If gardens are autobiography, Sarah Sarkissian has spent 13 years writing hers on Modjeska Canyon land in Orange County. High school teacher, water harvester and amateur botanist, she lives with husband Geoff on a Santiago Creek-hugging acre that includes a front garden that is 75% irrigation-free. The backyard is also carefully designed not to waste a drop of water, with plenty of California natives and other dry-habitat plants that bring beauty and tranquillity with minimal use of hose and not one sprinkler.

“The whole canyon is my garden,” she says.

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