Plants and Materials in The Sustainable House Gardens

By Paula Westmoreland of Ecological Gardens

Design considerations:

• Drought tolerant plants
• Native plants with high percentage of prairie
• Self-sustaining plant communities with useful plants for humans, wildlife, and soil building
• Educational value of the landscape
• Low-maintenance. This is achieved through high plant diversity, proper plant spacing, designing plant communities, and using drought-tolerant plants.
• Year-around beauty and color
• Acceptable to the neighborhood. This is achieved through grass border, walking paths, and repeating colors and patterns.

This plan should give you an impression of how the landscape is laid out. If you would like to download a full-size version of this plan, with the accompanying key, click here. This is a zip file containing a JPG file and a PDF file.

Front Yard

1. The front yard walk and neighboring margins are edged in grass.
2. There are two "carbon capture" rain gardens that handle the overflow from the cisterns and surface runoff. The root systems will sequester carbon at many levels in the soil.
3. A small 1' berm is built in front of the north rain garden from the excavated soil. It is covered with Nearly-wild Rose, Prairie Dropseed, Little Bluestem, Yarrow and Black-eyed Susan.
4. Behind the rain garden is a depression basin with Little Joe Pyeweed, an excellent insectory plant: for butterflies.
5. Two prairie areas edge the rain gardens. Wild blue Indigo and Blazingstar are the large perennials. Others include Prairie Dropseed, Little Bluestem, Black-eyed susan, Purple Coneflower, Beebalm (Monarda), and Yarrow.
6. Behind the prairie garden on the south side is a wildlife area with beautiful, high-value plants including Chokeberry, Elderberry, Honeysuckle, and Hazelnut. The berries and nuts are also edible for humans.
7. The paths are lined with low-growing evergreens.
8. The understory of the mature birch tree is Honeysuckle shrubs and native woodland plants - Pennsylvania sedge, Spiderwort, and False Solomon's Seal.

Back Yard

1. A flower garden is located near the patio. It is lined with alpine strawberries - an edible, everbearing strawberry. There are two spring-blooming azaleas from the original landscape next to the house. The garden also includes perennials Coral Bells, Astilbe, Coreopsis, Siberian iris and Wormwood for summer color.
2. A Prairie Radiance Euonymous is located in the southwest corner for brilliant fall color.
3. A Cotoneaster hedge is planted on the east side for high wildlife value and winter berries. Raspberries are planted on the north side.
4. Red twig dogwood with its red stems, ornamental grasses and pines provide winter color from the kitchen window.
5. In front of the pines is a tea garden that can be harvested for teas - rosehips, wild bergamot, chamomile, and spearmint.
6. Fruit tree guilds are planted to the north of the tea garden. There are two dwarf apples and a dwarf cherry. Supporting plants include nitrogen fixers, pest repellents, and plants to attract beneficial insects and pollinators.
7. On the north side of the path are the companion berry and annual vegetable gardens. The vegetable gardens have a bean trellis in the middle surrounded with 7 annual beds that can be rotated. Behind the annual beds are perennials and their companion plants - blueberries, lingonberries and bunchberries; asparagus, sweet alyssum and dill; and strawberries, borage, and chives.
8. Behind the blueberries is a cold frame with mixed cutting greens and an herb and edible flower spiral.
9. Lemon lollipop daylilies, sunflowers, and black eyed susans border the garden. These help attract beneficial insects to the area.
10. A rain garden captures water from the shed and directs it into two swales - on in front of the asparagus and one in front of the shed trellis. The swales are also used as walking paths.
11. The shed has a trellis on the east side. Tomatoes, grapes or hardy kiwi can be grown on the trellis.

South Side of the House

The south side of the house is shady. There is a groundcover of wild strawberry in the utility area and a gray dogwood, ferns, and goat's beard on the south side of the path.

North Side of House

There is a gray dogwood, ferns and low-growing evergreens in the shady area. St. John's Wort, sedum and red-twig dogwood are in the sunnier area.