Thanks to a grant awarded from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Daily Acts is working with Burbank Housings’ Carrillo Place Community to create a demonstration garden in the play area. As a part of this process, Daily Acts and Burbank Housing hosted two listening sessions to gain insight on how to create a functionable space based on residents needs and desires. The two listening sessions were hosted in both English and Spanish, so that all residents could actively participate. The goal of the second listening session was to get feedback on the planting design that Programs Coordinators Annie Silverman and Sarina Consulter created, based off residents needs and desires expressed in the first listening session.
On February 26th 2020, the Carrillo Place Community gathered for the second listening session to give their feedback on the planting design for the demonstration garden. Residents expressed that they thought the design created from the first listening session was beautiful, and were impressed with the facilitation process. They expressed concerns about how well plants would tolerate foot traffic/errant basketballs and suggested substitutions for hardier plants in those areas. Residents gave input on plants that they would like to see included that were not currently in the design such as more white flowering plants. They suggested decreasing density to give children space to walk between plants, since the garden will be located in a play area. Residents suggested adding more grasses to the landscape, and would like to see annual wildflowers throughout the landscape.
With this feedback in mind, Programs Coordinators Annie and Sarina will create a final planting plan, and will work with residents to install the demonstration garden in three workshops: sheet mulching, planting, and irrigation!
