Water Wise garden sprouts in the west end
Drought-tolerant Water Wise gardens uses plants that consume less water
There will be little less grass cutting and lots of water saving going on at a home on Kawartha Heights Boulevard in the city’s west end.
On Thursday, homeowners Sara and Jeff Mormul, and their two daughters Finley and Quinlan, were joined by volunteer neighbours and Peterborough GreenUp employees to install a new front yard garden.
The 75-square-metre garden replaced their lawn with plants that can withstand hot, dry weather, thus relying on less water to flourish.
The Water Wise, drought-tolerant garden was installed as part of Green Up’s mission to have neighbourhoods in Peterborough use less water.
“Part of the reason we are doing these sorts of projects…is to demonstrate to people in the neighbourhood and the wider community what sorts of things can be done to make their homes and wider neighbourhood more sustainable,” said Hayley Goodchild, program co-ordinator of the Sustainable Urban Neighbourhoods program through Green-Up.
It all comes down to the types of plants used, she said. The Mormul garden features a variety of hearty plants such as feather reed grass, yucca, hens and chicks, creeping juniper and sweet woodruff for ground cover.
“We had a yard that the grass kept dying on us so we decided to explore doing a more sustainable garden,” said Sara, of her reasons for installing a Water Wise garden. “And it’s better for the environment as well.”
She learned about the GreenUp Water Wise garden project and signed up.
GreenUp covers the cost of the garden including all materials like mulch, compost and plants. The only catch is the homeowner must maintain the garden for a set number of years, find volunteers to help on planting day and allow GreenUp to show it off for promotional purposes.
Sara says some of her neighbours have already agreed to have a similar garden installed on their property, including her in-laws which live close by.
A few properties have been lined up in the west end including garden projects at Kawartha Heights and James Strath public schools in the city’s west end, Goodchild said.
“Part of the funding between now and the end of 2019 is to support a certain number of gardens and tree planting projects in both of our neighbourhoods in Kawartha Heights and East City Curtis Creek,” Goodchild said.
“We did a wave of gardens in the spring in East City Curtis Creek. This is our first private residential garden in Kawartha Heights. In the spring, at the corner of Brealey and Sherbrooke, we put in a pollinator strip on a commercial property.”
There are many benefits to having a Water Wise garden, she said, with the obvious being less water consumption. However, she adds there are other benefits as well.
“Beyond the tangible obvious reasons like having a more sustainable property that’s lower maintenance, I think it’s a really good opportunity to take on a leadership role in working toward making our backyards more sustainable,” Goodchild said.
NOTE: If interested in the Green-Up Sustainable Urban Neighbourhoods program visit www.greenup.on.ca/program /sun/