cerritos, Cudahy and Whittier. Each garden is funded with $10,000 from the Department of Water Resources Proposition 50 grant program.

According to Joseph Legaspi, public information officer for the Central Basin, various cities throughout the southern California region were asked if they would be interested in partnering with the agency to plant a garden. Of those asked, the five cities responded.

"This garden helps make the point that you can have a beautiful garden and save water at the same time," said Central Basin Board Vice President Rudy Montalvo representing Division IV, which includes the City of South Gate. "We hope that parents and their children will enjoy and learn from the garden for many years to come."

According to Paul Adams, director of South Gate's parks and recreation, the city partnered with the Central Basin to both educate residents about the beauty and savings of native gardens and to fulfill a need. The area lacked landscaping and this project, Adams said, will save the city around $15,000.

Once the garden is completed, the city plans to use it to host workshops for residents interested in native gardening.

"Once the garden has grown in and can act as an example of what can be done, Central Basin will work with the city to provide regular classes for local landscapers, residents and even for some [city] staff to teach them how to design, plant, and maintain a native plant landscape," Adams said.

The motivation behind the native garden project, Legaspi said, is to try and change the Californian “grass culture,” a preference for lawns that costs cities and homeowners thousands of dollars in water charges every year. With native gardens, he added, sometimes watering is only needed once a week.

“Our goal was to be able to show the beauty of these gardens,” Legaspi said. “They are certainly very beautiful and provide tremendous water saving, and you don’t have to pay the same amount of attention to a native garden.”

“As Southern Californians, we need to be smart about our water usage, and something as simple as changing the landscape can make a big difference," said Sandi Linares-Plimpton, who is managing the demonstration gardens for Central Basin.

The gardens are expected to be completed in early 2012. For three months after that, the Central Basin will provide plant care. After the three months, the cities are responsible for maintaining the gardens.

City officials could not be reached for comment.