This demonstration garden was created by the City of Monterey Park to demonstrate multiple different styles of landscaping that are drought tolerant. It has signs to explain each section of the park. It also features two bioswales. It was inaugurated June 2, 2017.
The place
The Demonstration Garden is a 1.12-acre public park on Orange Avenue between Metro Drive and Tegner Drive. The site had been used as a public park since the mid-1990s before being renovated through a partnership between the City of Monterey Park and the San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District.
The renovated garden was inaugurated on June 2, 2017, as a water-wise and internationally themed landscape intended to provide ideas that residents could adapt to their own properties.
What to see
The official City page identifies Asian, California native, Modern Mediterranean, and Spanish garden sections, along with water-wise irrigation methods.
The legacy gallery documents explanatory signs, two bioswales, a California native section, olive trees, purple sage, deer grass, Jerusalem sage, red hesperaloe, prickly pear cactus, blue chalk sticks, primrose, and other drought-tolerant plants.
Native plants
One section of the garden is dedicated to California native plants. The legacy gallery documents purple sage and deer grass among the plants used in the demonstration.
Garden design
The garden is divided into clearly signed landscape styles so visitors can compare Asian, California native, Modern Mediterranean, and Spanish approaches.
Two bioswales and water-wise irrigation methods demonstrate how runoff and irrigation can be handled within a drought-conscious landscape.
Home garden takeaways
The garden was designed to help residents identify drought-tolerant plants, irrigation methods, and landscape styles that may be applicable to their own properties.
A view of the garden from the corner. It's a long, narrow park so this only captures a small part of it.
Before you go
The garden is on Orange Avenue between Metro Drive and Tegner Drive. The legacy directory uses 720 Metro Drive as the visitor address.
The City lists benches and landscaped areas among the facility features.
