Sustainable Garden Tour 2025

Cancelled due to weather. 

Directions and instructions will be issued to all those that registered for the tour.

If you have registered, please check your email (including Junk Mail) for instructions on starting location for the tour with a map of all locations. If you have received a map and instructions on starting location, please follow that guidance. If you have not received that email, you may start the tour at the ReWild Garden at Dodge, 58 Harbor Road, Port Washington, where you can pick up a map and receive specific information on how to proceed.

Click here to look back at the 2024 Sustainable Garden Tour

Join the Port Washington Water District and ReWild Long Island for our Fourth Annual Tour

As part of our “Do It For Port” water conservation campaign, we invite you to join us for a show and tell of beautiful, low water, earth-friendly landscapes around Port Washington.

Feast your senses on bio-diverse and sustainable gardens that feature pollinator and bird-friendly native plants, strategies to reduce lawn footprint, composting, organic fruits and vegetables, smart sprinklers and more.

Pick up ideas for your garden. You too can have a great-looking garden that uses less water and fewer chemicals while saving time and

We are grateful for the homeowners and organizations sharing their properties and practices. 

***If inclement weather, please look for an e-mail from PWWD with instructions***

All guests will receive a welcome gift.

Registration

Note: Spots are limited. If for some reason you register and cannot attend, please e-mail info@pwwd.org so we can give your spot to someone else. Thank you.

Garden Tour Stops and Descriptions:

GARDEN: Kate Walz (local horticulturist)
FEATURE: “Best of Both Worlds” …Designing with Natives & Beneficial Non-Native Plants

  • Integrating more native plants to live alongside beneficial non-native plants
  • A mixed garden that benefits nature and humans alike
  • Native perennials, grasses and shrubs
  • Smart irrigation
  • Composting
  • Sunny garden, shady garden and a slope garden
  • Stunning, low-maintenance, earth-friendly – A Must See!

Quote from the host:
“Our property had great bones when we moved in 15 years ago. As a horticulturist, I couldn’t wait to expand the garden and fill every space with plants that shine in all four seasons. I love mixing native plants with beneficial non-natives, because I believe there’s room for both in a vibrant, ever-changing garden.”

GARDEN: ReWild Garden at Dodge
FEATURE: Center of Learning

  • Native plantings
  • Organic vegetables fed by compost
  • Herbal plant wheel honoring contributions of native people and native plants in preserving biodiversity
  • Various aesthetic concepts that center around native plants
  • Bird- and pollinator-friendly
  • An ever-changing layout that shows growth and flexibility

Quote from the host:
“Our vision for the ReWild Garden at Dodge was to create a community space where the residents of Port Washington can learn about the historic and environmental importance of native plants while also understanding their role in sustainable landscaping today.”

GARDEN: Peggy Maslow
FEATURE: How to Attract Birds to Your Garden

  • Sun and shade flowering plants for all seasons
  • Predominantly native plants
  • Habitat and food for birds and pollinators
  • Low water garden with water reuse
  • No pesticides
  • Composting and Bokashi

Quote from the host:
“As a long-time member of North Shore Audubon, I try to look at my garden with the eyes of a bird. Birds can’t resist a pretty yard with plenty of delicious native seeds and caterpillars, as well as places to hide and forage.”

GARDEN: Joanne Strongin
FEATURE: Landscaping that Barely Needs Water

  • Native plants in the front, side and back yards
  • A goal of “two thirds for the birds”
  • Small but mighty garden beds, filled with pollinator champions
  • Thyme and Phlox path instead of grass and hardscape
  • Two rain barrels for rainwater harvesting, one compost pile
  • In the process of creating native garden space in the hellstrip

Quote from the host:
“Since we’ve become ReWilders we’re much more connected to our outdoor space. As soon as the first sprouts appear in April we are out in the yard, planting, weeding, mulching, rearranging…all while watching the birds, bees and butterflies visit our tiny homegrown national park!”

GARDEN: Jillian Dresser
FEATURE: A Budding Food Forest to Benefit Insects, Wildlife, and Ourselves

  • Native plants, trees and edible plantings such as wild strawberries and high bush blueberries
  • Raised beds for vegetables and herbs
  • Pollinator-friendly, sustainable and productive
  • Composting
  • Pesticide-free

Quote from the host:
“Since we’ve been planting over 4-5 years — and much of it from seed — our garden is in various stages of growth. Some of our natives are well established, and others are younger. It’s a transitional space that used to be mostly conventional landscaping and invasive plants that we’re trying to turn into a pollinator-friendly, sustainable, and productive ecosystem.”

GARDEN: Pat Higgins
FEATURE: A Thriving Garden with Minimal Grass

  • Use of trees as natural posts for climbing plants
  • Pollinator- and bird-friendly
  • Organic vegetable garden in place of grass
  • Native plantings
  • Leaving the Leaves
  • Composting

Quote from the host:
“I began adding perennial native plants to my flower beds about four years ago, when I joined Rewild Long Island. Since then, I’ve replaced large sections of my lawn with native wildflowers, herbs, and organic vegetable crops. My yard has become wonderfully alive with butterflies, bumblebees, and honeybees, and more species of birds than had ever visited before! It’s truly magical. And I feel great about the small but vital contribution I am making to help restore our environment.”

GARDEN: Kim and John Keiserman
FEATURE: Integrating Natives into an Existing Formal Garden

  • Integrating more native plants and moving away from non-native ornamentals and turf
  • Native grass, plantings and shrubs
  • Smart use of plantings to fill in empty space
  • Smart irrigation
  • Organic fruits and vegetables
  • Composting

Quote from the host:
“Our property was already landscaped in a traditional, ornamental manner when we moved in. We didn’t want to remove all of that to start from scratch, but instead have had real success integrating natives into this garden.  We’ve made good progress so far and, over time, we are hoping to ‘upgrade’ to more and more natives.” 

GARDEN: Francesca and Brendan Zahner
FEATURE: If You Build It…Pollinator Desert to Pollinator Pathway

  • Biological solutions like mosquito buckets instead of pesticides or organic sprays
  • Leaving leaves for habitat and natural mulch
  • Compost bins for food scraps
  • Lawn conversion
  • Learning to work with varied soil and light combinations

Quote from the host:
“Behind the non-native privet and expansive Japanese Cherry Blossom, a native garden transformation has begun. It started with 50 plugs —teeny plants with robust roots— in the fall of 2022 over a mulched 10’x12’ lawn area plus a few larger plants in existing garden beds. Starting spring of 2023, the plants began to emerge and what followed was a revelation. Bees needed these flowers and found them. Soon there were more and different birds (including a hummingbird!) than I had ever seen and this phenomenon has only increased. I transformed three other beds and added additional plants in both fall 2023 and 2024. We have seen fireflies emerge from leaf beds and are privy now to more fledglings as birds choose to nest here. Each season I look forward to seeing what the garden brings and how I can add to the natural ecosystem I am helping to create. It has been a truly rewarding experience and I am grateful to have found this ReWild community.”

GARDEN: Kim and John Keiserman as Co-Presidents of Baxter’s Pond Foundation
FEATURE: Native Plantings in a Public Space

  • Results of multiyear process to remove non-native plants and replace with natives
  • Meadow in place of lawn
  • Incorporating plantings with natural water features
  • Pollinator- and bird-friendly

Quote from the host:
“For years, the Baxter’s Pond Foundation has worked with Nassau County to bring more native plants into the Barbara Johnson Park surrounding Baxter’s Pond.  This year, BPF has undertaken its biggest native planting project to date, removing a variety of invasives, refreshing our ornamental gardens with flowering natives, and installing a native grass meadow along Central Drive.”