Evaluating Standard and Modern Maintenance Systems

All gardens will be evaluated by the public first ("American Idol"-style), who can see and vote online at from June 1 to July 1. Finalists will then be chosen by a panel of judges. Find contest details, guidelines and application details at . 1. Find out about the plants you currently have.

Pacific Green Landscape Maintenance

Group plants according to water needs. California-friendly plants can include and are not limited to ornamental lawns, bulbs, shrubs, natives, succulents and most plants from Mediterranean climates worldwide. Let a creative design, and not always the plants, take center stage.

The judges will be looking for 3 inches at least. Set up a weather-based timer that senses the wetness level in your soil and the air and combines the information with understanding of your landscape to water only when your plants require it.

Pacific Green Landscape Maintenance

Find out to read your landscape, look at the soil and plants and consider the environment before you flip the water switch on. Make sure a single drop never ever hits your driveway or the rain gutter. Look into permeable hardscape products such as pavers and gravel that filter water before it drips into the watershed.

Go natural. Offer drier landscapes a good track record by keeping your landscape pinched and pruned to excellence. Low water does not indicate low maintenance.