Greetings From SeaWorld’s Garden of Discovery

May 2003

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What’s Happening in SeaWorld’s Gardens This Month?

While enjoying the landscape during your next park visit look down and take a closer look. What do you see? Mulch! Most of us haven’t taken the time to consider the benefits derived from this simple layer of organic matter. Mulch plays a valuable role in the SeaWorld landscape presentation. These benefits can and should be extended to the home garden.

Mulch, simply put, is organic or inorganic material spread on top of the soil. Organic mulches include shredded green waste (leaves, twigs, other plant material), shredded bark and wood chips. A layer of this material saves water, reduces weed growth, helps prevent erosion and moderates soil temperature. All good things. In addition, as this material decomposes it improves soil structure and adds nutrients. From an aesthetic standpoint mulch leaves the garden with a neat finished appearance.

A side benefit of using mulch is that green waste is recycled rather than being sent to the landfill. Loss of landfill space is a national concern. At SeaWorld green waste recycling has been a longstanding priority program. Last year over 400,000 pounds of green waste from SeaWorld was recycled.

Mulch is commonly available. The material used in the park is from a commercial recycler in the north county and is delivered by the truckload. Nurseries sell an array of mulch materials by the bag. The Miramar Landfill provides mulch for San Diego residents at no charge.

So, on your next SeaWorld visit look down. You’ll find that most landscape areas are mulched. With so many obvious advantages it makes sense for all of us to follow this practice in our own gardens.

Spreading mulch is a regular task for SeaWorld Landscape Department team members.

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Creating A Backyard Wildlife Habitat

Spring is here and the time is right for some backyard garden projects! Would you like to add some pizzazz to your garden? Looking for ways to create a little excitement in your own backyard? If so, then take your garden to a higher level by inviting local wildlife to be a part of your garden ecosystem. Here are the basic steps from the National Wildlife Federation:

1.		Assess your yard or garden space – The first thing you need to do is identify the habitat elements that already exist in your yard or garden space. You may already be providing some habitat for wildlife!
2.		Provide the four basic elements – All species have four basic requirements for survival. These are Food, Water, Cover and Places to Raise Young.
3.		Practice resource conservation in your own backyard – Conserving resources will not only help the wildlife in your own yard, it will help improve your community’s environment.

For complete information on Backyard Habitats and how to certify your garden, click on this link: www.nwf.org

SeaWorld’s Garden of Discovery is a certified backyard Wildlife Habitat. SeaWorld’s visitors have been entertained and amazed by the comedy and drama only wild visitors and residents can provide. Highlights over the years include:

·		The birth of Monarch Butterflies
·		Mallards raising their young in the self-sustaining pond
·		Sighting of dynamic visitors like the Coopers Hawk and the Black Crowned Night Heron
·		Spotting a rare Mountain Chickadee
·		Seeing the amazed look on school children’s faces as they discover the wonders of nature

These marvels and many more can be yours by creating a Backyard Wildlife Habitat.

Life is good in the "Garden of Discovery".

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Wildlife Watch

Recent entries from our Wildlife Spotters log include:

Wildlife Spotted	Name	Hometown
Butterfly, Ducks	Alex	Cerritos, CA
Black Chinned Hummingbird	John	Dayton, Oregon
Red Winged Blackbird	Lori	Dayton, Oregon
Ducks	Megan	North Branford, CT
Song Sparrow	Chloe	Wildomar, CA
Ducks	Rachel	Ramona, CA
Ducks, Sparrows, Doves	Penny/Keith	Boron, CA
Scrub Jay	Ann	Boston, Mass.
Tadpoles	Kenny	San Diego, CA

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Weather Report

The arrival of May to SeaWorld San Diego signals the end of cold weather and any real chance of rain. So break out the shorts and polo shirts for your next visit to the Garden of Discovery. Expect high temperatures in the low 70’s with overnight lows in the 60’s accompanied by a gentle afternoon sea breeze. Enjoy!

Live weather from SeaWorld

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Visit past Garden of Discovery newsletters. Click here!

Contact	For information on your customized educational opportunity in the Garden of Discovery contact Jeff Hall or Melanie Repikoff (619) 226-3900 ext. 2207.

E-mail	SWCLandscape@SeaWorld.com

Visit	SeaWorld Garden Web site.

Garden of Discovery Partners