Building Berms: Lessons Learned by Nancy Shepard

2022 front yard with berm, four years after installation. Photo by Nancy Shepard

When we replaced our front yard landscape in 2018, I wanted to make our yard a little more private. We live on a corner and even though the traffic is minimal, it made sense to not only create a bit of privacy, but also give the yard a bit of visual dynamic. 

2022 Landscaping with Colorado Native Plants Conference by Nancy Shepard

 

This year’s Landscaping with Colorado Native Plants conference is being held on Saturday, February 26^th and runs 9:30 AM to 4 PM. I attended the conference last year and found it to have very valuable information and I plan on attending again. The Landscaping with Colorado Native Plants Conference promotes the inclusion of native plants in our landscaping to benefit pollinators and songbirds, save water, and restore the beauty and health of nature in the places we live, work and play.  

Does Your Landscape Have Winter Interest?

Red hips on Rosa glauca (Redleaf Rose)

It's pretty easy to have an interesting garden from May through October while flowers, trees and shrubs are growing and colorful. Winter? That's a different challenge. If your winter interest consists of some outdoor lighting and evergreens, you can do better! The American Society of Landscape Architects offers these suggestions to add interest to your winter garden.

Dogwood Bushes Bring Some Bright Winter Color by Joyce D’Agostino

Winter branch color

Summer foliage

If you are looking for a “four seasons” plant to add to your landscape, a good suggestion would be dogwood bushes that feature colored branches.

Dogwood bushes are very hardy for the Colorado climate and relatively easy care with few pests or problems.  They provide green leaves and white flowers in the spring, the flowers turn to blue color berries which birds enjoy and then in the fall, the leaves drop to reveal the colorful branches. 

The two dogwood that we have planted in our yard are Cornus sericea ‘Cardinal’ for the red and Cornus stolonifera ‘Flaviranea’ for the yellow variety. These bushes can grow to 3 – 5’ tall shrubs and can become very full which work well for use as hedges but ample room should be allowed when planning their location so that they don’t block sidewalks and driveways. 

The bright stems give a nice pop of color especially when contrasted against snow when often other trees and shrubs have neutral tones for their trunks and stems. 

They are not a high maintenance plant and require simple pruning and removal of any dead wood after the winter is over. The foliage, flowers, berries and color of the stems in the winter makes it a valued landscape plant to be enjoyed each season.

For more information, refer to the following fact sheets:

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07422.html

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07208.html

Book Review: 50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants by Elaine Lockey

In my search for plant ideas to help in my heavily deer-foraged garden, I came across the book 50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants by Ruth Rogers Clausen.  The premise of the book is that “you can still have a lush, thriving garden by making smart plant choices. Many stunning plants are unpalatable to deer because of their poisonous compounds, fuzzy or aromatic leaves, tough, spiny or bristly textures, and for a variety of less obvious reasons.”

The author stresses that there is no such thing as a deer-proof plant.  During times when deer are hungriest they will try to eat most anything. You might also notice that one group of deer leave your asters alone while another group or individual browses it any chance she gets. Plants that are considered “deer candy” and not recommended are hostas, lilies, daylilies, tulips and roses (except Rosa rugosa which deer leave alone).  Clausen offers a more complete list of these favorites to avoid. But she lists in depth many more plants that you can happily grow without feeling you need to keep watch over your garden.

Simple Structures Can Change Your Garden's Appearance by Keith Hamlyn

How about adding a vertical element without planting a tree?  Do you need a visual divider to change the look of your garden?  Try one of these relatively simple structures – an Espalier frame for your fruit trees or a permanent structure for your vertical plants. 

Creating a Backyard Pond by Rich Haas

Have you dreamed of having a second home where you can privately enjoy a gentle waterfall and babbling brook leading to a cool, relaxing pond?  The trouble is, most of these great places are many miles away and most often have been turned into multi-million-dollar resorts! 

Why not create that paradise at your existing home?  It is easier than you think!

A little history: I enjoy gardening.  I turned about 95% of my property into a perennial garden.  That is why I signed up to be a Colorado Master Gardener. Then I happened to go on a “Pond Tour”.  I realized then that this was what I was searching for in a second home!  Why incur the trouble and recurring expense (2nd mortgage?) of a faraway destination when you can bring it right to your home?

All it takes a little planning, effort and some expense but think about how wonderful it will be to enjoy a cool, peaceful waterfall at a moment’s notice simply by walking out your back door! 

2011 Annual Flower Trials at CSU

Salvia 'Summer Jewel Red'

Dr. James E. Klett,  CSU professor and Extension Landscape Horticulture Specialist,  invites us to come view the 2011 Annual Flower Trials conducted by the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture in Fort Collins. The trial garden consists of approximately 1100 varieties of annual bedding plants, both in the ground and in containers. Twenty-five plant and seed companies are participating in the 2011 trials.  The site, located at 1401 Remington Street, in Ft. Collins, Colorado, is also an official All American Selection Test and Display Garden.

Compare many new bedding plant varieties against some of the standards. The best viewing time is now through mid-September or first killing frost. Visit the website for photos of last year’s winners and other updates: www.flowertrials.colostate.edu



Here's the 2011 AAS Winners.

Espalier: The Art of Plant Training by Elaine Lockey

Espalier at Denver Botanic Gardens

Espalier, pronounced esp-al-ee-er or esp-al-ee-ay, is the practice of training and pruning a plant to grow on a flat plane against a wall, fence or building.  This can create a beautiful focal point in a garden, can save space in small areas, and help fill in space if you have a large wall or fence that you want to hide.

Espalier can be informal or formal and there are several common forms practiced.  Certain plants respond best to certain types of espalier as well.  Informal espalier can be as simple as a vine climbing up a wall to a pyracantha hedge that is pruned in a flat plane but is allowed to branch where it wants vertically and horizontally.  Formal designs can be like the French palmette verrier in which a plant, commonly a pear tree, is attached to a frame that helps to shape it into the desired structure.  This particular one looks like a box shape or candelabra. This enables the pear tree to grow wide but the height is limited.

Planting a Butterfly Garden by Stan Ames

A Vanessa atalanta a.k.a. “Red Admiral”on a Purple Coneflower

Planning a butterfly garden this season?  These techniques will help you plant a successful garden.

Before you invest you time and money in constructing a butterfly garden it is important to know what butterflies are common to your area. Identification of your guest is very important, as each butterfly has preferences for their “Caterpillar Host Plants” and their favorite flowers for a nectar source.

Attracting butterflies then becomes relatively easy. In addition to a place for their eggs and a good source of nectar, butterflies like flowers for some of the same reasons that we do, bright colors with sweet fragrance.

WHAT COLOR SHOULD MY GARDEN BE? by Jerry Peterson

That’s a good question! How many color choices do we have? Well, there’s white, red, blue, yellow, pink, purple, and orange, but let’s not forget the variations of these basic colors. There must be dozens if not hundreds of colors!
How do we put colors together to create a pleasing palette? As is often the case, the answer is – it depends.
We can make a nice red, white, and blue garden; and yellows go well with blues, if that suits our fancy. There is an infinite number of combinations, limited only by our imagination and our taste.
We often try to introduce many colors into a garden spot, and this can result in a very nice display. Sometimes just using two colors will result in a dynamite scene.
But another interesting use of color is to concentrate on using the available variations on just a single color. Let’s take the color purple for example. Just look at a partial list of perennials that are a shade of purple: Russian Sage, Purple Coneflower, Lavender, Ajuga, Purple Ice Plant, Lilac, Gayfeather, Veronicas, Poppy Mallow, Salvias, Allium, Columbine, and Pasqueflower, not to mention the cultivars of Roses, Iris, Tulips, and Mums that can be a purple color. We can use gradations of purple so that between purplish red to purple to purplish blue, we have lots of opportunities to be creative.
Of course, we need to consider the cultural needs of the plants we choose. Some are xeric while others need more water. Some need full sun and others can do well with some shade. Other considerations in creating a plant list are the size and texture of the plants.

One example of what can be done is the xeric combination of Russian Sage, Purple Ice Plant, and Poppy Mallow (aka Winecups). With this combination, we have three different variations of purple, and we have two ground covers that look nice with the larger Russian Sage. Adding some non-flowering gray foliaged plants such as an Artemisia or Lamb’s Ear to the purple scheme would further enhance this garden.

For what it’s worth, here is a collection of factoids about the color purple:
-Purple has been traditionally associated with royalty in many cultures. Purple robes were worn by royalty and people of authority or high rank.
-A mysterious color, purple is associated with both nobility and spirituality. The opposites of hot red and cool blue combine to create this intriguing color.
-Purple has a special, almost sacred place in nature: lavender, orchid, lilac, and violet flowers are often delicate and considered precious.
-Because purple is derived from the mixing of a strong warm and strong cool color it has both warm and cool properties. A purple room can boost a child's imagination or an artist's creativity. Too much purple, like blue, could result in moodiness.
-The color of mourning for widows in Thailand, purple was the favorite color of Egypt's Cleopatra.
-Deep or bright purples suggest riches while lighter purples are more romantic and delicate. Use redder purples for a warmer color scheme or the bluer purples to cool down.

Marriages in the Garden, Achieving Plant Partnerships by Jerry Peterson

All you gardeners out there are invited to a wedding! Actually, every time you plan, arrange, or plant your gardens, you’re participating in a wedding. Just as human marriages succeed when the people involved complement each other and build on differences and similarities, so we as gardeners have opportunities to create successful “plant marriages” when we plant our gardens.

We could call it “Horticultural Harmonies” or “Plant Partnerships” or perhaps some other cute alliterative name, but what we’re really talking about is using landscape plants in a way that creates a harmonious and attractive picture. We can take advantage of the plants’ differences and similarities to accomplish this.

The general idea is to use the color, size and texture of the plants to generate a pleasing combination of plant materials. Many articles have been written about the use of the color wheel with its primary colors, secondary colors, and complementary colors. For all I know, maybe someone could get a PhD in colors! The color wheel indeed is a handy tool that can be useful in designing a garden. However, there are other sources of ideas for putting plants together in pleasing combinations. Some of the best resources are just looking at what others have done, visiting gardens in the area, seeing pictures in books and magazines, and even using those occasions when serendipity allows us to discover a delightful plant combination by accident.

Would you not agree that, if you plant a garden that pleases you and accomplishes your goal for that garden, then the garden is a success. You don’t have to please the experts or your neighbors. You are not accountable to anyone else (well, maybe your spouse). No one else has to like what you like.

Having said that, perhaps from time to time this blog can pass on some tips and ideas about possible plant combinations or other garden design topics. Let me tell you about a “plant marriage” that came about quite accidentally for me, but I’ve grown to like the effect. I’m not a big fan of most junipers. However I do like the low growing mat juniper used as a ground cover.



I once had an area in which I had planted one of these mats. I also acquired a Barren Strawberry (Waldsteinia fragarioides or Waldsteinia ternata) and planted this low growing groundcover next to the juniper. The barren strawberry soon wound its way into and among the juniper and created a very nice display of color and texture. The two plants are different shades of green, the strawberry has small yellow flowers, and the textures meld into what, in my opinion, is a very nice display.

Since then, I’ve used the Barren Strawberry with other plants, allowing it to weave its way between, among, under, and through. It looks very nice with Partridge Feather (Tanacetum densum) and Snow-in-Summer (Cerastium tomentosum). The Barren Strawberry spreads via runners like our normal garden strawberry, but it’s very easy to just pull out what isn’t wanted, and start it somewhere else in your garden or give it to a friend.

Let’s drink a toast to our marriages!