Eco-Friendly Garden Tour Focuses on California Natives and Urban Gardens

The annual Eco-Friendly Garden Tour (Tour) will take place on Saturday May 5^th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Now in its eighth year, the Tour is sponsored by the Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership (Partnership) and focuses on low water-use sustainable landscaping. Tour participants will learn water-saving strategies and garden tips from homeowners while perusing 18 gorgeous gardens throughout Sonoma and Marin counties. The 2018 tour includes gardens in Santa Rosa, Sonoma Valley, Petaluma, Novato, San Rafael, and San Anselmo.

The Partnership invites tour participants to meet in the morning at the new Sustainable Education Garden located at Santa Rosa City Hall. The day will begin with an irrigation controller programming workshop and a tour of the garden before participants disperse to enjoy the rest of the tour. Free parking and a hydration station will be available at City Hall, located close to the amenities of downtown Santa Rosa. The Sustainable Education Garden has been transformed into a beautiful and functional demonstration garden and community gathering area designed using holistic water-use efficiency and storm water best management practices. 

The California Native Plant Society (CNPS) Milo Baker Chapter will be presenting five California native gardens in Santa Rosa. Each of the gardens will have California native plant experts on hand to provide information to visitors. Several of the gardens will include additional activities such as native plant talks, demonstrations, and a native plant sale at the Laguna Environmental Center. The Laguna Environmental Center will also feature a Residential Landscape Design Display featuring the forthcoming landscape design templates for the fire rebuild as well designs by the Habitat Corridor Project and the Master Gardeners of Sonoma County based on small residential properties owned by the Santa Rosa Junior College.

Marin Municipal Water District will be presenting four gardens in San Rafael and San Anselmo. One of the gardens is the wonderful Falkirk Estate, which will feature a presentation at 11 a.m. by Tom Bressan from The Urban Farmer Store called Making Every Drop Count: Tips and Techniques for Landscape Watering. The presentation will include a comprehensive look at how the many decisions we make in our landscape affect our water consumption, from the plants we choose and the watering systems we install, to how we adjust our watering schedules and the possibilities of using rainwater and graywater.

The tour is hosted by the Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership, a group of 10 water utilities in Sonoma and Marin counties that have joined together to provide a regional approach to water-use efficiency. The utilities are the cities of Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Petaluma, Sonoma, Cotati; North Marin, Valley of the Moon and Marin Municipal Water Districts, Town of Windsor and Sonoma County Water Agency. 

The tour is free, but registration is required at: www.savingwaterpartnership.org/eco-friendly-garden-tour.

For more information about the tour and descriptions of the gardens visit www.savingwaterpartnership.org or contact Chad Singleton at Chad.Singleton@scwa.ca.gov, or call (707) 547-1923.