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Beautiful Garden.
Hands-On Workshops.
Engaging Exhibits.

Inspiring Waterwise Practices at Home and in Our Community for a Sustainable Future

The Waterwise Community Center is free and open to the public throughout the year. Come and visit our lush Demonstration Garden, which showcases a variety of low-water gardening styles that thrive in Southern California. From California native plants and flowers to the more formal looks of the Mediterranean, we have you covered. With colorful and comfortable furniture scattered throughout, our garden is the perfect place to enjoy nature with the whole family—or even with just a cup of coffee and a good book. Bring Fido—we’re also dog friendly!

Attractions

Waterwise Demonstration Garden

Enjoy many unique climate styles appropriate for gardening in Southern California, including shady oak woodlands, colorful desert blooms, peaceful meadows, formal Mediterranean plantings, native chaparral, pollinator-friendly plants, and a bird and butterfly habitat. Our Demonstration Garden provides our community with the inspiration and information needed to help transition to waterwise and California native landscapes at home.

Kids love looking for the goldfish and mosquito fish in the garden’s pond. California native aquatic plants, such as seep monkey flowers, cattails, rushes, and sedges, grow in the water. Sit on the garden furniture nearby and enjoy the sound of the stream flowing under a bridge and into the pond.

Our Education Courtyard is designed just for kids! It includes a sensory garden with plants that are safe for kids to touch and interact with. Feel the fuzzy lamb’s ears and the rough skin of safe-to-touch succulents.

A xylophone and marimba are included in the Education Courtyard just for your little ones.

Don’t have a lot of space? Learn how to create a container garden to enjoy California native and waterwise plants in any space.

Park

Did you know that trees are an essential part of a waterwise garden? Over 20 species of trees adapted to thrive in Southern California’s climate grow in the park. If you are interested in picking out trees for your home, you can “shop” around the park to learn what they look like in various stages of life—or you could simply enjoy the shade.

Several oaks grow together to create deep shade, making for a cool space to enjoy on even the hottest day. The California native plant area includes fragrant sage, buckwheat, toyon, and redbud. 

A quarter-mile walking track winds around the turf area, through the oak woodlands, and into the California native plant area.

Outdoor exercise equipment is available in the park from sunup to sundown. 

Picnic tables are scattered under trees throughout the arboretum areas to provide shade at different times of day.

Lobby

Learn about regional history, California’s water system, and conservation tips, and visit a giant hamburger that demonstrates how much water it takes to grow our food. Find out more about all our programs and resources in the lobby.

Earn your badge!

CBWCD is excited to announce our new Waterwise Workbook for ages 8-12. This workbook is designed to teach students all about groundwater and water conservation through interactive activities that will be completed at the Water Wise Community Center.

Activities Include:

  • Scavenger hunt
  • Word search
  • Coloring pages and more!

Pickup your workbook from the Waterwise Community Center front desk! After it is completed and turned in, we will mail students their very own Waterwise Steward Badge!

Animals

What’s Sam up to today? Our 40-year-old sulcata tortoise has his own habitat filled with an oak tree, a pomegranate tree, and a bright-blue clapboard house. His species can live up to 140 years and grow up to 110 pounds. Sam loves bright colors such as yellow, orange, red, and green, and he moves faster than you’d think!

Mr. Magoo and Dr. Brown, two male California desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii), each enjoys his own habitat in the Colorful Desert section of the garden. The desert tortoise is the California state reptile and is native to the Mojave Desert. This is an excellent opportunity to observe these animals, as they are very hard to spot in the wild.

Bazzle arrived at the Waterwise Community Center in 2021. He is a 13-year-old tuxedo llama. His job is to protect the goats living in the Montclair Basin from predators. See if you can glimpse him grazing on grasses and other weeds. He enjoys sleeping in the shade, eating his nightly dessert of alfalfa, and greeting visitors by the north fence of the Wilderness Park. 

Ten Boer goats, a breed from South Africa, arrived at the Waterwise Community Center in 2021 to help eat weeds that grow in our percolation basin. Slopes present no challenge to the goats’ superior footwork and sense of balance, which makes them ideal for the job. Watch as the herd moves around the basin throughout the day, visiting their favorite foraging spots. 

We love dogs

Please always keep dogs on a leash for their protection and that of other dogs visiting our facility, and please do not allow them in the planted areas.

Many dog walkers enjoy our park and garden, but did you know that if you bring your pup into the lobby, you can get a dog treat at the front desk?
Dog-waste stations are scattered throughout the park, and dogs are welcome in the garden, too.

We have a water fountain in the Education Garden with a built-in fountain for dogs!

Explore Water-Conservation Gardening in Southern California

For those looking for inspiration or direction on their waterwise, California native, or drought-tolerant landscape projects, our Demonstration Garden was built with you in mind:

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