Effective Practices of Regional Landscape Management

All gardens will be evaluated by the public first ("American Idol"-style), who can see and vote online at from June 1 to July 1. Learn about the plants you currently have.

Pacific Green Landscape Maintenance

Group plants according to water requirements. California-friendly plants can include and are not restricted to ornamental yards, bulbs, shrubs, locals, succulents and most plants from Mediterranean climates worldwide. Let an imaginative design, and not always the plants, take center stage.

The judges will be looking for 3 inches at least. Install a weather-based timer that senses the moisture level in your soil and the air and combines the details with knowledge of your landscape to water only when your plants need it.

Pacific Green Landscape Maintenance

Learn to read your landscape, look at the soil and plants and think about the environment before you flip the water switch on. Make sure a single drop never hits your driveway or the seamless gutter. Look into permeable hardscape products such as pavers and gravel that filter water before it trickles into the watershed.

Go natural. Offer drier landscapes an excellent track record by keeping your landscape pinched and pruned to excellence. Low water doesn't suggest low maintenance.