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In a six-week green blitz, the North Naples yard at 7059 Trail Blvd. in northwest Pine Ridge shed its winter-drought dead grass to become a lawn fringed with trees, shrubs and flowers that look fresh and inviting.

The real victory is that this new landscaping is expected to muscle through the next winter drought as gracefully as it’s handling the rain this summer.

Its creator, the South Florida Water Management District, titled the project the "X-treme Yard Makeover," and it was more than good looks. This locally owned yard is a showcase of what is new in turf that doesn’t wolf down fertilizer, requiring not half as much as most Florida lawn grasses. It has paving that doesn’t grow weeds but does absorb, through a double stone foundation, rain runoff back into the groundwater table where it’s needed. Its irrigation system is a state-of-the-art one that tests the ground moisture and the prevailing wind so it doesn’t waste a drop of water when it’s not needed.

A lot of work from the Collier County University of Florida Extension Service and the donations from a host of landscape materials companies or distributors created a model for all of us to cruise by and get ideas from. And while the afternoon rains are keeping our gardens well watered now, we’ll want to take advantage of the expertise we’re seeing for the coming desert months.

The district, along with the University of Southern Florida, is working on a video so we can do just that, either online or presented at homeowner association meetings. It’s the right way to extend and expand a great idea. Keep watching for it on the organization’s Web site, www.sfwmd.gov

No one is saying that we don’t have to invest some time and money to make these changes. They are, however, saying that we can look charming, be kind to our Gulf and be friendly to our pocketbooks at the same time. To those of us who thrill to having green around us all year, this is an even greater thrill.