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While I’m not completely against turf grass, I am interested in finding eco-friendly alternatives that will thrive in my area. I have a hillside in my front yard that goes completely dormant in the summer. This local brand combines several types of fescue seeds that will grow into a drought-tolerant lawn. It’s easy to get carried away and want to rip everything out to start fresh. A few garden designers also made this recommendation when I was doing my research.
Repeat Plants
A bucket or two of coarser 1” screen gravel scattered on top can help pin down the finer gravel where it is near sidewalks or on slopes, or gravel can be contained with edging. Scattering larger gravels also helps you create a more random, naturalistic surface that looks less like a parking lot! The base layer of 1/2” size can be dug, hoed, and weeded easily.
Single-family home landscape design
This type of mulch not only looks great but it will be low in phosphorus too. So, if you love lots of colour in your garden, choose plants with a variety of different coloured flowers that bloom at different times of the year. In general, most Australian native plants are fairly low-maintenance. There are around 24,000 native species to select from including trees, shrubs, groundcovers, and flowers. You can also diminish the size of your lawn, so if you still want that feeling of grass under your toes, keep a small area. I recently watched an interesting TEDx talk by a woman named Cynthia Bee who works for a water conservancy district in Utah.
TikToker shares incredible native landscaping transformation - The Cool Down
TikToker shares incredible native landscaping transformation.
Posted: Thu, 11 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Top Native Plants for Colorado Xeriscapes
The goal is to avoid any green “waste” being lost to the landfill. The dry grass in mulch will be especially prized by birds building nests, and towhees are born to scrounge for dinner in the leaf-litter. A top-dressing material reduces weeds, conserves water, and improves the soil. In this design there are two types of mulch appropriate to their different plant communities, maintenance, and microclimate. This design features a broad variety of food sources, nesting materials, and hideaways for Colorado insects and wildlife. It promotes a zero-waste design system, in which no (carbon-rich) organic material is hauled away, but is instead used to resist weeds while improving soil, plant, and critter health.
Use our tips for how to landscape front yards to enhance the view from the street and give a sense of individual pride and accomplishment that will yield results for decades. This rectangular pool in Hollister House’s walled garden makes a gentle ripple with its recirculating pipe, creating a soft sound that adds to the sense of calm. Even the smallest water feature—a bowl or trough—will bring tranquility to a garden, reflecting the sky and inviting birds and dragonflies.
Natives are easier to grow than non-native ornamentals, as they are adapted to that area. I’m Haeley from San Antonio, Texas, and I want to help you grow more native plants. After reading this, you may want to take look at this article on why gardening with native plants is important. When creating a garden with native plants, there will be lots of things for you to consider, but getting started doesn’t need to be difficult. One way to help achieve this is by bringing more native plants into the yard.
How to Landscape Front Yards and Entryways to Maximize Curb Appeal
Recommended Native Plants of Maryland has photos and details about native plants including many of the plants in the following lists. You may want to leave some of the turf lawn for play areas, or to establish green space between garden beds. Since a traditional lawn takes a fair amount of time and resources to maintain, you may decide to ditch the lawn all together and consider alternatives. To achieve balance in a landscape, try to position elements, so they give equal weight—through size, color, texture, or other aspects—to each side of a scene. The formality of the weighting is dictated by the style of the house and personal preference. Symmetrical houses often look best when each feature and plant is duplicated on the opposite side of a front walk (as long as the walk isn't too long or too narrow).
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New plants need a soaking every 1-2 weeks their first year in the ground. If uncertain about soil moisture, determine if plants need water by digging a tiny bit and feeling the soil. The bird bath water can be freshened up when the hose is nearby. Seed-grown plants are always more resilient, better performing, and longer lived than a container-grown and planted counterpart. A wildflower mix from seed will be dynamic; it should be expected to change over time as species come and go, and the most well-adapted plants stay.
If using wood mulch keep it off the base and stem of the plant. The practice of bare-root planting leads to faster establishment, healthier, more resilient and more long-lived plants, and is especially effective in arid climates like ours. New plants are bare-rooted by dunking them in a bucket of water and gently teasing the roots to remove at least 2/3 of the spongy nursery mix.
She loves sharing the benefits of native plants with others. To find these on Facebook, search for “native plants” and your state, city or county. This will pull a list of the native plant gardening groups near you. Choosing flowering perennial plants and trees that bloom at various times during the season are great choices for your garden.
Plants like the Colorado Blue Columbine not only add beauty to your garden but also serve as a vital resource for local pollinators. I have seen so many front garden design ideas where people are opting to turf their turf. This is not an easy job if you’re doing it yourself, but there are methods to make it a bit easier. For example, laying cardboard with soil or mulch over the intended garden area on your lawn in the fall will help decompose the grass over the winter. I use the cardboard trick to make get rid of the grass where I want new raised beds (and to make pathways in between). Be sure to have a plan in place before you dig up the lawn.
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