By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

In Monday's Wall Street Journal I read about a love-it-or-hate-it surfer statue recently installed near the beach at Cardiff-By-The-Sea, California. But what caught my eye wasn't the statue, it was the group that put it there: the Cardiff Botanical Society (CBS).

Who on earth are they, I wondered? It turns out that they're a small, relatively young community beautification group—maybe 20 members—that's doing a project you should definitely see. Using pro bono landscape design from M.A.C. Design and Development and lots of volunteer labor by people like Linda Lee (who is current CBS chair), the group has built what Lee claims is "the only 100 percent organic, waterwise floral park in the United States."

Constructed without power equipment on leased land, 8-acre Carpentier Parkway is about a quarter developed, with low-volume irrigation watering big drifts of drought-tolerant plants that would work just as well in most private gardens. A meandering crushed granite path leads you through permanent plants like pride of Madiera (Echium candicans), palms, agaves, aloes, ice plant, native grasses, and hop bush (Dodonaea). And in spring, the park is hip-deep in wildflowers. There are even sculptures for you to admire in the park, and you can check out the controversial "Magic Carpet Ride" surfer statue across the railroad tracks at the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Chesterfield Drive.

To get to Cardiff-By-The-Sea (a community within Encinitas), take I-5 exit 40 (Birmingham Drive) west to San Elijo Avenue, then go left two blocks to Aberdeen Drive and park. Enter Carpentier Parkway from there.