Russian River-Friendly Landscaping

Russian River-Friendly Landscaping Resources

Learn more about each principle and past events

Free, Easy-to-Permit Landscape Design Templates for the Fire Rebuild

The Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership has developed eight scalable landscape design templates for the fire rebuild. These free, front yard designs are scalable to fit landscaped areas up to 2,500 square feet, ready-to-permit, and in compliance with local Water Efficient Landscape Ordinances.

Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership - Landscape Design Templates

Sonoma Ecology Center - Fire Smart, Water Wise, and Wildlife Friendly Re-Imagine Your Landscape

Click Here to Apply

Upcoming environmentally-friendly landscaping events and trainings around the watershed:

As the coronavirus continues to spread, event organizers have recently been canceling, postponing public gatherings, or moving to online platforms. Please visit this page often to stay up to-date on any upcoming environmentally friendly events and workshops around the watershed during the year.

Tuesday, April 11th - ‘Set your garden up for success’ webinar

Apr 11, 2023 06:00 PM

Calling all gardeners! In this webinar, Suzanne will discuss the benefits of building a healthy garden from the ground up. She will review how to build your soil’s health, plant selection, how to water, best fertilizers for feeding, pruning tips and healthy garden maintenance practices to reduce spring pest problems. This class is ideal for beginner & intermediate gardeners.

Register here

Saturday, April 22, 2023 - Santa Rosa Water: Programming Your Irrigation Controller – Earth Day 2023 Event!

1:00 PM PDT – 3:00 PM PDT

Do you have an irrigation system at your home? Do you know how to program your controller to match site and weather conditions?

By programming your irrigation controller to match your landscape water needs, you can save water and money while improving the health of your plants! Join Daily Acts and Santa Rosa Water staff at the Sustainable Education Garden during Earth Day 2023 for a free hands-on workshop where you will learn the basic steps to program a controller, and how to use the various features.

In honor of Earth Day, each attendee will receive a free low water use plant!

Participants will also learn about additional tools and resources including weather-based controllers and weekly WaterSmart Yard recommendations that make seasonal controller programming easy and effective!

Join us to learn about:

The basic functions of an irrigation controller
How to program your controller to match the water needs of your landscape
Tools and resources to help simplify the process

Click here to register

Tuesday, June 6th, 2023 - Santa Rosa Water: Water-wise Gardens and Landscapes

5:30 PM PDT – 7:00 PM PDT

Wouldn’t it be grand if you could have a colorful, healthy landscape even in the midst of a historic drought? Good news — you can! By replacing high-water-use plants with low water use plants that are native to California or regions with similar climates, you can save thousands of gallons of water each year. Aside from lowering your water bill and helping reduce the impacts of drought, low-water-use gardens and landscapes also have many ecological benefits; plus, they’re beautiful!

Join this FREE program to learn about:

How replacing your lawn and other high-water-use plants can reduce your water bill
Native and adaptive plants that can thrive with less water, and their many benefits
How to get money for transforming your lawn to a water-wise landscape through Santa Rosa Water’s Cash for Grass rebate program

Click here to register

More to come!

In addition to the above upcoming webinars, the folks at Daily Acts and the City of Santa Rosa have curated a range of their past webinars. Full recordings are available for you to watch at your convenience.

Daily Acts:

City of Santa Rosa

Landscapes That Protect Our Waterways

Russian River-Friendly Landscaping is a whole systems approach to design, construction, and maintenance of the landscape which supports the integrity of one of California’s richest and most diverse ecosystems: the Russian River watershed! Create and maintain healthy, beautiful, and vibrant landscapes with the following principals:

Landscape Locally
Landscape for Less to the Landfill
Nurture the Soil
Conserve Water
Conserve Energy
Protect Water and Air Quality
Conserve and Protect Wildlife Habitat

View the Russian River-Friendly Landscape Guidelines (RRFLG) Policy for Demonstration Landscape Signage here.

River-Friendly Practices for the Landscape Professional

The Russian River-Friendly Landscape Guidelines is a comprehensive toolbox of principles and practices for landscape professionals in the Russian River watershed. Download the PDF by clicking on the image to the right.

The Guidelines were created for landscape professionals in the Russian River region by RRWA in 2010 with permission and assistance from StopWaste.org in Alameda County. The Guidelines are a Russian River version of the Bay-Friendly Landscape Guidelines, originally published by StopWaste.org in 2003.

Qualified Landscape Professionals

At this time, the Russian River-Friendly Landscape Guidelines program does not offer a certification for professionals in the Russian River watershed. However, Bay-Friendly Qualified Professionals who conduct business within the Russian River Watershed may list themselves as Russian River-Friendly Qualified. View past Russian River-Friendly Landscaping trainings in the RRFLG Resource Library by clicking the link at the top of the page.