Water Used Beautifully

I'll have to admit, when Carolyn invited me (randomly, I might add) to visit a garden which had been written up in the local newspaper, I was less than thrilled. But the weather was beautiful, we had more than enough time on our hands, and it was our anniversary. What better reasons to stroll through a garden with your sweetheart.

The Water Efficient Landscape Garden located in Granite Bay just north of Folsom, is a demonstration garden sponsored by the San Juan Water District. I hadn't read the article in the paper so I really expected a cactus garden or xeriscape garden that was designed to use little or no water.

But I was delighted to see that it was water "efficiency" the designers were after, not the absence of water. In fact, one of the first features we saw was the "pond garden" which was very enticing as the temperature was in the mid 90's while we we visiting there.


The WEL Garden was actually a collage of nine gardens including a "deer resistent" garden, a rock garden, and a "turf substitute" garden. Many of them were designed so that you could import the plan right into your own back yard. The plant species and spacing requirements were all laid out in plans you could take home with you.

Another of my favorites which we saw on the way out featured a very tempting fountain.