Virtual WaterWise Landscape Tour Week 1: Dan & Candy Zechmeister
While Dan and Candy Zechmeister have lived in their Plano home since 1988, a driving tour of England inspired their love of flowers and the WaterWise evolution of their landscape. The welcoming front yard features both sun and shade plants while their shady backyard oasis includes a pool and drip irrigation for all of their container plants. One side yard holds a shady fern collection while the other side yard celebrates sun-loving but shade-tolerant native plants.
Virtual WaterWise Landscape Tour Week 2: Ben & Tonya Durkin
Ben and Tonya Durkin transformed their yard into a no-mow joy! Their beautiful, sustainable landscape is full of sunshine, vibrant colors and plants that taste great. After they arrived from Portland several years ago, they fell in love with a home near the Chisholm Trail. That love is evident in their DIY yard, which features found and homemade art pieces with a curated collection of hardy plants and hardscape textures. Plus, technology helps them reduce food waste and water wisely.
Virtual WaterWise Landscape Tour Week 3: Victoria Stansell
Originally inspired by Live Green in Plano's Landscape for Life class series, this Collin County Master Gardener put her training to use and built a breathtaking paradise for pollinators. Wander from the shaded front yard through the gate and along the flower-studded east side yard to discover a vibrant pool and pergola retreat. With a copious collection of over 100 varieties of WaterWise plants, you’re sure to find a perennial worthy of including in your own butterfly-friendly yard makeover. Learn how fall soil preparation helps Victoria provide the ideal environment for all of her plants and nature friends to thrive. Featured on the 2019 live WaterWise Landscape Tour, we just couldn’t get enough of this stunning landscape.
Virtual WaterWise Landscape Tour Week 4: Michelle Masucci
Miniature spaces can most certainly be magical, and Michelle Masucci’s yard is both (and WaterWise)! This native Texan has enjoyed being in the garden since she was a little girl, so she knows her Texas-tough plants. She also has a knack for artistic container design and functional creative reuse. This self-proclaimed “Rescue Plant Mom” also adores vegetable gardening, and pollinators are thrilled. Her integrated edible and flower garden is their delicious one-stop shop. Michelle’s yard may be small, but it sure packs a punch. We know you’ll enjoy and benefit from this gem of a tour, with its tasty treats and tame turtles – yes, that’s right!
Masucci Yard Plant List coming soon.
About the Virtual WaterWise Landscape Tour
Live Green in Plano is excited to bring you its first ever Virtual WaterWise Landscape Tour. This year’s special edition is intended to protect public health and share beautiful, sustainable plants and practices with our community.
Each week during October, check out a new video tour of a WaterWise yard along with exclusive content like plant lists and interactive opportunities. We’ve partnered with real Plano residents just like you to share their WaterWise yards and stories. You’ll hear their challenges, successes and words of wisdom. Whether your yard is sunny, shady or somewhere in between, our video tours and exclusive content will help you meet your own sustainable landscaping goals.
Stay tuned to Live Green in Plano’s Facebook page and to this webpage to join in the virtual fun. We look forward to “seeing” you on the Virtual WaterWise Landscape Tour!
We’re always on the lookout for beautiful, sustainable yards to showcase. Want to nominate a yard to be considered for the WaterWise Landscape Tour? Contact Katie Masucci at katiem@plano.gov.
Any yard that incorporates water-saving features is a contender. These could include native and adapted plants, reduced turf areas, pollinator gardens, inviting patios, rainwater harvesting, efficient irrigation and more.
Resources
We’ve compiled a variety of helpful resources to help grow your knowledge about Texas SmartScape® principles and plants:
