On Saturday, May 4th 2019 from 10am to 1pm, Daily Acts partnered with the City of Petaluma and the Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership’s Eco Friendly Garden Tour to host an educational and inspirational guided tour of Resilient Homes throughout Petaluma.
The tour began at Betty Pagett’s Cottage Garden, which included raised beds, fruit trees, and water-wise native plants in her front yard, as well as raised beds and an example of a laundry-to-landscape greywater system in her back yard. From there, we visited “Kaila’s Garden” at Jeff and Judy Mazzeo’s home, where participants were able to see the potential for a sheet-mulched garden space. Jeff and Judy showed participants how their greywater system waters the fruit trees in their front yard, and how they use their extensive blue-barrel system in the backyard to hand-water their potted plants. Their garden included many native pollinator attracting plants, raised beds for growing vegetables, and permeable pathways to allow water to infiltrate the soil. The third home we visited was Elly Lichenstein’s English Garden, which had features including raised beds, a transformed lawn, water-wise native plants, and drip irrigation. Elly installed the entire garden by herself after her husband passed away, and inspired tour participants to take action and start small to make changes in their own gardens. Our final destination was at Jan and Emily Jirout’s garden, where participants were able to observe a vibrant and food-providing habitat with pollinator attracting plants fed by drip irrigation and a laundry-to-landscape greywater feature that waters their apple trees.
