Okanagan Xeriscape Association celebrating its 15th anniversary

Photo: Judie Steeves

Colourful bloom requiring a low amount of water is featured at the UnH2O Garden, the Okanagan Xeriscape Demonstration Garden in Kelowna.

It all began with a spark between two people.

Then, it grew from a seed planted in the fall of 2008. Xeriscape specialist Gwen Steele gave a presentation on xeriscape and introduced the concept of Gardening with Nature and the idea impassioned a new landscape architect in the audience, Lisa Masini.

The pair continued the discussion after the lecture and the Okanagan Xeriscape Association sprouted.

In collaboration with the Okanagan Basin Water Board—formed in 1970 with a mandate to identify and resolve critical water issues in the basin and its effort to educate people about the importance of conserving water in the arid Okanagan—the OXA was nurtured and put down roots, incorporating in 2009.

Founded by the pair, an OXA board of like-minded volunteers determined one of their first tasks should be to demonstrate what xeriscape meant, by creating a Xeriscape Demonstration Garden in front of the H2O Aquatic Centre on Gordon Drive in Kelowna, with the cooperation of the City of Kelowna, which owns the property. They dubbed it the UnH2O Garden.

Grants were obtained from the OBWB and from the federal Ministry of the Environment to help build the garden to promote xeriscape and educate people about ways to reduce the amount of water used on outdoor spaces, while creating beauty there.

The UnH2O Garden illustrates the beauty of xeriscape throughout the seasons with brightly-blooming annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees, which support a wide variety of birds and pollinators. Originally 4,000 square feet, the garden expanded in 2021 to add 1,200 square feet aimed at demonstrating drought-tolerant alternatives to traditional, thirsty cedar hedging, along with other xeriscape-friendly trees and shrubs.

On Sept. 30, 2010, the UnH2O Garden was officially opened with much fanfare and publicity.

In those first years, Gwen conducted regular classes on xeriscape and worked on the creation of OXA’s extensive plant database and informative website. (okanaganxeriscape.org)

Regular xeriscape classes are still held, as are professional development workshops for the landscape industry.

This year is the 15th anniversary of the formation of OXA and next year will be the 15th anniversary of the opening of the first Xeriscape demonstration garden. In the intervening years, OXA volunteers have continued maintaining and even expanding the garden and opened a new demonstration garden called the West Kelowna Xeriscape Spirit Square Garden in 2022 in the Westbank Centre Park at 2569 May Street.

That garden features a variety of xeric plant choices which are largely different from the original garden in Kelowna. They must also be deer-resistant.

Meanwhile, there are now more than 25,000 visits annually to the OXA website and plant database and OXA membership now tops 350 enthusiastic volunteers. Two sales of drought-tolerant xeriscape plants are held annually and the word “xeriscape” is today much more generally understood than it was 15 years ago.

Plant sale coming up

The third annual fall plant sale of xeriscape perennials will be held at the UnH2O Garden on Gordon Drive in Kelowna on Sept. 21 from 10 a.m. to noon. Support OXA and plant new perennials in time for them to get settled in before winter so they will put on a show next year.

OXA’s annual general meeting will follow the plant sale in the garden, with guest speaker Gwen Steele talking about OXA’s history.

The Okanagan Xeriscape Association is grateful for the ongoing financial support of the Okanagan Basin Water Board and is proud to be collaborating on the Make Water Work campaign.

Sigrie Kendrick is a master gardener and executive-director of the non-profit Okanagan Xeriscape Association.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.