Chino, CA – Chino Basin Water Conservation District unveiled its new Inland Valley Garden Planner website at an evening garden party in the Water Conservation Garden on May 11. The new garden planning website helps Inland Empire gardeners select and learn about the best plants for the region to create the “have-it-all” garden they want.

Through stunning photos and an easy-to-navigate site, the Inland Valley Garden Planner offers free and detailed, regionally-specific information for gardeners in the Inland Empire area. Users can create their own profiles, save project lists, and easily save and print information on their selected or custom plant palettes, choosing from a curated list of over 350 plants that thrive in the Inland Empire.

“The Inland Empire’s Mediterranean climate gives us so many incredible options for our gardens,” said Scott Kleinrock, CBWCD’s Conservation Programs Manager. “We truly can have it all in our outdoor spaces, with color, comfort, wonderful scents, and habitat for birds and pollinators, year-round, and without needing to water much, if we choose the right plants and put them in the right places.”

New visitors to the site who create free accounts before June 30 will be entered into a raffle for a chance to win a family membership to Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden or gift certificates to the Grow Native Nursery.

The site also provides cohesive pre-designed plant palettes and helpful lists for common conditions including slopes and small spaces.

“We can have so much more than gravel and cactus or lawns that really don’t do much for us,” Kleinrock said.

Developed by landscape architect and author Robert Perry for CBWCD, the Inland Valley Garden Planner reflects his decades of research into the best landscape plants for our region and uses his extensive and inspiring photo archive.

“We constantly get questions from community members who want to save water in their landscapes while having beautiful, livable outdoor spaces to enjoy with their family and friends,” says Becky Rittenburg, CBWCD Community Programs Manager. “We launched the Inland Valley Garden Planner to provide Inland Empire homeowners with a free resource to help achieve their garden goals.”

CBWCD works to sustain the regional water supply through public stewardship, stormwater percolation, demonstration, and education. Stop by the Water Conservation Center and demonstration garden in Montclair and see firsthand how beautiful, functional, and beneficial water conservation can be. The center is free and open to the public Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.