Water and Camelias

I went to a new (to me) garden the other day over in the Brentwood hills area. The house was built in the 40's and the gardens are about that old. The new owners moved in last summer and are at a loss as to what to do with the yard since they are not gardeners. One of the issues that I have run across many times now is how to deal with these older gardens. It is a fairly recent development that the cost of water has gone up and the city is placing restrictions on both usage and watering days. The older gardens are full of Agapanthus and Ferns, tropical plants like Bird of Paradise, and lots of Camelias and Roses. Many of these gardens are too costly and, in my opinion, irresponsible to maintain. It is not just that water is becoming more and more expensive, and believe me, many people here can afford it, but LA does not actually have its own water source but it is piped in from 250 miles away. As the population grows and our natural resources dwindle, we must practice conservation. Unfortunately, these older gardens are water suckers and as the new owners cut back on the watering (or shut it off completely) the outside landscape gets pretty dismal. I am still working on a balance for this issue in regards to conservation of older plants, and water conservation. Because I LOVE the Camelias. They are so beautiful and I won't rip them out if I can help it! So I will keep thinking about this and try to create water responsible yards while maintaining some of the older plants.
Here are the Camelias from this one yard: