The UC Davis Arboretum Sustainable Horticulture Learning by Leading undergraduate team designs and builds an AquaFree Demonstration Garden project on a prominent site in the west end of the Arboretum utilizing drought tolerant plant species from California and other dry ecosystems. These gardens demonstrate and test promising California and desert plants by growing them under 3 different very-low-water irrigation regimes (including zero), which shows which plants are capable of withstanding the increasingly hot and arid climate of the Central Valley with no or very little irrigation. Led by student coordinators who include undergraduates with horticultural interests, this project transforms bare sites in the Arboretum into drought-tolerant and eye-catching gardens that inspire others to plant highly sustainable gardens.