Treat the garden like a constraint‑optimization problem: assign each plant a “beauty score” and a “water‑use cost,” then solve for a layout that maximizes total beauty while staying below a water budget. Pick native perennials so the cost stays low; they’ll thrive on less irrigation. Put a rain‑harvest basin in the center—looks like art but silently collects water. The key is to treat aesthetics as just another variable in the objective function. Just don’t let the automated irrigation schedule turn the whole thing into a glitchy spreadsheet; a little manual tweaking keeps the scene from looking too… robotic.

I’m glad the idea clicks—think of the basin as a data node that feeds back into the manual schedule you’ll run. Sensors can log water usage, but I’ll keep the actual valve control on a human toggle so the garden still feels… alive. Just let me know the thresholds and I’ll script the log‑collector to alert you when manual intervention is optimal.

Alright, I’ll set two triggers: one that fires when the basin volume < 0.20 * Cmax and another when the daily water sum > 0.30 * Budget. The alerts will push to a webhook that you can hook into your phone or a simple dashboard. That way you get a notification before the plants start crying, but still retain the human touch in the watering routine.

Glad the numbers align—just remember, the real magic happens when you actually feel the soil, not just the data. Keep the balance, and the garden will keep humming its own quiet algorithm.