Maintenance manuals for public native plant landscapes in Southern California

Background/Question/Methods At Old Marengo Park we sought to create a manual that encapsulates the history and special care needs of the park’s native plants as well as serves as an educational tool for the neighborhood maintenance crew. The use of water-sipping native plants in public landscapes is gaining wide acceptance. Native plants are well-adapted to local conditions and flourish well in local soils and rainfall, though traditional horticultural practices – especially year around irrigation - can prove deadly. With the present and future serious challenges facing southern California water supply and the planned expansion of parks along the Los Angeles County river systems, native plants bring beautiful, drought-tolerant landscapes and a sense of place for Californians. While designers and contractors are using and installing native plants, the maintenance information for these landscapes is lagging to nonexistent. The recent Care & Maintenance of Southern California Native Plant Gardens (2006) provides skilled maintenance staff with practical information to maintain these plants, but the average worker has several challenges with an encyclopedic text even if it is bilingual. The site-specific Maintenance Manual, includes all necessary information for plant maintenance as well as information on the soils, irrigation, stormwater, weed management, and greenwaste management.

Results/Conclusions Landscaping with locally native plants requires horticultural practices that differ markedly from traditional methods. These new landscapes often fail when volunteer and professional gardeners maintain them as though they comprised standard non-native tropical specimens. Ecologists and restoration ecologists are familiar with the ecological tolerances and growth habits of native plants. Sharing this information in the form of maintenance manuals and ongoing in-the-field training is necessary if these environmentally-appropriate landscapes are to succeed and spread. Ecologists are well-suited to help by providing information on plant identification, including distinguishing natives from exotic weeds. Educating maintenance crews on the ecological conditions to which these plants are adapted can facilitate the success of these landscapes. Experience with community and municipal workers suggests that both a site-specific maintenance manual and ongoing field training sessions are needed for the best outcomes. With ever shrinking budgets and reduced maintenance crews, these maintenance manuals represent our best chance for successful native drought-tolerant plant landscapes.