Xeriscape

Fireworks in the garden replaced a drab, water thirsty lawn and Dwarf Alberta Spruce in this suburban garden. A virtual explosion of color brightens the neighborhood. Locally quarried sandstone paths spiral through drought tolerant plantings of penstemon, mallow, Russian Sage, Sea Pinks, and Blue Flax.  Structure is provided through the use of beautiful Service Berry trees, while Black Aronia and Sea Green Juniper shrubs provide shelter and food for local avian friends.

Landscape Design & Project Coordination: The Ardent Gardener Landscape Design

Stone work: BT Stone Masonry

Landscape Installation: Western Landscaping

Stone slabs stacked into a beehive spiral across a seasonal stream, continuing their march though drought tolerant buffalo grass. The spiral is viewed from the home's main deck, creating movement and surprise in the garden. This garden is located in Northern Utah, and was inspired by the world famous Spiral Jetty, also located in Northern Utah.

Design: The Ardent Gardener Landscape Design

Installation: By the owners'.

This is truly a great example of a 'before and after' project, and I've included a before photo so that you can see the dramatic changes that were made to this small front garden, on a pretty reasonable budget. The original yard consisted of a narrow brick front walk, stressed front lawn and a couple of BIG Dwarf Alberta Spruce. The homeowner's original goal was simply to use less water. With that in mind, we created a really fun, interesting, drought tolerant garden - with a compacted road base spiraling path, garden art, textural plantings and a purple lawn! The new 'lawn' is a mix of thyme ground covers. The existing brick walk was made more user friendly by widening it with a border of concrete pavers. Brick accents tie the landscape to the path. This  has now become the house that passerby's take a moment to slow down and appreciate. 

Landscape Design & Project Coordination: The Ardent Gardener

Installation: Western Landscaping

While the liberal use of native cobble rock collected from the site during home construction, and native and native cultivars such as Aspen, Snowberry and Chokecherry help marry this garden to it's High Desert surroundings, it's the touches of 'home' that marry this garden to the homeowners' hearts. A sculptural focal point of this outdoor living space is the garden swing - a family heirloom - that hangs from locally crafted steel supports. A garden of daylilies, dug up and transported from the owners' previous garden, sprawl over a locally sourced stone path. Climbing boulders, placed in an arching curve, evoke the Great Salt Lake's Spiral Jetty, and was a special request from their grandson. The entire family gathers around the gas firepit, sited to take advantage of stunning lake and mountain views.

A Blue Grama grass 'lawn' utilizes significantly less water than Kentucky Blue Grass. Plants in silver, buff, and pale green were specifically selected to blend with the surrounding native landscape. Any areas that were not specifically landscaped, and were disturbed during home construction, were seeded back to a native grass blend.