Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Sustainable landscape ideas
My Yard and Garden news from the University of Minnesota came with a really interesting article I wanted to share with you. Julie Weisenhorn with the Horticulture Department has had 30 years of gardening in her yard and has developed considerations for a sustainable landscape design.
Now is the time to really look at your landscape. Weisenhorn suggests grabbing a clipboard and heading outside to take notes of what you want and need to do in your yard and garden. I take a LOT of pictures!
Think about maintenance, things like snow removal and storage, plant spacing to maintain access to areas around your home. I once planted a boxwood under the heat vent. Let’s just say it’s not there anymore!
The idea of sustainable includes planting habitat and food resources for pollinators, reducing water run-off, and choosing plants that are suited to your current growing conditions and that will not just survive, but thrive!
Some of the most sustainable parts of my landscape are the grasses and coneflowers. The barberry has not been invasive. I did prune the one above.
A number of other considerations include:
- Your budget
- Your time commitment, do you love gardening or do you just like it?
- How much time are you willing to commit to caring for it?
- What do you want to SEE in your landscape? Flowers? Shrubs? Trees? Vegetable garden space?
- What colors would you like?
- Is there a view out a window you’d like to dress up?
- Maybe a water feature?
There are lots of considerations, really but one thing to always remember is, you can change it. If you’ve planted something you thought you’d love and turns out it’s more annoying then enjoyable, don’t be afraid to change it! I do a lot! 😉
I created a plant list for a presentation: Of Plants and Pollinators plant list – Teri Knight (1)
As always send me your questions, comments and suggestions on topics YOU want to know about. tkgardenbite@gmail.com