Valley-Wise Gardening

The UC Davis Arboretum is committed to practicing, promoting, and teaching about Valley-wise gardening—sustainable horticulture for California’s Central Valley.

Traditional methods of yard care use lots of water, contaminate streams and rivers with pesticide runoff, and contribute to air pollution with emissions from power equipment. Arboretum visitors can learn about more environmentally-friendly alternatives such as Mediterranean-style garden design, water-saving irrigation systems, mulching, companion plantings, biological pest control, and other sustainable practices that reduce the use of water, energy, and chemical inputs and support native pollinators, birds, and beneficial insects.

Choosing the right plants for a Valley-wise garden is the first step. The Arboretum horticulture staff have identified 100 Arboretum All-Stars—tough, reliable, easy-to-grow plants for the Central Valley. Arboretum All-Stars are available at Arboretum plant sales and will be available through many local retailers starting in spring 2009.

To learn more about Valley-wise gardening, check out our reference library with articles on Central Valley gardening, visit some of our favorite gardening websites, or take a guided tour. You can also listen to our new cell phone tour.