West Jordan Conservation Garden Park

These are demonstration gardens aimed at encouraging residents to plant in a way that uses less water. There are videos and classes to help with designing a landscape from scratch and with updating an established yard to be more water wise. They also maintain a database of 1000 plants that grow well in Utah. 

Entrance is free and there is a receptionist who can answer questions. In our case, she just let us out into the garden area. We took off to the left and meandered through the gardens that need the least maintenance first.  

There is a side by side demonstration showing what the usual Utah backyard looks like, which is grass only. 

Next to this yard is a minimum maintenance yard that could be constructed in the same amount of space. Truthfully, I don't find this very attractive--too much concrete. It would be hot in the summer. 

Nearby, there is a shaded area with a large patio which uses pavers to outline a giant chess game. That would be low maintenance and fun! It would be tolerably cool most of the year with a good shade structure over it. 

The next section is devoted to low water plants and then it segues into an explanation of the CUP--the Central Utah Water Project. 

There is another segue into an area of ground covers and soil types. 

Next up is a display of different kinds of grasses showing the water and maintenance needs of each type. 

The buckets let you look at different kinds of soil and then the path leads into types of ground covers including wood chips, rock, etc. Check out the blue marble glass!

A long walkway leads ino the section on ways to make shade in your garden. You can look at the flooring choices and the overhead structures. 

The next section of the garden could be right out of the pages of House Beautiful. They really like vines that climb over the structures. Trumpet vine is a favorite everywhere. Not many flowers this time of year but we managed to find a pretty pink one. 

There is an outdoor seating area that can be rented for events.

The last section is a demonstration of crops that grow well in Utah gardens. Dogs on leashes are allowed. There are handicapped accessible bathrooms in the main building and on the path. All in all, this is a great place to go for a walk and learn something along the way.

Woodstock Meadows

The only reason we know about this park is that we lived in this neighborhood 16 years ago. The park is secluded. We didn't realize it was there for the first few years. 

It was dedicated in 1996. It's 9.47 acres. It is roughly divided into three areas. It has a large natural area devoted to large native trees, a swampy area that you can cross on a boardwalk and an area with grass. There is a walking path of .38 miles looping through the natural area. There is no pond here. 

One day, I mentioned to a neighbor that I saw a lot of geese and ducks in our neighborhood. She said they were flying to the Turner Pond. What pond? If she hadn't told me how to find it, it would have remained a mystery. It's totally surrounded by houses and can't be seen from the street. You can see it on the map. It was once the pond for a farmhouse. It's a very coveted place to live even though the houses are old and mostly unattractive.

The accessible walkway to the park is at the end of the parking lot. 

The boardwalk is in poor shape so it's a little bumpy. The grass was at its highest so we couldn't see much of the water. 

After the boardwalk ends there is a natural area of trees. I heard birds but I couldn't tell what they were. 

After the natural area, you can cross over a little bridge to the playground, pavilion and restrooms. 

The restrooms are handicapped accessible. They are open from dawn to dusk in the spring/summer/fall season. They appear to be locked all the time but you just need to push on the door to get in. 

We enjoyed this little park when we lived here. We felt like we were out in the country and could see the land as it looked before it was built up.