Landscape Lessons Learned: I made the mistakes so you don't have to!

I jumped into my first DIY landscape project 5 years ago when we moved into a new house and had a nearly "blank-slate" yard to work with. While I still love our backyard and the many growing things that live there, I've learned a lot from the many design mistakes I made on that first project.

When I look at my backyard landscape, I'm reminded that every good gardener learns from their own experience, as well as the experience of other gardeners. So, it only makes sense for me to pass my lessons on to you. If you're planning on jumping into a DIY landscape or garden project, take a look at my List of Landscape Lessons Learned (alliteration is so tempting, forgive me), so you don't make the same mistakes that I did.

And then let me know what mistakes you make so that I learn from you. It's the circle of gardeners' life, you see.

1. Incorporate pre-existing shrubs and flowers into your design (if you're leaving them there). I didn't want to dig up the entire hedge of old lilacs along the back fence, so I left most of them and then seemed to forget all about them as I planted the rest of the area with Xeric, low-maintenance perennials. If I were to do it again, I'd work harder to integrate their tall structure and early-spring bloom into the overall design.

Pre-existing shrubs in background with a couple tall grasses in between. 

2. Create a "rhythm" or site line for the eye. I made the common noob mistake of getting super excited about all of the plant options and then getting lost in the variety. There is no real site line for the eye in my landscape. Your eye will be drawn to the purple flowers of the Salvia when it's in bloom, but they do not create any real rhythm in the garden. The garden looks like what it is -- just a bunch of plants that I wanted to try. In terms of a "rhythm", my garden just makes noise. No matter how small, every grouping of plants should have some sort of "rhythm". Whether it's grand and sweeping, slow and quiet, or energetically staccato, you can create a rhythm with texture, form and color.

3. Utilize groupings of plants to create the rhythm and structure of your garden. This is where I feel like I really went wrong. I did not adequately utilize groups of plants in my landscape. Instead, I put one type here and one type there, and spread them around the garden with other plants that I thought might look nice next to them.  The two tall grasses planted at the back of the garden are perfect examples. They'd make a much bigger impact if I had planted in groups of three, for instance. Of course, a few of the original perennials have died and been replaced, so the garden has morphed over time, but it still lacks any real continuity.

4. Consider bloom time and plant accordingly. The rhythm of your garden is created in part by the color of the flowers' blooms. If there's a time in the season where none of your flowers are blooming, then your garden will feel somber and silent at that time. You can create an all-season show by grouping plants together with similar bloom times and making sure you have groups of flowers that will be blooming at all times. When I see pictures of my garden in late summer, I realize that I made a huge mistake -- I created a garden that is lush and colorful for only part of the season, not all of it. In late summer, only the sunflowers and hollyhocks prevail, which makes for an unbalanced appearance in our backyard.

The garden in late summer

5. Forget the weed barrier and small river rock. Use some form of mulch (including gravel or rock for truly Xeric plants) and weed-resistant groundcover instead. Focus on using larger rocks throughout the landscape rather than spreading small river rock all the way through it. The weed barrier and small river rock in our backyard have both proven to be a huge pain in the ass. It took me forever to get the landscape planted because I had to cut through the weed barrier and move rocks every time I wanted to plant a plant. Five years later, the weed barrier pokes up in weird places and I'm always trying to pull the rocks away from a plant's new growth. I really wish I would have just gone without both.

Exception: If you're doing a manicured and structured landscape that focuses on the space between plants as much as it does the plants, then use a weed barrier. I like the look of a "meadow" planting, or one where all of the plants slowly start growing into each other and mingling in unexpected ways, so I like to allow plants to go where they want.

Now, as I jump into my next major landscape project, I'm trying to keep all of these lessons in mind, but I find myself making similar mistakes, even in the planning stages. I have a pretty good variety of plants waiting to be planted, and I worry it will look a little disjointed once it's all growing, but we'll just have to wait and see! I do feel confident that it will be an improvement on the backyard, even if a small one. I'm so excited to see how it turns out. Of course, I'll have to wait a few years to really see this garden in all its full-grown glory.

Stay tuned; we start planting our next big Xeriscape project tomorrow! Follow me on Instagram @mlefrances520 to see updates.

My Low-Maintenance Perennial Favorites

In the beginning of the summer, a couple of friends asked me for some plant recommendations for starting a new perennial garden in Fort Collins. I figure there's more people out there who wonder what proven performers they could use in their new or established gardens. So, I've come up with a short list of my favorite perennials from my low-maintenance, drought-resistant and clay-soiled Zone 5 garden. The list consists of plants that have proven to be dependable performers year after year, super low/no maintenance and just plain pretty. A few are only appropriate for Western, arid gardens, but others are great for the Midwest, too.

Pink Wild Penstemon  (Penstemon palmeri). Short-lived but oh-so-lovely, this tall, showy beaut only lasted two or three years and has now been retired from my garden. I'm not sure if it's truly short-lived or if my clay soil was just too much for it. I think it was probably the latter, as it needs really quick-draining, rocky soil to thrive. It blooms in late summer. I have it on this list because it had the most gorgeous flowers I've ever had in my garden; and the hummingbirds, sphinx moths, bees and butterflies all loved it. It's also very low maintenance and needs no water after it's been established.

2012 in my garden

I ordered mine from High Country Gardens

 Rocky Mountain Penstemon (Penstemon strictus). These are native to the region, and I can always count on them to come back stronger than the year before. These are for Western gardens only, as they need dry conditions and strong sun to thrive. I also love them because they are a favorite for butterflies in our garden.

2012 with pink Penstemon Palmeri to upper left

2014. Salvia on left, Rocky Mountain Penstemon on right. Lady in background.

Swallowtail butterflies, sphinx moths, hummingbirds and bees love this dependable perennial

 Yarrow (Achillea spp.) of any kind grows and blooms vigorously all summer long. Some Yarrow is known to aggressively self-sow, so be sure to get one that doesn't if you want it to remain in one spot in the garden. I have two non-self-sowing kinds. A large, yellow "Moonshine" and more compact, white-flowered Greek Yarrow. White-flowered Yarrow can also be used as a medicinal herb. Yarrow makes a great cut flower and is so bright that it shines on moon-lit evenings.

I planted the Yarrow in 2012. Yellow flowers on right are Moonshine Yarrow, White-flowered Yarrow to left of them.

Two years later, it's thriving. Rocky Mountain Penstemon shoots up in between white and yellow Yarrow flowers 

Cut Yarrow flowers last a really long time in a vase and add a bright pop of color to bouquets

May Night Salvia (Salvia nemorosa). In my experience, Salvia does well anywhere. My dad had some (not sure which but it looked similar) in our garden in Northern Illinois and it did well there, too. I have May Night planted in the front yard in partial shade, as well as in the South-facing backyard in full sun. They all grow and bloom vigorously. They also self-sow moderately, and are always coated in friendly honey bees all summer long. Even when I'm dead-heading spent flowers (a must for Salvia), the bees have never bothered me. You'll notice that Salvia is a major player in my small landscaped area, where it's growing next to other favorite flowers.

nom nom nom. Bees loooove May Night Salvia

This Salvia has self-sowed to create a long string of plants. Pull out self-sowed seedlings if you prefer a  manicured look

Salvia is great for cut flowers, and is always a major player in my favorite vase all summer long

Jupiter's Beard (Centranthus ruber Coccineus) self-sows mildly and likes both full sun and part shade. It blooms from late spring through late summer with deep-red flowers. I wish I would have given it more of a front-and-center role in my landscape design, but you can still enjoy it if you look for it in the corner. I've learned from my newb design mistake! Jupiter's Beard does well in the Midwest, too, where it gets more water. I like it combined with Salvia, where the purple and red flowers, and dark-green and light-green foliage complement each other.

Salvia to left, Jupiter's Beard in Corner

Nobody puts Jupiter's Beard in the corner! Except silly ol' me

Deep-rooted Wild 4 O'Clock (Mirabilis multiflora) needs way more space than I planned for. It's taken up a big corner of my little wildflower area, but I still love it for its dependable summer-long color and extremely xeric (no)water needs. It is also deer- and rabbit-resistant. If you use it, make room for it! Also, my Midwesterner friends will not be able to use this one, as it only does well in the dry air and soil of the West.

Flowers open in the afternoon

Evening Primrose (Oenothera) is a new favorite for me. I'm pretty sure I have a Missouri Evening Primrose, aka Ozark Sundrop, but I can't be sure because I didn't buy it. My mother-in-law brought me some hardy flowers that had been divided from her landscape in Northern Illinois a couple of years back, and quite a few have done surprisingly well in the completely different conditions of my Xeric garden. Primrose is one of them. Now that I have it and have grown to love it, I'm noticing it in a lot of others gardens, too. That's proof enough for me that it's no fluke that it's thriving in my garden.

I've noticed that the Primrose spreads slowly, has pretty reddish-purple stems, buttery yellow flowers, really cool speckled sepals and blooms all summer long. Even the spent flowers look kinda cool, with an orange-y color tone. Oh, and they're super easy to deadhead, unlike Salvia. It's a true-blue surprise favorite for me and I'm so grateful my M.I.L. brought it all the way from IL to CO. 

Clear picture of newly opened flower with speckled sepals

reddish-purple stems visible in this photo

Iris can always be counted on for Spring color and beautiful, delicate blooms in the Midwest and the West. Plus, it spreads pretty easily, so you can transplant it into other areas after a few years. I don't know exactly what kind of Iris I have because it was one of the few plants that was already planted in our backyard when we moved in. I transplanted a few bulbs to a new area three years ago, and it has grown so well that it may be time to do that again.

Mine are planted in front of lilacs, and tend to bloom right after the lilacs have lost their color

If you are just getting your flower garden started, I highly recommend all of the perennials above. They have been low-maintenance, low-budget tested and approved over the past three years. I'm sure I'll have a bunch of new favorites to share with you next year. Let me know what your favorites are, especially if you think they might do well with little to no water!

Meditations on Growth and Change

Almost three years. THREE years! Has gone by since I last posted on this blog. I can't believe the last time I sat down to write a blog post, we were new homeowners,  I hadn't yet tacked on a new last name, and Scout was still just a pup. I only had one niece back then; now I have two nieces, a nephew and my friend's baby girl, who I consider a niece, as well. Patrick hadn't even thought about going back to school (he's in grad school now) and I was luxuriating in all of the possibilities that come with a salaried job with benefits.

We got married! May 26, 2012

I think about this blog so much that I can't fully understand why I'd decided to let it go. I do know that I had some worries about keeping a gardening/environmental blog. Worry of being just another writer out there drowning in the vast blog world, worry of not writing anything that anyone other than myself cares about, and worry about offending and/or angering those who do not agree with my opinions and thoughts on sustainable agriculture and environmentalism. I could go so much further into the multitude of reasons for why, and the reasons for having those reasons, but that's not what I want to do for my first post back. No. I want this blog to be a celebration of  growth, change and nourishment. I want to celebrate cultivation in all its senses.

And right now, I want to celebrate Spring! And ya'll know I do what I want. So here goes.

 Scout had a great winter! She loves the snow.

It was a harsh winter for my family and friends who reside in the arctic-blasted Midwest. In Fort Collins, we had your average Colorado winter with a few frigid days, some snowy days and many sunny, mild days. Patrick's birthday (Feb 2nd) was a classic Colorado bluebird day, which is a nice mixture of sun and snow.

The b-day boy fresh from an epic powder weekend in Winter Park

No matter how easy the winter has been, the first sprouts of Spring are a welcome sight. We started having beautiful spring-time weather in mid-March this year. As soon as it's warm enough, I post up on the deck during the weekend, bust out my garden notebook, along with a few gardening catalogs for brain fodder, and start my garden planning.

I can always count on having big dreams for my little garden. This year is no different. This year, I'm determined to extend the gardening season as well as push the space limitations on my two 8x4 garden beds. I'm also experimenting in companion planting this year. That means I did some research on what plants help each other grow, what flowers keep pests away and which plants prefer not to live in close quarters with each other.  More on all of this later. I'm still in my spring-dreaming phase, so give me some time to soak it in, along with the sun and 70-degree weather.

This is what's been going on since the first signs of spring in March:

Weeds are the 1st to spring to life in garden area

Xeric landscaping begins to show signs of life

Mid-march: Patrick and I both get to work outside

 In a rare burst of DIY confidence, I decided to collect TP rolls and use them as seed pods this year. I cut the rolls in half, cut the bottoms in four places and folded them in to create the bottom of the pot, then taped it to stay closed. They are re-used, bio-degradable and you can just plant them with the seeds. I'm not sure if I'd do it again for five reasons:
1. They got a little moldy around the sides since the cardboard never really dried out.
2. They sat at wonky angles since the bottoms weren't perfectly flat.
3. Some rolls came apart at the seams, making open sides on some of the seed pods.
4. The tape didn't stay taped and some bottoms came apart.
5. It was a pain in the butt.
Despite all of these little issues, I still managed to grow healthy veggies.

Oh, and Yoda. He's my designated plant guardian this year. A good job he has done.

Still Mid-March: Early seed starting for an extended growing season

Late March: time to transplant to bigger pots it is

After transplanting in late March, the veggies are looking promising under their grow lamp

April 20th: Veggies need to be planted or transplanted soon

April 20th: The yard is the greenest it likely will ever be this year

Grow and change. That's what we do. That's what happens in this ever-expanding universe. Try to stop it and crushed you will be. I enjoy observing the change and striving to nurture it. That way, I can be a small part of its healthy growth, deep roots and flourishing life.

Hard Work Always Pays Off

Happy Summer Solstice! There is no better day than today to celebrate the joy gardening can bring to an individual, a family and a community. I've read and heard about the positive impact of gardening from so many people. Not only does the work of gardening provide a chance to sink into a meditative, happy place, but it also creates a bond between the person and what Aldo Leopold would call our land community (his renowned "land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land"). We learn so much about ourselves and our environment/community when we take the time to look and learn about our surroundings.

I've only been "gardening" for two years, so I'm as green as they come. I'm learning so many things that most experienced gardeners do in their sleep. I'm often guilty of creating a dream garden in my mind and forgetting all of the time, money and hard work that goes into that dream garden. I've recently learned that a garden is never "finished." You can never turn your back on a garden and expect it to thrive on its own -- no matter how hardy. Since we completed the construction and planting in the fenced-in garden/wildflower area, I've put very little time into the maintenance of it. I've been focusing all of my efforts on the landscaping of the area next to it.


Posing by the new addition to our family, Xeriscape. Lady (friend's pup) and Scout (ours) pose with us.

Now the garden area is crawling with weeds that are sucking up vital moisture and nutrients, giving nothing in return. Everyone has "weeds" in their life that choke and stifle growth. If we leave them be, they overrun us and all we've worked to build in our lives. Like friends, family and so many other vital parts of a happy life, we cannot turn our backs on one while we focus on another. I'm still working on this aspect of life and gardening.

This is what we've been doing while the garden sat neglected:

Plans for the entire backyard (bottom) and  xeriscaping (top).



Patrick spray painted an outline for the xeriscaping, edged it out and pulled up any grass in the area (all while I was at a Saturday morning Bat Mitzvah!)



A friend's help is priceless. Tyler came up from Denver to help us move the fill dirt.



The next day we put the weed barrier down.



Patrick and Scout pose by the new Xeriscape area.



3/4 inch river rocks were added and I began planting the xeric plants. I'm still planting. 13 more to go as of today.



To keep our sanity, we also took a short but relaxing camping trip in the Rockies.

I ordered around 30 xeric plants for the xeriscaped area and I have 13 left to plant. The planting has been taking a long time due to all of the prep work that goes into transplanting perennials. First, I rake and shovel all of the rocks from a 12-18x12 inch area, depending on the expected size of the mature plant. I then take a now-dull box cutter to cut away a circle of weed barrier cloth. Then, I shovel the clay loam fill dirt into a separate bucket and shovel  clay buster garden soil into the hole. I mix everything together with a "claw" garden tool, then plop myself down with the new plant and plant it in the fresh soil. Finally, I pull or rake the rocks back into place around the new plant. If I plant a few plants every night this week, it should be completed by the weekend.