Resource Central: Waterwise Yard Seminars & Eco-Landscaping
TL;DR: Learn to create a water-efficient yard through free online seminars covering design, plant selection, and irrigation techniques.
- Free seminars on water-wise landscaping design and practices.
- Focus on soil health, drought-tolerant plants, and efficient irrigation.
- Learn fire-resilient and pollinator-friendly garden methods.
- Transform lawns, integrate trees, and manage water in diverse climates.
- Presentations by experts with supporting downloadable resources.
Why it matters: Implementing water-wise practices can significantly reduce water consumption, lower utility bills, and create more resilient landscapes in the face of changing climates.
Do this next: Register for an upcoming Waterwise Yard Seminar to gain practical skills for a sustainable landscape.
Recommended for: Homeowners, landscape professionals, and community members seeking to create resilient, water-efficient outdoor spaces.
This resource page lists a season of free online seminars offered by Resource Central focused on low-water and climate-adapted landscape practices for homeowners, landscape professionals, and community members. The seminars cover an array of practical topics including low-water landscape design principles that prioritize soil improvement, plant selection, and efficient irrigation; identification and use of xeric (drought-tolerant) plants suited to regional microclimates; smart irrigation technologies and scheduling to reduce water waste; fire-resilient landscaping techniques that integrate defensible space with waterwise plantings; pollinator-friendly garden practices that support native bees, butterflies, and beneficial insects while minimizing water and chemical inputs; strategies for incorporating trees into waterwise landscapes to enhance shade, evapotranspiration balance, and stormwater capture; approaches to irrigating perennial gardens that reduce runoff and improve deep soil moisture; turf transformation methods that replace high-water lawns with low-water groundcovers, meadows, or permeable hardscapes; sustainable gardening practices for high-altitude and harsher climates where water conservation and soil building are critical; and composting and soil-health sessions that teach practical steps for building organic matter, increasing infiltration, and fostering beneficial soil biology. The 2025 season schedule—running from March through July—features presentations by local landscape experts, extension educators, and water-resource professionals delivered via Zoom, often accompanied by downloadable plant lists, design templates, irrigation calculators, and step-by-step how-to guides. The seminars are presented as accessible to a range of participants: homeowners seeking to reduce outdoor water bills, landscape contractors wanting regionally appropriate plant palettes, municipal staff planning water-wise public spaces, and community organizations aiming to increase urban resilience. Each seminar typically includes a short lecture, visual slides with planting and irrigation examples, a Q&A period for site-specific advice, and links to further reading or local rebate programs for water-efficient upgrades. The page emphasizes practical takeaways: observing existing site hydrology and microclimates, prioritizing soil improvement and mulch for moisture retention, grouping plants by water need (hydrozoning), choosing native and adapted species, leveraging passive water-harvesting techniques such as swales and rain gardens, and integrating low-flow irrigation hardware with controllers and soil-moisture sensors to avoid overwatering. Resource Central positions these seminars within a broader mission of conserving water in landscapes while maintaining ecological function and aesthetic value. The offering is free to participants, with recordings or slide decks often made available to registrants afterward, and the organization encourages participants to apply the concepts to transform high-water landscapes into resilient, biodiverse, and lower-maintenance yards.