Welcome!
This beautiful low-water use garden is dedicated and named after its creator Patti Bonawitz. Patti was SAWPA’s Clerk of the Board from September 2001 to May 2014. Patti dedicated hours to the design of the garden and helped get donated plants, pipes, and decorations. The garden was completed in June 2009, as an educational tool and model. Our goal was to showcase how beautiful a drought-tolerant garden could be and the importance to landscape appropriately for where you live. Because if you do, you’ll enjoy the benefits of: low maintenance, low water usage, and minimal pest control management.
Our garden features five sections: “California Natives”; “Creative Comforts”; “Now You’re Cookin’”; “Brown Thumb”; and the “SARI Living Desert.” Each showcases appropriate landscaping suited to our climate. Also, each section features specific irrigation to use every precious water drop wisely.
A “water wise” garden has many benefits that any homeowner will enjoy: reduced water and maintenance costs; no runoff; and is attractive and functional. The California Friendly® Garden links us to our past, but also offers a path to our future by landscaping appropriately for where we live.
For more information about sustainable landscaping, see the SoCal Yard Transformation Guide, produced by Western Municipal Water District through the OWOW Program.
