So I wanted to start a new idea on my blog. My own garden is small and not always that interesting to write about. So each week I will feature a garden/landscape that I find interesting. I think I’ll try to keep it on Wednesday, but if it doesn’t show up until later don’t feel too sad. To start this off, I would like to share a garden created on an awkward corner in Springville. I saw this earlier in the year and thought it was a big patch of weeds. Look at it now:

Not at all what I thought it was. The “weeds” I saw earlier were actually a bunch of wonderful perennials. Now that they’ve started to bloom, this garden is a unique, inviting place. I’m not actually quite sure who owns it, so have very little information on the care and creation. The perennials have been allowed to naturalize, along with the trees and shrubs. I’m guessing the largest maintenance task is weeds, but not a lot else. And with the more casual look, a weed here and there (and there are few weeds) don’t look that bad. There are some annuals planted, a step I think is unnecessary due to the beauty of the perennials. The ground is covered in back mulch (which I need to do in my own garden). Mulch is GOOD and helps keep other maintenance tasks (like weeding) down.

They’ve used aspen, and several of the trees are dead. I kind of like the aspen in a situation like this. They can be allowed to sucker, and old dead ones are easily removed. There are also several native Rocky Mountain Junipers. The woody material provides a great backbone for the rest of the plants.

This is a great way to use extra garden space–naturalized perennials, with a woody plant backbone. Much better than lawn, and you might be surprised with how little maintenance you can get away with. Be sure to pick vigours perennials. Here they have Jupiter’s Beard (Centranthus ruber), Golden Marguerite (Anthemis tinctoria), Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), Yarrow (Achillea), Lamb’s Ear (Stachys byzantina), Blue Fescue (Festuca glauca), and Feather Reed Grass (Calamagrostis acutiflora). There are some others that aren’t blooming that and I haven’t bothered to identify. (I had a tricky time with golden marguerite. I was thinking “marguerite” looked up marguerite daisy, and it wasn’t it. Took me a while to get it right).

The water conservation districts around here have all formed demonstration garden showcasing waterwise landscaping. I’ve been to the Weber Basin and Jordan Valley gardens, but had yet to go to the one now closest to my house. It is only a few years old. I’m used to new landscapes, and it felt very familiar to the Utah Botanical Center were I interned for a summer.

They had lots of good plants, irrigation demonstrations, kitchen gardens, signs and more. One of the coolest demonstrations they had was two mock houses. One was a traditional, non water-wise landscape; the other was better designed and more water efficient. I hope to transform many yards from the first to the second. Or something along the same lines. I’m a bit more of an eccentric designer. Some of the differences was more planting beds that had shape to them, less lawn, and tall fescue instead of kentucky bluegrass.

A traditional yard. Not too interesting.

This one looks much better. Why doesn't everyone do this?

They did have a good selection of plants on display, and better marked than I have seen before. The only downside was their plant list, readily available at the entrances to the garden, was organized by common name. Which doesn’t help if what I know as Jupiter’s Beard is something else entirely. It also keeps things like different types of geraniums all in different places. Jordan Valley did this too. It’s a good plant list, but not one I’ll use because of the difficulty in finding anything.

On my way out, I noticed a native plant garden that I completely missed. Good reason to go back. If you are in the area, I highly recommend going. Best garden I’ve seen this year.

Recently, I went to a wonderful garden center up in Willard, Utah, Willard Bay Gardens. It’s really not close to where I live, but it is close to where my in-laws do. This is on the fruit way, a highway filled with fruit stands. Great place to go when peaches are in season. I had seen the owner of the garden center give presentations on perennials, and he knew his stuff. My expectations were pretty high, and it was a nice place to go.

They did have a large selection of perennials, the largest out of any garden center I have been to. Plus they were sold in four inch pots. I see perennials sold in gallon pots a lot of times. It really doesn’t may a difference if they are in gallon pots or four inch containers, and you usually save money buying them in four inch. They were a bit on the pricey side (4-6 dollars for a plant), but I think completely worth it, due to the high selection and good quality plants. I bought three coral bells, and had a hard time choosing my three plants out of 10 or more varieties available.

I’ve recently moved areas, and I find that it’s quite hard to get used to the selection of garden centers in the area. My community is larger than my last one, so there’s more to choose from. But here are a couple of tips I’ve found out over the years:

• Good garden centers have staff that can answer your questions well–and they won’t always direct you to their product.
• Big box nurseries often have good plants from local growers. But they can also have non-adapted plants from who knows where. Just be careful, but often the prices are better and its easier.
• They are all a little different, and depending on what you need one might be better than another.
• It’s worth traveling to go to a good store.
• If you can’t find a plant you want–ask. Many times, they will be able to order it in.
• And saying that, go knowing what you want. Don’t just go because your garden looks bare.

I’m planning on getting to know all the garden centers around me, but it’ll take awhile. That’s fine though–their a joy to visit.