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celestron2000_gw

Who wants to help with this planting challange?

Celestron2000
11 years ago

Hey all,

So as I've mentioned a couple of times now I am in the process of landscaping my parentsâ new house west of Salida, CO from scratch. It's kinda a fun challenge, but I'm a fairly newby gardener and my parents really don't garden at all. Please help me pick plants and share any other useful tidbits about challenging sites like this.

The Challenge: My parents new lot is about 1 acre at just over 8000 ft elevation, it gently slopes to the south and is mainly full sun. The area is quite arid and currently is sparsely populated w/ pinion pines and a few small patches of ? native perennials. The soil is sandy. The area is very windy, AND... there's a BIG deer problem. Tons of them and elk and llamas occasionally cross their yard and would likely try to nibble.

I would like the plants to be as xeric as possible, so as to be fairly low maintenance for my parents.

My current plan includes the following plants, please feel free to make suggestions or raise concerns.

Lilac (various)

Mormon Tea or Joint fir

Russian Sage

Basket of Gold

Day Lillies

Salvia (ornamental spp)

Sage (culinary)

Iris

Daffodils

Peony (in a protected area)

Pineleaf Penstemon

Yucca (red and multicolored)

Lavender

Tam Juniper

Feather reed ornamental grass

Blue fescue ornamental grass (clumps only, no lawn)

California Poppy (some seeds scattered in front area)

I'm thinking of doing a few focal plantings near the entrances and leaving the rest of the landscape natural as watering will be fairly limited.

Thanks for any advice.

-Celeste

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