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Landscape Guides & Resources

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Water wise gardening featuring CA Native plants
Water wise gardening featuring CA Native plants

If you want a more sustainable landscape, start here to learn about:

  • Landscape design guides, templates, and examples
  • Landscape professionals and nurseries
  • Lawn care tips and maintenance during droughts 
  • Irrigation tips and resources

Valley Water is seeking landscape designers for our upcoming assistance program, click here to learn more!

Landscape design guides & professionals:

Not sure where to start? Learn how to choose plants that require less water, and find nurseries and landscape professionals that can help. Get inspired by browsing examples of sustainable landscapes and find resources for design guides and templates.   

 

 

 

Water-wise plant information

What is a water-wise plant?

"A term used to describe water- and plant-management practice that emphasizes using plants that have lower supplemental water needs and grouping plants by water needs to encourage more efficient water use." - gardening magazine

See a list of water-plants best suited to the region.

Additional plant lists

Browse the websites below to explore what plants would be best for your project:

 

Find landscape professionals

Whether you’re starting a new landscape project or maintaining your existing landscape, this information will help you quickly and easily find landscape professionals in your area. Receive advice and resources on home horticulture, pest management, and sustainable landscape practices from Santa Clara County's UC Master Gardeners.

Landscape professionals with rebate experience

The lists below are intended to help you find companies familiar with Valley Water’s rebate programs with experience in landscape design, construction, and maintenance. This information is not intended to be an endorsement of any one company. 

Landscape professionals: If you wish to be added to or removed from this list or have general questions, contact Ashley Shannon at (408) 630-2951. Be prepared to verify that you have had three or more clients participate in the Landscape Rebate Program to be eligible to be added to the list.

Landscape professionals with sustainability background

This section provides a variety of landscape professional resources. They may not have experience with Valley Water's rebate programs, but do have experience in sustainable landscape practices or efficient irrigation techniques.

Nurseries

There are many nurseries in the Bay Area that carry a variety of water-efficient plants appropriate for our climate. These nurseries also have trained staff to help with your questions. Check out our list of local nurseries [PDF] to help you get started. 

Additionally, find EPA WaterSense-certified products and water-saving tools, tips, and more.

Sustainable landscape design guides & templates

Sustainable Landscape Guide
Sustainable Landscape Guidelines and Tips

View design guides and templates to create a sustainable landscape:  

  • The Sustainable Landscape Guidelines offers a watershed approach to landscaping with in depth tips on improving soil health, capturing rainwater, plant selection, and design inspirations for gardens in Santa Clara County. Now available in multiple languages:
  • Design templates of water-wise gardens from the South Bay Green Gardens Work Group. The group also provides resources for composting, rainwater harvesting (including rain barrels), stormwater pollution prevention, integrated pest management, climate-appropriate landscaping, and more.

  • Get free landscape design assistance with the Calscape Garden Planner.

  • Explore Calscape's Bay Area Garden Planner to assist you in designing your landscaping Projects.

  • Ready to remove your lawn? Apply for the rebate and once approved, start with this comprehensive guide to Sheet Mulching.

  • Looking to install beautiful, low-maintenance landscaping that won't burst your water budget? Get your project started with some ideas from San Jose Water Company.

Sustainable Landscape Guidelines and Tips
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Sustainable landscape guidelines and design resources

Examples & inspiration

See examples of sustainable landscapes and get inspired to create your own:  

Valley Water Irrigation Scheduler

Creating an accurate irrigation schedule can be difficult, but Valley Water has created a powerful irrigation scheduling tool to help take the guesswork out of how much your landscape should be irrigated.  This free tool, available to landscapes throughout California, will assist you in creating accurate, water-conserving irrigation schedules for either your conventional or smart controller.   

The Valley Water Irrigation Scheduler uses historical weather data based on your site location, along with landscape-specific inputs, such as plant type, irrigation equipment, and sun exposure, to calculate a custom irrigation schedule for your California landscape.  The Irrigation Scheduler can also accommodate drought watering restrictions, such as days per week watering limitations.  

Get started to create your custom irrigation schedule at Valleywaterscheduler.com!

We are Seeking Experienced Landscape Design Professionals

Valley Water is seeking experienced Landscape Designers and Architects for our Landscape Design Assistance Program. The Landscape Design Assistance program aims to engage professional landscape designers and architects with customers to help achieve low water, California-friendly, and climate-appropriate landscapes.  

To support customers with their lawn conversion rebate projects, Valley Water will reimburse customers $200 for a 1-2 hour design consultation with a professional Designer. While the consultation will not provide enough time for the designer to draw a detailed landscape plan, Designers are expected to discuss site conditions, and customer needs, and to develop general ideas for landscape layout and plant choices.   

For a full list of Landscape Designer Agreement Terms and Conditions click here.

To be considered for the Designer list, please complete the Landscape Design Assistance Designer Application

Designers are required to attend at least one Zoom informational meeting with Valley Water Staff to participate.  

 

 

 

 

 

Lawn care, gardening, pool and watering tips

Find tips for watering, caring for and maintaining your lawn, gardens, trees and pool, in particular during a drought or high temperatures. 

Lawn care tips

Lawns can be the single biggest water user for a typical property; a small lawn can use more than 18,000 gallons a year. That means lawns offer the greatest potential for water savings! Consider eliminating unused lawn and re-landscaping with permeable paving materials and plants appropriate for our local climate.

Maintaining and watering lawn during drought

During a drought or high temperatures, managing the water that you apply to your lawn is essential. Following some simple maintenance best practices can also help it survive the drought.

Tips include: 

  • Water less. Reduce the number of watering days per week and/or reduce the minutes of watering per day. The lawn won’t look its best, but it will survive.
     
  • "Cycle and soak” method.  Split your watering time into two cycles spaced about an hour apart to allow the water to soak in, reducing runoff and water waste.
     
  • Check your sprinkler heads. Repair broke, crooked or sunken heads and clogged nozzles. Adjust the spray pattern to prevent sprinklers from watering pavement.
     
  • Adjust mow height. Mow lawns 2½-to-3 inches high once a week. Taller grass blades promote deeper roots and will shade the soil, resulting in less evaporation.

Find more tips in our Drought Survival: Lawn Care Guide [PDF].

General lawn care tips

  • Lawn irrigation, fertilizer-use, and maintenance information from the California Water Efficient Partnership.
     
  • Thinking of artificial turf? Although artificial turf is appropriate for some properties and uses less water than natural turf, the district’s artificial turf information sheet may help encourage you to choose low water-using landscapes that can effectively promote biodiversity and help fight climate change instead.

Gardening tips

Easy Guides

Native plant and Master Gardeners

Tree care tips

These tips will help you maintain and care for new or existing trees and shrubs:

  • Drought tips. Find easy guidelines to follow and protect your trees during drought or high temperatures from Save Our Water.
  • Caring for trees. View quick tips for planting, watering, and pruning your trees from Our City Forest.
  • Best practices. See a thorough list of Best Practices from the City of San José.
  • Tree care resources. To learn steps to Save our Water and our Trees visit Canopy.
  • Planting trees can lower energy costs, improve mental and physical health, and provide a multitude of other environmental services and benefits!​ Learn more about the City of San Jose's Tree Rebate Program.

Pool care tips

How do I prevent evaporative water loss from my pool?

Evaporation from swimming pools contributes to water and energy waste. Evaporative water loss from uncovered pools can waste 12,000 to 31,000 gallons of water a year (EPA WaterSense). Using a pool cover can prevent up to 95 percent of pool water evaporation. Pool covers also keep debris from contaminating pool water and clogging filtration systems.  

 

How do I check for leaks in my pool?

Leaks in your pool’s structure or plumbing system can also be the source of significant water waste. Regularly check your pool for leaks to reduce the amount of water needed to refill on a regular basis. To determine if your pool has a leak,

  1. place a bucket on the top step of the pool,
  2. fill it with water to the water level of the pool.
  3. leave the bucket for 24 hours, and if after that time the water loss in the pool is greater than the water loss in the bucket, you likely have a leak.

Also, to prevent water loss, be sure not to overfill your pool and to regularly check the auto-fill valves to assure they are not stuck.

Learn about more water efficiency tips for your pool in the EPA WaterSense Pool Water Efficiency Guide.

 

Does Valley Water have restrictions on pools?

Restrictions on pools, including refiling, new construction, and pool covers are set by individual water retailers and/or cities and may vary throughout the county. As a water wholesaler, Valley Water does not have land use authority and cannot prohibit the construction of pools. The construction of a pool is permitted and approved by the local jurisdiction’s building and/or planning department(s). Additionally, the local water retailer has the authority to restrict the filling or refilling of swimming pools. Valley Water encourages replacing existing pools with low water use landscape by offering a rebate of $2/square foot through the Landscape Rebate Program.

To address the current drought conditions, Valley Water’s June 9, 2021 resolution (Resolution No. 21-68) declaring a water shortage emergency urges the County, cities, and water retailers to prohibit the use of potable water for the filling or refilling of swimming pools, among other water use prohibitions. Similarly, the regulatory agency overseeing private water retailers encourages comparable water use prohibitions; however, the decision to implement and enforce water use restrictions affecting pools lies with the local water retailer. 

 

How can I find out if there are pool restrictions in my City?

We recommend residents and businesses contact their individual water retailers for information about restrictions and/or guidelines on pool construction, filling, and maintenance. To find your retailer, visit www.valleywater.org/your-water/find-your-water-retailer.  While some municipalities have requirements already in place for new pools to install pool covers. If the drought worsens, most municipalities will move to restrict pool installation and fillings through their Water Shortage Contingency Plans.

Irrigation & sprinkler equipment

Visit our Sprinklers & Irrigation page to find easy-to-understand information about how residential sprinkler systems work, information on drip irrigation and other smart ways to reduce landscape water use, as well as loads of online resources. 

 

Landscape rebate program

Valley Water's landscape rebate program is designed to encourage residents and businesses to:

  • Convert approved high-water use landscape, such as lawns and pools, to low-water use landscape.
  • Retrofit existing irrigation equipment with approved high-efficiency irrigation equipment.

Rebate program details and how to apply

Questions

Call the Water Conservation Hotline at (408) 630-2554 or email [email protected].