The Port Washington Water District and ReWild Long Island recently hosted their second annual Sustainable Garden Tour, a show and tell of sustainable gardening practices used by residents around the community.

The PWWD and ReWild are proud to say that the event was a tremendous success, with over 100 attendees moving throughout the seven locations, six of which were the homes of Port Washington residents just like them whose gardens represent different ways in which native plants can promote water conservation, sustainability, biodiversity and more.

“Last year’s Sustainable Garden Tour was a wonderful event, and we are so proud to say that our 2023 tour grew to grander heights,” said PWWD Commissioner Mindy Germain. “Water usage nearly triples during the summer in Port Washington, and sustainable gardening practices help our community save water by beautifying their homes with water-efficient landscapes. We hope our residents were inspired by the gardens they visited and look forward to seeing more of them spring up throughout our neighborhood.”

Each garden on the tour represented a different theme within the sustainable gardening umbrella.

On display were gardens that featured bird and pollinator-friendly native plants, strategies to reduce your lawn footprint, composting, organic fruits and vegetables, smart sprinklers and many others. The tour served as one of the high points of the PWWD’s Do It For Port! water conservation campaign, which aims to help inspire residents of the Port Washington community to protect their water source and educate them on the ways in which they can do so.

“Each sustainably landscaped home is unique and wonderful – our tour hosts are creative and passionate about protecting pollinators, watering wisely, and using their yard as a source of health and biodiversity,” said Raju Rajan, president of the Board at ReWild Long Island. “To see so many people show an interest in our Sustainable Garden Tour both last year and this year was fantastic. Our guests were impressed at how much could be done with a small yard and a little effort. Many are inspired to try out new ideas in their homes, and some even want to become host gardens on the tour in coming years!”

Do It For Port! campaign events such as the Sustainable Garden Tour yielded major results by the end of 2022. Last summer was one of the hottest and driest on record, with only seven inches of rain hitting the Port Washington area from June until September.

However, when compared to all four of the similarly dry summers since 2010, PWWD residents saved an average of 45.5 million gallons of water. This shows that the residents of the Port Washington Peninsula are truly passionate about the preservation of their environment, something that is crucial given the threats posed by climate change and the potential of saltwater intrusion.

Learn more:

• ReWild Long Island: rewildlongisland.org
  • Contact Raju Rajan, raju@rewildlongisland.org
• Port Washington Water District: pwwd.org
  • Contact: Mindy Germain, mgermain@pwwd.org