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Here, in drought season, fairgoers can see water conservation and reuse techniques, like dry-stacked fieldstone walls, mulch-covered drip hoses, and an attractive rain barrel for collecting and re-channeling runoff.

‘‘It’s really like going to visit a model home,” said Potomac Master Gardener Nancy Moses, 61. ‘‘We don’t expect people to recreate this garden, but if they take away one idea or two ideas, and try and implement them, then we’ll all feel successful.”

Nearly 250 volunteers who have completed 75 hours of intensive training from the University of Maryland Cooperative Extension comprise the Master Gardeners of Montgomery County. Together with the state extension education program, the master gardeners provide therapeutic gardening programs for assisted-living facilities and children with special needs, Moses said. Many weekends, the master gardeners also offer free plant clinics at local libraries to help residents identify their plant problems and ways to handle them.

Master gardeners will answer questions at the fair this week about the fair’s Bay-friendly Rain Garden. The teaching spot was envisioned as a garden that helps protect the Chesapeake Bay using ‘‘techniques that anyone — not just a master — can implement,” said Frank Lostombo, 73, a Potomac master gardener since 2003.

Carefully placed local favorites include the popular knockout rose, two lavender crepe myrtle trees, and an American elm tree, all better adapted to the Southern climate of Montgomery County’s planting zone, Moses said.

And alongside black-eyed Susans — the state flower — sit cardinal flowers, gayfeathers, milkweed and other sweet-smelling beauties intended to catch the interest of the ever-critical pollinating insects that keep the ecosystem going.

‘‘Something like 75 percent of our food stuffs depend on pollinators,” Lostombo said. He said they chose items such as white turtleheads, which host the Baltimore Checkerspot butterfly, and an American heritage river birch tree, home to 413 wildlife species.

Some gardening choices allow ‘‘integrated pest management” with minimal pesticides, Moses said.

A crepe myrtle, for example, attracts destructive aphids and preserves plants until a predator interested in aphids — but not the tree — comes along, advised Lostombo.

A proponent of natural water preservation techniques, the master gardener advocates using permeable pavers for walkways and driveways to preserve the water table level and prevent runoff of soil, water, fertilizer and pesticides into storm drains and the Bay.

In the fairgrounds garden, a blue rain barrel catches and resends runoff water back into the soil to feed plants and flowers downhill. Mulch-covered drip hoses feed plant roots while keeping moisture from scorching leaves in sunlight.

‘‘This is more than just a garden, and more than just a hobby,” Lostombo said, ‘‘It’s to give people pleasure and to help them contribute to the environment.”

On the pleasure front, he noted the garden’s 15-foot climbing malabar spinach plant.

‘‘Every garden needs a conversation piece,” he said. ‘‘I’m making my own little rain garden at the end of my carport.”

learn froma master

To create a Bay-friendlygarden:

Use permeable pavers for walkways, driveways

Utilize rain barrels

Invest in mulch-covered drip hoses

Pay attention to natural pollination and pest management

Plant native species resistant to disease and insects

For more tips or information about master gardeners, see www.mastergardeners.umd.edu or call 301-590-9650.

Source: Montgomery County Master Gardeners