Mother Nature was obviously in favor of the Elk Grove Greener Garden Tour and Festival that took place on April 15. After a stormy week of rain worked to replenish the gardens on the tour, the weekend started, and the clouds parted. The community came out to enjoy the sun and learn about river-friendly and sustainable landscaping. An estimated 500 people made their way to the Elk Grove Community Garden and McConnell Park (across the street) to take park in many informative workshops, and visit with the local vendors and organizations. The mission: making homes and gardens beautiful, fun and sustainable. The crowd at the event consisted of Elk Grove locals as well as people visiting from all over Sacramento County. Many of the festival attendees left with a tour map in hand heading out on a self-guided driving tour to visit 15 Elk Grove homes with sustainable landscapes. What exactly did these people take away from the event?
Well, I’ll let them tell you…
“This was a delightful experience. We particularly loved the tour and how thoughtfully planned it was. The flyers and numbered plants made it particularly informative.”
“Took plenty of pictures and with the information on the sheets, we are well on our way to developing a more drought tolerant landscape.”
“Great venue for the public. Very nice and helpful vendors.”
“Made me feel certain that this is the way to landscape! We need to be more conscious of saving fresh water and landscape with our climate and environment in mind.”
“I am better informed and excited to continue work in our garden design. It was a visual feast as well as very informational.”
The connection that our front yards and gardening practices have with surrounding land and creeks may not be easily recognized. With events like this we hope to spread awareness. Awareness that each little positive change you make in your yard could: save a bit more water, keep that much more pesticides and fertilizers out of our creeks, act as a place of refuge for a lovely butterfly, and keep Elk Grove a beautifully diverse healthy place to live.
The LCWC had a table at the event. We passed out literature on river friendly landscaping and alternatives to pesticides. We had an AntPro ant bait trap (www.kmantpro.com) on the table and a bottle of sweet boric acid solution (1%) that is used in the trap. These traps are being promoted by UCDavis Integrated Pest Management Program as a good alternative to spraying toxic pesticide to deal with ant problems. Four LCWC Board members staffed the table….and did we stay busy. Many came over to speak with one of our members, Eric, who is a landscape contractor. There were so many interested people that we have decided to team up with others to host a green gardens landscaping information day in May (more info soon). Eric will be offering free advice on creek friendly landscaping if you bring along the dimension of your landscaping project and pictures.
Don’t forget, next Tuesday, May 1st at 10 am will be the dedication ceremony for Elk Grove’s new Rain Garden Plaza. Get details here.
Had a great time on our bikes visiting our nobhgiers and enjoying their gardens! Started out with a great breakfast at The Egg Carton in the Foster pod. Thanks everyone for a great day.