If you’re looking for a lovely way to spend time with your mom, friends or family this Mother’s Day weekend, how about strolling through your choice of 20 gardens located in Marin and Sonoma?

That’s what Chad Singleton, the programs specialist for Sonoma Water, which manages the Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership, suggests. Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership’s popular eco-friendly garden tour returns next month. It’s free but advance registration is required.

This year’s gardens are in Corte Madera, Novato, San Anselmo, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol and Windsor.

The self-guided tour includes the personal gardens of local landscape designers, architects and garden enthusiasts, making it especially informative for anyone who wants to make their own gardens sustainable and water-efficient.

Besides the gardens themselves, there will be a plant and seed sale at Home Ground Habitats in Novato and the California Native Plant Society will present information tables and guided tours at various gardens.

“It’s one of the rare events where you can truly see and appreciate the incredible gardening community we have in Sonoma and Marin counties,” Singleton said. “This event brings together those who dedicate their careers and passions to plants and landscaping, offering opportunities to learn sustainable practices and connect with like-minded individuals.”

One of them is Merrily Labarthe, who started the transformation of her and her husband’s conventional San Anselmo garden by removing the lawn and some water-thirsty plants. She added in some native grasses and wildflowers, and kept some established shrubs for year-round foliage and privacy.

In 2022, she began working on the garden with designer Alison Blume of Blume and Dean Landscape Design to bring in a cohesive design.

“As a designer, I wanted to provide a beautiful walk through the garden with eye-catching pollinators landing on colorful flora,” Blume said. “The meandering pathway takes you to a private sitting area with more shade.”She also wanted the garden “to be a perfect place to sit with friends and family, surrounded by birdsong, fluttering wings and fragrant flora.”

Blume edited the existing garden by removing even more nonnative plants. She planted more California natives and drought-tolerant Mediterranean plants, and added a drip irrigation system that runs twice a week.

And Blume chose shade-loving columbine, hummingbird sage, coffeeberry, flowering currant and ferns for the garden.

“We loved the look of the giant chain fern with the tall Japanese lantern,” she said.

Fragrant yerba buena was chosen as the groundcover.

The garden’s sun-loving plants include pacific wax myrtle, Ceanothus ‘Dark Star,’ Howard McMinn manzanita and a native Roger’s Red Grape, with brilliant red fall foliage, that grows on the fence.

“We made sure to have the very fragrant Salvia clevelandii ‘Winnifred Gilman’ that reminds me of a busy train station with many visiting hummingbirds, butterflies and a variety of bees and birds,” she said. “We added more yarrow, sticky monkey-flower, native poppies and Lupinus albifrons var. douglasii.”

The pebbled pathway was bonded with EkoFlo, which keeps the pathway permeable, and the “Kryptonite” boulders, selected by Labarthe, were nestled into the garden beds.

A rain barrel, filled with water from the roof gutters, provides extra water during the dry times for the garden’s vegetable garden.

To get the most out of the tour, Singleton shares his top tips.

• “Plan your self-guided tour in advance by selecting the gardens you’d like to visit,” Singleton said. “We recommend choosing two to three gardens, depending on their locations.”

All gardens, with descriptions and photos, are displayed on the tour’s website.

• “Be sure to visit at least one garden hosting a special event,” Singleton said. “Many will feature educational tables, landscape designers offering personal tours, live demonstrations and even plant or seed giveaways.”

• “Don’t forget to bring a camera and a notepad,” Singleton said. “You’ll likely come across unique plants or design ideas you’d want to replicate at home, so capturing photos and jotting down notes can be incredibly helpful.”

Tour patrons might also choose to round out the day by enjoying a picnic in a local park or stopping for a meal along the way.

The tour is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 10. Register online at savingwaterpartnership.org/eco-friendly-garden-tour.

Show off

If you have a beautiful or interesting Marin garden or a newly designed Marin home, I’d love to know about it.

Please send an email describing either one (or both), what you love most about it and a photograph or two. I will post the best ones in upcoming columns. Your name will be published, and you must be over 18 years old and a Marin resident.

Don’t-miss event

• Swap your plants, cuttings, starts, bulbs, seeds, succulents and more at Fairfax Library’s free public plant swap from 2 to 4 p.m. April 26 at the library’s Community Room at 2097 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. in Fairfax. Call 415-453-8151 or go to marinlibrary.org.

PJ Bremier writes on home, garden, design and entertaining topics every Saturday. She may be contacted at P.O. Box 412, Kentfield 94914, or at pj@pjbremier.com.