Her Yard’s Not a Garden-Variety Water Waster

Maybe Mary went to a lot of trouble to grow her garden with silver bells and cockleshells and pretty maids all in a row. But Sylvia Williams does it with very little effort--and very little water.

That’s how Williams, 73, won Camarillo’s first Water-Wise Garden Competition.

“She had a wide variety of plants, trees, shrubs, vines and ground cover,” said Tony Kack, a water conservation technician with the Camarillo Water Division. “Almost all of it was low-water using, there was a wide variety of color and it was a pleasing design.”

Five professional landscapers judged the drought-tolerant gardens and assigned points for a variety of criteria, most of which focused on variation in plant height, textures and colors, estimated water consumption, focal point and balance.

Over the last few years, water officials have sponsored poster contests through Camarillo schools to increase conservation awareness.

But with interest waning, they thought they should try something new, Kack said.

“We wanted to make people aware that it’s not a bad idea to put in plants that are more suited to this area,” Kack said. “You can have a very nice-looking garden without using a lot of water. A lot of plants from the Mediterranean, Australia and Southern Africa put on spectacular blooms and are low water users.”

Or you can put in cactuses and succulents like Williams did when she started her garden more than 18 years ago.

“It was during the year of water conservation in 1979 and we were through raising children, so we weren’t going to raise a lawn without children,” Williams said.

She now has more than 100 plants of several dozen varieties.

And where did they all come from?

“Well, someone’s garden always needs pruning,” Williams said.

Gardening is a pleasure for Williams because “the plants don’t talk back and you don’t have to clean up after them.”

As for the $100 gift certificate to a local nursery, Williams plans to spend it wisely.

“You can buy a lot of fertilizer for $100, and that’s about all I need right at the moment,” she said. “The only other plant I’ve really wanted is a xylosma--a little shrub that has real pretty apple-green leaves.”

And, of course, it’s drought-tolerant.