Campbell’s Roots is a vibrant example of sustainable garden design and efficient irrigation techniques. By blending together the best practices of plant selection, native landscaping and soil amendment, this community resource helps to bring a balance of sustainability and beauty to the Santa Clara Valley. Guests are inspired by the resource-wise gardens featuring California’s native plants and oaks, sycamores and willows that require the least amount of watering while providing food for bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
Campbell’s Roots is a community resource that demonstrates sustainable garden design and efficient irrigation techniques. Visitors can be inspired by the water-wise gardens featuring plants adapted to our dry climate, which require minimal watering once established. Not only are these plants beautiful but they also provide food for local bees, butterflies and other pollinators. Drawing inspiration from the Ohlone tribes, Campbell’s Roots preserves the Santa Clara Valley’s oak trees, willow groves and sycamore woodlands, while promoting seed production and harvesting of acorns.
By embracing the native landscape and climate of California, California Native Plants Society helps to build a more sustainable future.
Assessing your garden, considering the shade cast by trees, hedges, and structures, and grouping plants based on their water and sun-exposure needs are all great ways to maximize efficiency. Additionally, understanding the soil composition in your garden and amending it as necessary provides the perfect balance of water-holding capacity, drainage, and fertility for healthy, thriving garden plants.
Incorporating hardscape areas such as patios, gravel pathways, and decks, in addition to replacing turf grass with more drought-tolerant plants, is a great way to maximize your garden’s beauty while conserving water. Drip and soaker irrigation systems can be used to deliver water slowly and deeply into the soil, making them an efficient method for watering perennials and shrubs. With careful planning and thoughtful design, you can create a beautiful garden that is both water-wise and sustainable!
Installing a rain barrel directly under a downspout is an effective way to reduce your water bill and limit storm water runoff. Bubbler attachments give spray sprinkler systems greater adaptability, and can be connected to the piping of any irrigation system, including soaker systems. To learn more about Water Wise Gardening, visit the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
Additionally, you can do your part in supporting pollinators by providing them with a flower-rich garden. California’s native plants depend on pollinators such as bees, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds for food, and their essential role in local crop production and healthy plants cannot be denied. By incorporating hardscape areas like patios, gravel pathways, and decks into your garden, and replacing turf grass with more drought-tolerant plants, you can create a beautiful and sustainable space that also conserves water – all while helping preserve pollinator habitats!
With an estimated 1,500 native bee species and 200 butterfly species, California is a great place to start.
Sustainable gardening is bothintrinsically rewarding and environmentally beneficial. By utilizing sustainable gardening practices such as efficient irrigation techniques, native plant selection, and careful assessment of location and soil composition, one can create powerful spaces harvesting essential resources in a felicitous partnership with natural events. Campbell’s Roots exemplifies this kind of commitment and provides a living reminder to those willing to work with their local landscapes. Choosing to practice sustainable garden design allows for the nurturing of our planet and the creation of awe-inspiring oases unseen before.
