Urban grit and natural beauty exist side by side in a community garden in LA’s Jordan Downs Housing projects. Go on an audio tour of this garden as part of Latino USA’s Radio Nature series.

RadioNature is a year-long series that looks at how people of color connect with nature. Funding comes from the REI Foundation.

Click here to download this week’s show.

To see an audio slideshow, click below. You can make it full-screen to see it better:

Tena Rubio is an award-winning radio journalist based in San Francisco and Los Angeles. She’s a frequent contributor to NPR’s Latino USA and is the former host & executive producer of the nationally-syndicated show Making Contact. A former TV news writer and producer, she is currently a member of the board of directors for the Association of Independents in Radio (AIR).

Blair Wells is a Los Angeles-based photographer whose journey with camera-in-hand began in 2002, using throw-away Kodaks to visually articulate his experience living in Central L.A. His love of documentary photography has led him to capture the face and heart of social issues, including projects featuring post-Katrina New Orleans day-workers, the everyday moments of a Santa Barbara homeless family and health issues of kids living near the Port of Los Angeles. Blair has also organized participatory photography projects involving the deaf community, as well as teenagers with autism. His projects have given participants an opportunity to express themselves in new and profound ways. Through it all, the human condition — the struggles and successes of everyday people — remains the single most compelling subject of his work.