Would you like to learn to protect our precious water resources while creating lush gardens using native plants that attract birds and butterflies? Using water flowing from your roof, driveway, or lawn, rain gardens take full advantage of our natural rainfall rather than wasting it as runoff. On Saturday, June 21, along with past Garden Club of the Back Bay speaker Dori Smith, you will tour a beautiful twenty-acre, 24-home cohousing community in a rural setting (Acton – directions will be provided upon registration,) where a varied, mostly native plant landscape has been in place for 17 years. You’ll explore site features that include rain garden terraces, rain barrels, retention basins, swales, and durable, no-water, organic lawns. You will also learn about rainwater design options and construction methods and discuss strategies for solving runoff problems such as erosion, icy walkways, or wet basements. The New England Wild Flower Society course costs $26 for NEWFS members, $32 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.newfs.org/learn/catalog/hdt1030. Photo of rain garden (not the property to be visited) from www.landarcs.com.