1.21 Sustainable Landscaping with Cassy Aoyagi

“Planting a native garden has endless upward spiral of benefits to homes, schools, communities and environment.“ Cassy Aoyagi is a LEED accredited practitioner, a board member of the USGBCLA and president of FormLA Landscaping, a full-service design+build and maintenance firm. She believes LA’s authentic, native beauty can save LA - from drought, fire, flooding and slides, all while improving our health and economic resilience. During more than 20 years in business, Cassy’s firm, FormLA has added nearly 1.5 million square feet of authentic, native habitat to Los Angeles, ranging from Tujunga to Playa Del Rey, western Malibu to the San Marina foothills. That involved removing about 200,000 square feet of thirsty lawn – the rough equivalent of 40 football fields or 750 tennis courts! Cassy offers various observation and practical tips in the topic of sustainable residential landscaping: Current trends in the residential landscapes: Downward spiral effect of having lawn:  “Cost savings out of lawn can amount to college tuition after 10 years.”Benefit of planting a native garden.Actionable and simples tips to start:If you don’t have a yard, planting a window garden with something edible or something that attracts butterflies can be a good investment for you, especially for kids to learn.A few tips for fire-prevention.