Installation and Establishment of California Native or Waterwise Gardens

Choosing great plants and a great design are important, but that is only part of what you need to succeed with a landscape renovation.

Equally important is preparing your site, installing everything properly, and caring for your plants correctly during the critical “establishment” period. Join us for this workshop and learn how to set yourself up for success!

In this workshop we will cover:

• The steps to install a new landscape, and the order in which to take them on
• Preparing your site
• Basics of construction for simple paths and patios
• Irrigation installation, as it relates to project installation (for more details on irrigation systems, attend our other irrigation-focused workshops)
• Basics of “grading” (digging and moving soil) to capture water in features like dry stream beds (for more details, attend our “Rainwater Harvesting for Home Landscapes” workshop)
• Plant layout and installation
• Cleanup, mulching, and final installation details
• Garden “establishment”: how to care for and water plantings in their critical first years to transition them into their new homes and set them up to thrive.

Each participant will be able to select a native wildflower seed packet of their choice to take home.

After the workshop concludes, for those who wish to stay, we will be offering a raffle give-away of some of our favorite waterwise California native plants. We will also tell you a bit about each one, why it is one of our favorites, and the garden situations in which it is likely thrive.

After the workshop we will have a variety of our favorite native or waterwise plants for sale at our Waterwise Community Nursery, perfect for fall planting.

Our instructor for this workshop will be Scott Kleinrock, Conservation Programs Manager here at Chino Basin Water Conservation District and the Waterwise Community Center.

Scott has been working in horticulture for almost 20 years, focused on both the design and ongoing care of sustainable native or edible landscapes in Southern California at the residential and public garden scales. He has a master’s degree in landscape architecture for Cal Poly Pomona and was previously the Landscape Design and Planning Coordinator at the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens.

Host or Publisher Waterwise Community Center