Tree canopy is our first line of defense against the heat impacts of climate change.
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HOW-TO: Install a Rain Chain
January 6, 2021Rainwater is a precious resource in Los Angeles and the best way to harvest it is to start with your home. Many of our homes have gutters and downspouts installed that direct vital rainwater away from our gardens and directly to the street and storm drains. A great alternative to this is to install a…
TreePeople distributes free fruit trees to residents living in “food desert”
January 6, 2021By Jean-Paul Renaud TreePeople distributed free fruit trees on August 14 to 250 households in Huntington Park, which suffers from some of the worst pollution, lowest shade coverage, and some of the most limited access to healthy food in Los Angeles County. TreePeople staff members and volunteers distributed mango, lemon, orange, and pomegranate trees to…
HOW-TO: Create Your Own Superbloom
January 6, 2021Nursery Manager, Jack Smith shares great tips on how to create your own golden poppy patch in your yard. Here’s some key things to know: Be sure to hand-weed any invasive plants to ensure enough space for your native flowers and place them in the trash so they don’t spread more seeds. Removing invasives helps…
THE CHAPARRAL NEEDS YOUR HELP
January 6, 2021It is 2 am on an unpleasantly warm but predictably unnerving autumn night. The Santa Ana winds are roaring through the hills and valleys of Southern California. Throughout Los Angeles, residents are on edge. It is not the wind that they are afraid of, even though it does have a role to play. It is…
HOW-TO: Grow Your Own Native Plants
January 5, 2021Nursery Manager, Jack Smith and Biological Science Interns Brenna Cheyney and Emily Bowyer recently hosted a webinar to share tips and tricks on how to collect and plant seeds and acorns, the importance of adding native plants and trees to your landscape, and much more! Here’s some key takeaways from the discussion: When collecting seeds…
SOLUTIONS TO URBAN HEAT
January 5, 2021Sadly, not all Californians have the same access to tree canopy and green spaces, especially in urban areas like the San Fernando Valley, South Los Angeles, and Southeast Los Angeles. As a result, heat-related deaths are usually higher here than anywhere else in the region. Check out this graphic below for more information on research that…
HOW-TO: Capture Rainwater at Home
January 5, 2021Although it doesn’t look like rain is in the forecast for the foreseeable future, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared once the winter storms come back. Contrary to popular belief, Los Angeles is NOT a desert but rather a chaparral biome with hot summers and cool and wet winters. In recent years, winter rain has…
HOW-TO: Start Birdwatching
January 5, 2021One benefit of trees is that they provide habitat for wildlife such as birds. Trees are important for birds because provide food in the form of fruit or insects and make perfect homes for nesting. Kenny Derieg, our Waste Reduction and Recycling Specialist, is an avid bird-watcher and has shared some insightful tips on how…
GROWING FIGS, A STORY
January 5, 2021By Miguel Vargas Bill Hock can often be found in his backyard in Downey, carefully pruning his 7-foot fig tree. He does this slowly and methodically, snipping the branches at a diagonal and gently placing each twig in water. The tree produces hundreds of figs each year, that are a big hit with his family,…
FASHION & SUSTAINABILITY
January 5, 2021As we’ve been exploring ways to reduce waste at home, harvest rainwater, transform our gardens into native landscapes, and so much more, there are also some more personal ways we can reduce our environmental impact. Believe it or not, what we choose to wear, where we buy, and how it’s made it has an enormous impact…
URBAN SOIL PRIMER: Part 2
January 5, 2021By Richard V. Pouyat, Ph.D. Emeritus Scientist, U.S. Forest Service Richard V. Pouyat has been involved in conducting research in urban ecosystems for over 30 years. While he was pulling together a presentation for Los Angeles Urban Soil Symposium (hosted by TreePeople), he asked himself, what has he learned about urban soils while working in…