Cost Comparison—Garden/Garden Project

The City of Santa Monica sponsored the landscaping of two adjacent front yards—one with California native and drought-tolerant plants, the other with a lawn and exotic plants from the East Coast. They then compared the cost difference in terms of money, water, and yard waste. The native garden is the clear winner!

	Native Garden	Traditional Garden
Construction Cost	$16,700	$12,400
Annual Water Use	14,300 gallons	76,700 gallons
Annual Water Charges	$14	$74
Maintenance Requirement	Monthly	Weekly
Annual Maintenance Charges	$800	$3,000

IEUA’s Cost Comparison:
We added the annual maintenance charges to the original construction costs to show the total amount of money these homeowners could be spending two, five, and ten years down the road.
Construction + (annual maintenance X number of years) = Total cost of the garden over time