Plan a visit to our award-winning Water Conservation Garden
This summer, visit our award-winning Water Conservation Garden at 1211 John Counter Blvd. to see a variety of plants that require less water. Take a self-guided tour and learn how to save water, time and money by building a water-wise garden that ‘makes every rain drop count’. Water-wise gardening can prevent run-off pollution and flooding, even reducing carbon emissions.
Benefits of water-wise gardening
Many Kingston gardeners know that adding compost to gardens and grasscycling (leaving grass cuttings on the lawn) improves water retention and reduces demand for treated water. But choosing plants wisely can also help make your garden more self-sufficient and sustainable. You’ll also attract pollinators such as bees, butterflies and birds.
Did you know? Dense and healthy vegetation helps reduce carbon emissions. By creating small carbon sinks in your backyard, you can absorb and store greenhouse gases, which would otherwise be present within our atmosphere. Plants also create a cooling effect through shade and evapotranspiration (by which plants uptake water from the soil to use for growth and photosynthesis).
Visiting the garden is a free and easy way to see a variety of plants and landscaping techniques you can use in your own garden. Create a beautiful, low-maintenance outdoor space that relies more on what nature provides, and less on treated water.
Take a self-guided tour of the water conservation garden
While guided public tours are not being offered in 2023, you are invited to visit anytime during daylight hours (at 1211 John Counter Blvd.) and wander the over 30 garden areas at your own pace. Informative signs will introduce you to the variety of plants you will find there.
Visit our Water Conservation Garden page to find a great online resource for gardeners, picturing and listing over 100 plants that can be used in any water-wise garden. You’ll also find information to help you attract pollinators to your water-wise garden. Providing a habitat for pollinators is the first step in helping the declining species that are an important aspect of our gardens and local ecosystems.
More information:
- Make every raindrop count
- Sustainable and organic gardening
- Runoff pollution and how to prevent It
- Pollinator-friendly gardening
Questions can be addressed to conservation@utilitieskingston.com, or by calling customer service, Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 613-546-1181. Just ask to speak with ‘conservation’.