Amid the drought, green is the new green

Experts say drought-tolerant gardens don’t need to be barren.|

Even amid a historic dry spell, brown doesn’t have to be the new green, according to Sonoma County Master Gardener Suzanne Clarke, who has planted many colorful, drought-tolerant plants in her Petaluma garden.

“If you look at my garden, I’ve got all sorts of plants that attract caterpillars, butterflies, birds and bees,” said Clarke, who replaced the lawn at her Fifth Street home with native, low-water-use plants last year. “You can have a beautiful garden that’s low water-use. It can be done. It’s about having the right plants in the right place.”

Residents, who may not have a clue about how to convert a thirsty lawn into a sustainable landscape that is attractive and water-wise, or who lack a green thumb, can find free help. The Sonoma County Master Gardeners and the Sonoma County Water Agency have teamed up to create Garden Sense, a program that provides free consultations to residents interested in replacing water-hungry landscapes with water-wise gardens.

“What we do is go to people’s houses and help them free of charge to convert their lawn into low-water-use plants,” said Clarke, who is a coordinator for the program in Petaluma. “We can draw them a plan and give them information on sheet-mulching and also provide information on how to choose the right plants for the right spot.”

The Sonoma County Master Gardeners are part of the national Master Gardeners that, in California, consist of volunteers who are trained and certified by professors with the University of California system. The volunteers come from all walks of life, but they each share a passion for gardening.

Clarke became a Master Gardener while living in Maryland, and then joined the Sonoma County group after moving to Petaluma a few years ago.

“We receive 100 hours of training,” she said of the Master Gardeners. “We learn about plant and soil biology - permaculture is the main thing. The idea with permaculture is that you are working with nature to make gardens grow healthy and easily. In fact, it’s much easier to grow organically than it is to grow with chemicals.”

All the volunteers in the training program agree to donate 50 hours of their time during their first year to the Master Gardeners. This involves giving talks at libraries and answering questions at farmers markets and fairs. After their first year in the program, volunteers donate 20 hours of their time each year.

For the Garden Sense program, Sonoma County Master Gardeners complete additional hours of training in the areas of water management, irrigation systems, site assessment, low-water-use plants and sustainable gardening practices. This advanced training is led by the Sonoma County Water Agency.

“We have a group of about six on the Petaluma Garden Sense team,” said Clarke. “The Sonoma County Water Agency up in Santa Rosa trains us on how to set up drip irrigation, water management and how to detect leaks. We also learn to identify more plants, learn about low-water-use plants and learn about what plants grow best in different places.”

Residents interested in a drought-friendly landscape and who want to remove their lawns can sign up for a free consultation on the Sonoma County Master Gardeners website.

“The first thing we do is check for water leaks in their current irrigation system,” said Clarke. “Once any leaks are taken care of, we can move on finding out more about what they would like to do. It’s important to note that we don’t do any repairs or physical work ourselves. We’re only there to advise.”

From there, Garden Sense volunteers provide guidance to residents on lawn removal, sheet-mulching, converting to drip irrigation, planning their new landscape and selecting low-water-use plants that will thrive in their particular location. The Garden Sense program does not do consultations for vegetable gardens.

In just over a year since the program started, the Sonoma County Master Gardeners have advised more than 500 residents throughout the county.

“Garden Sense just won a first-place award from the national Master Gardeners organization for the Garden Sense Program,” said Clarke. “It’s a great program and we do it all for free. We just want people to know that brown is not the new green. You can have a beautiful water-wise garden.”

(Contact Yovanna Bieberich at yovanna.bieberich@arguscourier.com. On Twitter at Yovanna_Argus.)

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