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NORMAN —
You’d have never know that it was 40-some degrees outside surrounded by sand, beach chairs and smiles at the Make A Wish Oklahoma reveal for nine-year-old Katie Dodson on Wednesday. A large number of friends, family members, classmates and fellow past Wish recipients came together to cheer Katie on as her wish came true. After a booming countdown of ‘3,2,1,’ Katie peeled off her blindfold and stood in shock as she looked on at her dream turned reality.

“I love it!” Katie exclaimed and then became speechless.

Katie is the daughter of Kelli and Jason Dodson and a fourth grader at Jefferson Elementary. She suffers from life threatening seizures. As her wish, Katie wanted nothing more than to sink her toes in the sand and lounge around in a backyard beach escape.

After Katie was deemed eligible to have her wish granted, the Wish team went to work like Santa’s elves and planned Katie’s “beach” for several months. The project took many man hours and volunteers, but the design was cultivated by Jamie Csizmadia, landscape architect for Olthia an urban prairie garden design firm, and Katie herself. Csizmadia said when she heard all of Katie’s ideas she knew she had to meet her and really utilize her input.

“It’s a little different working with a kid as your client,” Csizmadia said. “It’s been a dream project. Katie is brilliantly imaginative.”

Michelle McBeath, Wish coordinator, said you could see Katie’s ideas in all the details, such as the dolphin statue and garden aspects of the beach escape. Friends and family were asked to put their goodwill into Katie’s backyard as they arrived to the reveal by writing wishes for Katie’s family on a note for the beach escape’s mailbox.

Additional elements of the beach escape included a sand pit with fire surrounded by “water” made out of varying shades of blue stone, swings that looked like big beach towels, beach lounge chairs, and a beach- themed playhouse.

After the reveal, Katie’s mother Kelli said her family was so grateful to Make A Wish and all the volunteers and contractors who were key players in creating the beach escape.

“Thank you. This has been the biggest blessing since we got Katie’s diagnosis,” she said.

Because Katie loves flowers and butterflies, Csizmadia explained that the garden surrounding the play area was for native wild flowers to grow. Csizmadia asked that everyone at Katie’s Make A Wish reveal take a handful of seeds to toss into the garden and bless the backyard.

Lastly, the ribbon to Katie’s beach themed playhouse was cut and everyone celebrated by exploring the many facets of Katie’s beach escape.

Make A Wish Oklahoma fulfills about 175 wishes a year. Katie’s wish was made possible by Olthia, The Home Depot, Dlubak Glass, Lowe’s, Tuff Shed, Precision Irrigation Landscaping, Magnolia Casual, Estrada’s Sod, In Your Dreams and Allstate.

Katherine Parker

366-3541

kparker@normantranscript.com

 

Breaking news, severe weather alerts, AMBER alerts, sports scores from The Norman Transcript are available as text messages right to your phone or mobile device. You decide which type of alerts you want to receive. Find out more or to signup, click here.

Editor’s Note: Welcome to Business Spotlight. We will regularly post profiles submitted by local businesses. To include your business in our Business Spotlight series, visit this link and complete the form.

——————–

Business: Knupper Nursery Landscape

Address: 1801 Rand Rd., Palatine

Website: www.knuppernursery.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Knuppers

Contact: (847) 359-1080

Submitted by: John and Sue Heaton, owners

When and how did your business get started? Knupper’s was started in the 1930’s by Richard and Lucile Knupper. John Heaton bought the business from the Knupper’s in the 1960’s, and he and his wife Sue have owned the business since then.

What is your business best known for? Knupper’s is known for its high quality plant material (including fresh Christmas trees!) and flowers, its landscaping services, and its knowledgeable staff. It’s known for its commitment to the village of Palatine and for hiring local people.

Does your business offer a special deals card or program? Knupper’s has a loyalty program called Knupper Bucks that gives customers 1 buck for each 10 dollars spent, year-round. Two times a year we have “Knupper Bucks Festivals” where customers can redeem their bucks for up to half the cost of any plant material.

What’s something interesting about your business your customers might not know? John’s dad was a gladiola farmer in Nebraska, and for a long time, Knupper’s had a winter business of wholesaling gladiola bulbs to over 500 Walmarts across the United States.

Why did you choose Palatine to open your business? Palatine was a great place for young families who were buying houses and needing flowers and landscaping for their yards.

Want Your Business Featured on Palatine Patch?

Walking into the Inner Arbor Trust’s presentation earlier this week on plans for Symphony Woods in downtown Columbia, Hickory Ridge resident Steve Sternheimer said he was a bit skeptical.

After a 90 minute presentation that revealed details of the park’s unique architectural and landscaping features, Sternheimer had changed his tune.

“I commend the group for laying to rest many of my doubts. Many of my questions have been answered, and the team should be applauded,” said Sternheimer to the Trust during the public input portion of the Nov. 2 event held at the Rouse Student Services building at Howard Community College.

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The presentation revealed details for phase one of the Inner Arbor plan adopted by the Columbia Association in February. Phase one focuses on 16-acres north of Merriweather Post Pavilion and proposes a guest services building called the Butterfly and made of glass and mirrors, an outdoor amphitheater called the Chrysalis and the Caterpillar, and an 800-foot long, 15-foot high tube dividing the concert venue and the park. The tube will have lights, irrigation and house plant life.

The larger master plan — “Merriweather Park” — is even more ambitious, calling for sweeping changes that would turn Merriweather and Symphony Woods into an integrated arts and culture park with multiple theaters, an arts village, restaurants, art galleries, a CA headquarters and ballroom venues.

While Sternheimer left the presentation feeling more confident about the project, he still had unanswered questions, mainly about maintenance and parking.

His response was typical of the nearly 20 people who spoke Monday; the majority praised the plan while simultaneously inquiring about logistics.

Overall, more than 100 people attended the presentation, including state and county public officials, and largely appeared to favor the plans. Rounds of applause and casual laughter flowed were throughout the presentation.

“I thought it was a great turnout,” said Michael McCall, president of the Inner Arbor Trust, which was created by CA to manage the development of Symphony Woods. “Hopefully, a lot of people have realized this is a great thing.”

Of the concerns, residents seemed most fixated on park maintenance, parking, funding and security.

“The questions were very understandable questions,” McCall said. “Those are very practical things that need to be sorted out. We just need to decide what it is we are trying to do before we figure out how to do those things.”

Parking was a particularly hot issue, as the plan currently does not call for any structured parking to be built for the development.

“I don’t see a drawing that shows where the people will park and how they will get to the facilities,” said Jervis Dorton, an Oakland Mills resident.

McCall said parking will be addressed at a later date, and that building a garage is “way beyond the pay scale of the Trust.

“We are not in this alone,” McCall said referring to Howard Hughes Corp., owner of Merriweather and the top developer and landowner in downtown Columbia. “Parking has got to be solved [downtown].There’s been a lot of energy put in already, and there’s going to be more put into it. It’s going to be solved.”

Another criticism of the plan was that it lacked a cohesive theme and focal point. Among the critics was Cy Paumier, a Columbia resident and retired urban planner. Paumier led a group of designers advocating for an alternative plan for the park, which was the lead concept before the Inner Arbor plan was adopted.

“I commend you for your creativity. … [but] there is no focal point at this park,” Paumier said. “There is no there there at this park.”

John Slater, a landscape architect based in downtown Columbia, expressed excitement “about the creativity displayed,” but said the pathway system “lacked structure.”

Slater, who also worked with Paumier on the previous plan also questioned how the Trust is going to finance the project.

According to McCall, the Trust, which is applying for 501(c)3 status with the Internal Revenue Service, hopes to fund the project through grants, donations and government funds.

: “That’s a crystal ball and a shell game,” Slater said. “I don’t understand how he’s going to do it.”

Still, the plan received high praise from many residents

“I am wowed by the ideas and the visions you have,” said Liz Henzey, Kings Contrivance resident and director of the Columbia Association’s Art Center.

Hickory Ridge resident Lee Andersen said she is “thrilled” about the project.

“My question is: ‘When can you start?’,” Andersen asked the Trust.

According to McCall, the first piece of the plan, the Chrysalis amphitheater, could be completed as early as 2015. The next step for the Trust is to submit site development plans to Howard County’s Department of Planning and Zoning, which the Trust plans to do by Jan. 28.

llavoie@tribune.com

    Councilor Robert Seeds convinced the Public Works Committee to assign Española’s youngest residents to fix the city’s welcome sign problems at a Nov. 13 meeting. Seeds wants city hall to take a backseat in efforts to increase the visibility of city welcome signs and assign the task to the children of the Española School District.

    Seeds presented his solution after the Committee held an expanded discussion in response to Councilor Cory Lewis’s complaints about the signs during last month’s Committee meeting. Lewis previously said the four signs were unappealing and hard to see. He reiterated his opinions at the Nov. 13 meeting, saying the ineffective signs were a waste of taxpayer money.

    Planning and Zoning Director Russell Naranjo went before the Committee and offered the options the city could take to improve the signs without having to scrap them completely.

    Naranjo said the metal seal featured on the signs could be removed and repurposed for other city structures like City Hall, the Municipal Court or the proposed softball fields on Industrial Park Road.

    Other options Naranjo submitted included painting the city seal a flat color to make it more legible and landscaping the area around the sign to draw attention to it.

    While each of these solutions had advantages, Naranjo said none of them would fully solve the signs’ issues.

    Naranjo said that any landscaping would have to comply with State Department of Transportation standards, which requires that roadside objects have the ability to break away if hit by a vehicle. He also said the signs were meant to be viewed at 35 miles per hour and with many drivers going faster than that when entering Española, painting and landscaping might not make a difference. 

    Naranjo said the four city seals cost Española $6,400 to purchase, in addition to the cost of the stucco signs and solar lighting — the price of which he could not recall.

    After Naranjo’s presentation, the Committee had difficulty coming up with a uniform solution for the signs, including the councilor who originated the complaints.

    Lewis said he had been approached by City Clerk Tessa Jo Mascareñas and Mayor Alice Lucero about forming a commission to address the welcome signs after his original complaints.

    Lewis said that he was opposed to getting a “monkey on my back” and just wanted to see something done. Lewis never specifically elaborated on what changes he would make to the sign.

    Seeds was the most persistent in his vision for the signs. He said the city should have the children from the Española School District draw up their ideas for a redesign.

    “I would love to give the project to our younger generation in one of the public schools and come up with some ideas and some drawings,” Seeds said. “And I bet they’ll come up with something really awesome for us.”

    Seeds didn’t outline the parameters of his proposal nor did he say whether he had talked with any District officials.

    After a persistent pitch from Seeds, the Committee agreed to publicize his plan at the next city council meeting, where it could receive more media coverage and attract the attention of teachers and administrators.

    Other items discussed at the Committee meeting:

    • The seemingly never-ending Pacheco Lane saga continued at the meeting. Interim city manager Joe Duran said there has been no progress since the city council passed a resolution Aug. 13 to pave the parts of the road for which the city has already obtained easements.

    Duran said the city will have to wait until the spring to pave the road, given the project won’t be completed before the hot mix plant closes for the winter.

    When asked why the city hasn’t graded the road yet, Duran said the city had tried on several occasions before some Pacheco Lane residents “ran them out.”

    Duran did not specify how residents prevented the city workers from grading, nor did he say when the city would try again to grade the road.

    • While one long-gestating project stayed in limbo, another moved forward. Councilor Pedro Valdez said he had secured signatures from owners Walter Gould and J.R. Trujillo for an easement on Monterey Lane.

    The 10-foot utility easement will allow the city to replace a leaky pipe that Duran previously estimated was costing the city $1,400 in repairs every time the pipe sprung a leak.

    The issue had been a point of contention for Seeds and Councilor Peggy Martinez, who argued that since it was a private street, the pipe should be repaired by Gould and Trujillo. The Council ultimately disagreed, passing a resolution to replace the pipe.

    • Twelve years after two vehicles were leased by the city to the Crisis Center of Northern New Mexico, the city is in the process of transferring the titles. The Committee voted unanimously to bring the issue in front of the full council at the next meeting.

    Duran said the city acted as a fiscal agent May 1, 2001 when purchasing a Ford Taurus station wagon and Chevrolet Astro Van. The lease was for 12 years and ended in May of this year, but Duran said the city wasn’t aware that the cars were still owned by the city until one of the cars received a ticket.

    Duran said the Center paid the lease, maintained the vehicles and held their own insurance. As of June 2013, the vehicles were insured by both the city and the Center. Duran said the city tried to receive a refund for the insurance but was denied.

The city of Washington will continue to explore saving a pier on the south end of the bridge adjacent to the riverfront trail.

Members of the Missouri Highway 47 Bridge Committee and the Washington Historic Preservation Commission (WHPC) met Tuesday morning to discuss possibilities for reusing the span or pieces of the current bridge that is scheduled to be replaced.

The idea, which also included benches and landscaping, was brought up by an engineer during the design phase for the new bridge.

Steve Strubberg of Horn Architect, who also is on the WHPC, presented a sketch of what the pier could look like if it were preserved. Strubberg, who told the committee that Horn Architect did gratis work for the firm that presented the original sketch, said the pier is north of the railroad tracks and south of the trail.

He was unsure if there would be anything that might prevent the pier from being saved.

The pier is an estimated half-mile down the trail, committee members said.

Positives to Saving

Strubberg said the pier would be an economical solution to maintenance, because it wouldn’t require the maintenance that a steel structure would.

Though some of the trail foliage has grown up blocking the view, Strubberg said the view is great and the pier is a “unique” art deco design.

The fact that the pier is already in place also was noted as a plus, as well as that could reduce demolition costs.

Strubberg also suggested using the pier as part of the “trail education process,” with the history of the bridge.

Nancy Wood, WHPC member, expressed concern about access to the pier.

Others said that while accessibility would be an issue, the pier could be a destination on senior trail day for those unable to walk to the pier.

Other Ideas

Discussion centered on saving the pier, but other ideas also were raised.

Tim Jones, a member of the historic preservation commission, brought up the possibility of putting a piece of the bridge over St. John’s Creek to St. John’s Island, which is in close proximity to the parks system and to downtown.

“When we lost that bridge, we lost a lot of potential for things that could be developed on that island if the city was able to acquire some of that land and maybe add it to the parks system,” Jones said.

Rick Hopp, who also is on the commission, said he didn’t think the property owners would be in favor of the proposal and that the owners farm that land.

Hopp asked if the bridge had to be removed.

Zick said the maintenance would be too much for the city and would be a liability.

Others suggested keeping the entrance of the bridge for reuse, but didn’t have ideas for reuse because of the size of the bridge.

Zick said that the beauty of the bridge is in its overall shape.

Others agreed that saving a single piece wouldn’t preserve the beauty of the bridge.

“No piece will look like anything without the rest (of the bridge),” said Bryan Bogue, WHPC member.

Next Steps

Members of the parks department will begin clearing brush and study the feasibility of saving the south pier before the January bridge committee meeting.

Darren Lamb, city economic development director, said the cost of saving any piece of the bridge would fall on the city or county and that MoDOT would not pay for movement or reconstruction.

The city must tell MoDOT its plans on saving any piece of the bridge by June 2014.

The concept of an urban landscaping social enterprise has won The Big Idea, a national social enterprise competition for universities.

La Trobe University team members Meera Dawson, Georgina Wheeler and Marni Chaskiel.

The team from La Trobe University beat nine other universities who took part in The Big Idea competition during semester two – run by social enterprise, The Big Issue magazine.

As part of the competition, students were asked to develop a business plan for a social enterprise that could deliver benefits to society in a similar way to existing social enterprises such as The Big Issue magazine.

The winning enterprise, a unique concept to start an urban landscaping social enterprise called Revegetate, proposed to sell quirky, living vertical walls to cafes, hotels and restaurants.

It would hire unemployed youth to help with the ongoing maintenance of the walls and provide the youth with an opportunity to undertake recognised training in horticulture.

“We want to congratulate the winning team and finalists, who all put enormous effort into their entries,” The Big Issue Enterprise and Community Engagement National Manager Sally Hines said.

“The La Trobe University team’s entry stood out for its innovative concept and faultless business plan, which went into great detail to research customer, market and target audience.”

The La Trobe University team members were Georgina Wheeler, Marni Chaskiel and Meera Dawson.

The team joined four other finalist teams from Swinburne University of Technology, the University of Queensland and Murdoch University at The Big Idea awards in Melbourne.

Other social enterprise ideas included a discount supermarket employing homeless and disadvantaged people and a mobile car washing company providing work opportunities and further training opportunities to people in need.

Finalists presented their work to a judging panel of business and industry leaders including Telstra Chief Financial Officer Andrew Penn, former Democrats leaders Natasha Stott Despoja and Cheryl Kernot and The Big Issue CEO Steven Persson.

The winning team received prizes including a work immersion day at The Big Issue, where they will have the opportunity to further develop their idea and investigate ways it could be implemented.

The Big Idea awards night was supported by Deakin University and Federation Square. For more information about The Big Idea visit www.thebigidea.org.au.

Pro Bono Australia Founder Karen Mahlab was a judge in the Victorian finals of the competition.

Holmes Beach officials have plans for improving the area at the intersection of Marina and Gulf drives, including the elimination of the merge/turn lane along Marina Drive northbound from Gulf Drive to the Island Library, 5701 Marina Drive, to improve safety and allow for landscape buffering. Islander Photo: Mark Young

There’s a good reason former Bradenton planner and development director Jerry West called the Holmes Beach city center committee an “exciting” group.

Of the many committees focusing on traffic, congestion and parking problems, the city center committee isn’t just looking at resolving existing problems, but also has a focus on enhancing the city for future needs.

The city center committee comprises volunteers with more than a century of engineering and architectural experience.

The ideas for what the city center — the surrounding area at Gulf and Marina drives — should look like have been forthcoming, but nothing can come to fruition until the storm drains start flowing.

West said no surface projects could be implemented until the city addresses drainage issues.

Building official Tom O’Brien said the city is seeking an engineering study and, based on his inspections, there is much to do in terms of locating stormwater pipes that aren’t identified correctly on city maps and cleaning out the known pipes.

O’Brien said one of the main drains responsible for carrying rainwater into the Mainsail marina basin is about 90 percent blocked. He also said some drain pipes are too low in the ground.

“At high tide, the tide will overflow where it’s plugged and seawater will go all the way to the city hall swale,” said O’Brien. “That’s why you have stinking water, because the seawater is just sitting in the plugged pipe.”

O’Brien said seawater is getting trapped in swales and it’s killing vegetation, adding to the odor issue.

Once the drainage situation is addressed, plans include shortening the merge/turn lane on Marina Drive from the intersection to the Island Library, 5701 Marina Drive.

On an island with little opportunity for expansion, committee members say the idea will accomplish two goals: improve safety and provide landscaping.

Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer said motorists use the lane to speed past other vehicles and jump back into the primary lane. The elimination of the lane would decrease the potential for accidents. It also would give the city added space for landscaping and a boardwalk along the marina where businesses on barges also are being proposed.

The atmosphere would be enhanced with old-fashioned gas street lights.

The ideas from the committee are to make the city center a walkable shopping destination for residents and visitors.

The plans include enhancing pedestrian and bicycle traffic flow in the area.

The committee suggested the use of portable planters to experiment with landscaping if and when the Marina Drive merge lane is eliminated.

O’Brien also suggested eliminating the driveway entrance on Gulf Drive into SS Plaza at Hurricane Hank’s.

O’Brien said an intersection is meant for public streets and it’s not meant to be a four-way intersection with one path being a private driveway.

“It doesn’t meet Florida Department of Transportation standards,” said O’Brien. “We’ll have to work with the property owners to come up with another plan.”

While city center ideas are being vetted in the public, committee members stress that they are simply brainstorming.

There was, however, a plan submitted by a group of merchants to create a roundabout at the intersection of Gulf and Marina drives, although the committee has not addressed it.

“There are no plans being submitted,” said O’Brien.

West said the city center committee is supposed to be bringing up the rear of what other committees are doing.

“We need them to be on board before we know where we are going, so I think we are moving faster than everyone else,” said West.

O’Brien said the city could move early with shutting down the Marina Drive merge lane, however, and will turn the idea of portable planters over to the city’s beautification committee for discussion.

Much of what the committee wants to do hinges on the successful completion of the Mainsail Lodge development site. The Mainsail site and the proposed city center projects are expected to work in conjunction with one another to enhance both projects.

In other matters, since the city center committee is ahead of other committees, and December is a busy holiday month, West proposed cancelling the Dec. 17 meeting.

The members agreed and scheduled the next meeting at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 21, at Holmes Beach City Hall, 5801 Marina Drive.

West said he would like to see more people join the committee to expand its creative potential. Anyone wishing to join the committee can contact West at 941-778-2268.

Along the lines of more participation, O’Brien said he would like the committee to consider the creation of a design competition for city center amenities.

Members agreed that would be a good idea moving forward and would discuss it at a later date.

If your yard is not the typical square or rectangle, do not panic. There are many ideas for landscaping your irregularly shaped yard!

Not every property comes with the typical square or rectangular yard. If you have one of these non-conforming areas, consider yourself lucky. You have the potential for adding much greater interest more easily than with those boring, typical yards. In landscaping, much effort is devoted to “flow.” This means the rounding off of corners and sharpness so that the yard feels comfortable and unified. In Feng Shui, sharp corners facing toward the passerby send bad “chi” or bad energy.

Backyard landscapes: Ideas for irregularly shaped yards

That being said, you still have many choices ahead. You may choose to enhance the existing shape of the yard or disguise it. There will be a discussion of various shapes and how to “go with the flow.” Alternately, there will be suggestions as to how to hide the real shape of your yard.

The first technique to remedy irregularity is to create a niche containing a focal point using any part of the yard that offers that type of space. Add a statue, a gazing ball, a water feature or some other decoration. The irregular area will look like a frame for the focal point.

The next way to treat an irregularly shaped yard is to make a secret garden. Picture that part that jags out oddly as a different space. Wall that area off with shrubbery or a fence with or without a gate. Leave an entrance that cannot be seen from earlier along the garden path. On the practical side, you can use such an area, screened from view, for storage, garbage cans, woodpiles or other utilitarian things.

Try rejecting the shape of the whole space and instead dividing it into “rooms.” Different rooms have different functions. One “room” might be the dining room and contain a picnic table or outdoor tables and chairs for dining. Add a barbeque or a bar. Another “room” could be the living room. Outdoor seating and loungers arranged into conversational groupings would go here. There would be side tables upon which to place beverages. “Rooms can be separated by a change in the type of walkway, a fence, trellis, or gate, shrubbery, or anything else that stops the eye and indicates change. You can make a “playroom” for sports. The idea is to divide and use each space for a different activity.

There are a few ways to disguise or accent the width or length of a yard without dividing it into rooms. To make an area look like a long vista, use a small focal point and small plantings in the distance. The small size makes things look farther away. Conversely, use larger plantings up close. Also, make the walkway fairly narrow and closely edged by shrubbery or other items at the beginning. Then make the walkway gradually wider and allow more space and openness around the path. To deemphasize a long view, use larger things in the distance and shorter things close up. Make the entry wide and open. Do not put a focal point at the back of the view, but, instead, place it closer to the entry. Build something into the middle of the walkway, like an island of plants, statuary, or whatever. The walkway can go either around one side or both sides, but the island will create a visual stop in the path so the eye does not see the long view beyond.

If your yard is roughly triangular, how it is treated depends upon the location of the entry to the yard. If you enter at a point in the triangle, you view a natural vista in that you are looking at an entire side of the triangle and viewing it from a narrow space. If you like that look, try the ideas to enhance it. If not, cut the far corners off into garden rooms. What is left is a much more manageable space that is much closer to a rectangle. If the entry is through a side of the triangle, you are facing a long, narrow point in the yard. You can divide off that back point into a room so that the yard appears more shallow. On the other hand, choose to enhance that long, narrow view with the techniques mentioned earlier. These techniques also apply to the long, narrow, rectangular yard.

An L-shaped yard is very easy to divide into rooms and begs for a secret garden. If you have an odd spot that juts out or in, you can use it for a focal point or a naturally defined garden room.

Decide what shape your yard is. Examine its different uses and think about rooms. Think about what you want to see: a long vista, or a cozy enclosed space. The choice is all yours!

Jon Christensen writes from Australia:

I lost the day after Thanksgiving, but not in the usual Black Friday pursuits. I took off Thursday evening from LAX bound for Melbourne, Australia, and landed Saturday afternoon in a strangely familiar landscape, though I’ve never set foot here before.

With sunny blue sky, grassy hills dotted with eucalyptus, and tree-lined, car-clotted city streets running down to the ocean, it feels a lot like Southern California. Although the Pacific is east of here, not west, in a geographic coincidence, St. Kilda, the neighborhood where we’re staying, faces Port Phillip Bay to the west, just as Venice does to Santa Monica Bay. And the nearby, rapidly gentrifying Prahran precinct could easily be the coolest neighborhood in LA on a hot Saturday night, with a few people even sporting Lakers gear.

Welcome to the “Homogenocene”–the rather worrisome title that some observers have given to our era of globalization, in which one increasingly finds a similar cosmopolitan mix of culture and nature wherever one travels in the world. As Buckaroo Banzai says: “Wherever you go, there you are.”

I’m here with my partner, Ursula Heise, for conferences and meetings at the University of Melbourne with colleagues in what we call the “environmental humanities,” a rapidly emerging global interdisciplinary field of study that brings together history, literature, philosophy, cultural anthropology and geography, art, media, and communications. Our concern is what the disciplines that study culture can contribute to understanding and improving our relationship with nature.

The environmental humanities take the Homogenocene as a subject to study, but you might also rightly conclude that the field is symptomatic of the era. In the Homogenocene local diversity–biological and cultural–is increasing in most places, even while the differences between places seem to be decreasing. Our global connections, while not new, are increasingly dense, and everywhere, nature and culture are inextricably entwined.

On the long flight over I was reminded of this again and again while reading my friend Jared Farmer’s enthralling new book Trees in Paradise: A California History.

Melbourne, it turns out, is an important node in the network of ideas and species that has connected Australia to California. The great nineteenth-century California eucalyptus promoter Elwood Cooper came by much of his knowledge about eucalypts through the U.S. consul general in Melbourne, who introduced Cooper to the work of the great Australian eucalyptus authority Ferdinand Jakob Heinrich von Mueller.

Actually, there was a two-way exchange of knowledge and seeds. Eucalypts traveled from Australia to California, Monterey pines came the other way. A “tree culture” was shared across the Pacific, writes Farmer: “These ‘improvers’ believed they could accomplish good works through tree culture, a nineteenth-century term for a body of practical knowledge that includes afforestation, horticulture, and landscaping.” They believed not only that the landscape could be improved–or even “emparadised,” to use an old-fashioned term–but that good citizens would also grow among the orange groves, underneath the palms, protected by towering, fragrant eucalyptus trees.

We’re skeptical of such ideas these days, and for good reason. This kind of “civic environmentalism” was often deeply racist and not subtle about it. It was white families this landscape was meant to create. This brand of environmentalism–propagated by Californian and Australian environmental reformers a century ago–has rightly been thrown on the trash heap of history.

But, perhaps, in this era of the multicultural Homogenocene, there is still something useful to be harvested from these “renovationists,” as Australian environmental historian Ian Tyrrell calls folks like Abbot Kinney, who succeeded Cooper as the leading eucalyptus expert and promoter in Southern California. As Farmer writes, “to renovate means to repair and also to improve.”

These days, we don’t like to think of improving nature much either. The idea is filled with hubris. It’s what gave us the LA Aqueduct, Hoover Dam, and the California State Water Project, all of which we feel ambivalent about at best. We’d rather try to return to nature. But there’s no pure nature or culture to go back to. So as we try to figure out how to repair the damage that has been done by the hybrid human and natural systems that we depend upon, and adapt to a rapidly changing climate, we better get good at renovating again.

And maybe now, in the early twenty-first century, in the thick of the Homogenocene that Cooper, Kinney and many, many others set in motion, Melbourne and Los Angeles can play an important role again in the global network of trade in ideas, and, yes, species too–but this time as vibrant cities where people from dozens of countries, speaking dozens of languages, are all contributing their own creative ideas to shaping nature and culture and new forms of civic environmentalism. Listening to them might be a good place to start.