DETOURS: It may be greener on this side

ATLANTA GARDENERS have been matching wits with an environment that hasn't been in a particularly generous mood lately. Learn from their labors on this year's Gardens for Connoisseurs tour, which holds up for inspection eight local patches planted around sustainability and strict drought rules.

The fund-raiser for the Atlanta Botanical Garden includes private gardens throughout Atlanta that have discovered innovative ways to thrive, including one garden with a "green" roof, another with cisterns for irrigation and others that use rain barrels.

"Many have taken advantage of native plants that can be more drought-resistant than exotic ones," says Atlanta Botanical Garden spokesperson Danny Flanders. "Also, very few include lawns, which require so much water. Instead, they use ground covers which don't require lots of water or maintenance."