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janie03

Family garden debate show us the way to go

janie03
19 years ago

My husband and I are debating whether it's more or less expensive to landscape the garden in our new home using indigenous plants. He thinks that it will be too expensive to use indigenous plants and I say in the long run we'll be saving the environment and money.

Also, we live in Colorado Springs - what types of indigenous plants should we look at?

Thanks! :)

Comments (11)

  • The_Mohave__Kid
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thats a tuff one ...

    First ... I see many gardens with plants that are not natives yet are said to be ...

    Native plants in theory will be easier to grow in your area and less prone to abiotic and biotic problems like poor soil conditions ... pest problems but in reality some natives are hard to transplant or are very finicky to being grown in cultivation or may not grow in the conditions found in your backyard ... so you will have to do your homework.

    Water savings would be a savings indeed if you can avoid the grass and work with drought tolerant plants. Any carefully planned and well managed landscape is a plus for the environment ... I myself would not stay up late worrying about a native garden or non native garden. Build a landscape that makes you both happy ....

    Good Day ...

  • lazy_gardens
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Check the local nurseries.

    If you treat them properly, native plants can save you a LOT of effort: no amendments, less water, fewer pests.

    They might be a bit more expensive to buy, but you can rack up a huge bill for replacing non-natives that die.

  • BradleyQT
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I say go (somewhat) native. Think native or naturalized. Strike while the iron is hot (i.e. Denver's in yet another year of drought) and go for native/naturalized xeriscape. Tell your husband it means less mowing and less watering.

    Take a day trip up to the Denver Botanic Gardens. They have a bunch of great books on xeriscaping / native plants. The Xeriscape gardener curator at DBG helped to start the popularizing the whole concept of xeriscape.

    I'm trying to think of a book I read that I just loved - maybe Rocky Mountain Xeriscape? Or maybe just Xeriscaping. It's huge and it's from a gardner in Boulder so a lot of the plant lists are applicable across the Front Rage. Go to the library and search for Xeriscaping and see what exists around you.

    I googled with xeriscape, "native plants" and "Colorado Springs" and hit this site (linked from http://www.xeriscape.org/demogardens.html#colorado). I got to the CO Springs Utility demonstration garden - linked below. This looks awesome! Go to the garden and ask about where they got their plants. They'll probably help you find the nursery in the area with the best rates.

    Also, see if you can take cuttings or seeds to try to propagate your own place. A very successful prairie restorationist I know would just "overspray" a wide variety of seed on a plot. Things would grow in the microenvironment that suited them.

    You didn't describe your lot, but obviously lot characteristics are going to determine your plant choices.

    Off the top of my head, I'd throw out spruces, junipers, little bluestem, and prairie dropseed for architecture.

    Jupiter's beard and yarrow (comes in many colors beyond just white) are thriving in my mom's sunny yard in Littleton.

    Personally, I like the combo of native / naturalized with functional (garden vegetables, grains, etc.) but you need to decide your vision for your space.

    If DH is worried about price consider starting some of the "filler plants" from seed instead of buying seedlings.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Colorado Springs Utilities xeriscape garden

  • sarahliora
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I purchase a lot of plants for various clients. I don't usually see much difference in the cost of "native" vs non-native plants...pricing is pretty standardized according to container size. Do some pricing for each of the potential landscapes and see if there really is a difference. This sounds like a debate NOT based on facts. :)

    This is a great time to get to know your neighbors...lots of "native" or xeric plants reproduce prolifically-- almost to the point of weediness -- especially this year. You should be able to get all kinds of free plant divisions.

    You could also try the GardenWeb Plant Exchange.

  • Linda_8B
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Check this link for a native plant society chapter near you and see if someone there can help you decide. Personally, I think the most important thing is to at LEAST include as many natives plants as you can, reduce water use and go organic if possible.

    Here is a link that might be useful: native plant society

  • Rosa
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Just go visit the Xeriscape gardens on Mesa Rd. Never have found the gate to the gardens locked. During business hours make sure to go inside and talk to the people there. Sometimes they have freebees as well (rain gauges and seeds from thier plants). If you haven't checked out the website they do have complete lists of all planted in the gardens.

    There are a host of nurseries here. One of the better for carrying native SPECIES (not cultivars) is located at the end of South Institute off of Fountain Blvd. Can't remember name but it's the 300? block. Also try Harding Nurseries out east for native species shrubs.
    Good Eath Nursery on West Colorado across from Safeway has a fair amount of native offerings. Speak directly with the owner if possible-he is somwhat portly, older gent with longish greying hair, glasses.
    And then there is a small but really good nursery on Walnut street a few blocks north of Uintah. Great stuff, and the only one that sells heirlooms.
    Ricks nursery on Uintah (between 17th and 19th)is good-go around to the nursery part around the back on Armstrong. Have many natives. Muy mom bought there a few years ago and was very pleased.

    Native plant society members do not consult for horticulture plantings (unless you have one as a neighbor). They are a conservation/preservation group. Not a gardening group.

    Contact your Extension service. They are located on South Union in the County health building complex-northeast corner.

    Go to the library and get Lauren Springers, "The Undaunted Gardener".

    Where in the Springs are you?? I am just west of the Springs above Manitou.

    I find that top quality native plants are not exactly cheap but no more expensive than non-native top quality plants. If you know waht you want you can usually pick of some good stuff at the discount stores-but you really have to know what you want and don;t expect any help from the staff.
    You will however save a boatload in water bills over the years to come by using native, low water plants.

  • Rosa
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    oh, and pop over to the Rocky Mtn Gardening forun for more local members advise. If you are up for a trip to Denver many there can also advise on great places to go.

  • pjcalgirl
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Native plants help people have less impact on the environment.They tend to use less water and be just beautiful in thier native environment.Introduced plants tend to(but not always)fight to look 1/2 decent. Herbasides,pestacides,amending the soil,and insecticides are usually the result of plants that can't take the climate they are bieng introduced to.HUGE bucks there.My mother likes non-native and non-xeriscape plants. her water bill is 4x's mine. (She's rethinking xeriscaping).Part xeriscape non-native and xeriscape native looks nice too.There's a lady on the Texas Gardening forum that saves herself 12,000 a year on water trading from non-native/xeriscape plants to native xeriscape. Good luck deciding!PJ

  • zmorten2002
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Remember that native plants are found in native soils. Many times as development happens the soils are removed and top soil brought in. Start your garden from cuttings if you want to save money. I planted a 1 and 1/2 foot cutting from nine bark and in two years it has become a 5 foot (each direction) shrub. Ask neighbours what grow best / lowest maintenance in their yards

  • nrynes
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    As a couple others have said, natives cost the same as non-native perennials/shrubs to purchase. Having grown natives for a number of years, I can tell you that they will cost you less in the long run (little water needs, no need to fertilize). Plus they survive our numerous hailstorms better than non-natives (I live in Colorado Springs too).

    I live near the Black Forest and have heavy clay soil and lots of sun and wind. What grows well for me and is native? Penstemons (several varieties do very well), junipers, pinyons, ponderosa pine, Liatris punctata, blue grama grass, little bluestem grass, Ratibida columnifera (Mexican Hat), rabbitbrush, ephedra, yuccas, gaillardia, our native daisy, four-wing saltbrush, buffaloberry, mountain mahogany, the native roses, columbines, the native iris (Iris missouriensis??), the native asters and fleabane, a native junegrass, several varieties of artemesia, agastache (not quite native to this area, but does well), gambel's oak, native (and non-native) yarrow, Maximillian's sunflower (again, not quite native here), purple prairie clover, winecup, pussytoes, stonecrop, buffalograss, native coreopsis, and more.

    What does NOT do well: spruces (need too much water), fussy roses like hybrid teas (old garden roses do well), most of the non-native shrubs that you can mail order, aspens (again, need too much water), hostas, rudbeckias (shredded by hail), some of the desert flowers like desert four o'clock (too much rain here).

    I also have non-natives in my yard, but they share the same habitat preferences and are as weather-tolerant as my natives.

    To save money, you can start seeds either indoors (in the spring) or outside (over the winter and into summer). Cuttings are another good way, as someone else mentioned. You can purchase seed (Western Native Seed is great), can collect it along trails and roads (know what you're collecting though), or get it from friends/neighbors. I have a sizeable garden, so I am mostly starting my own plants from seed and getting divisions from friends. Purchasing all of the plants that I want to fill my large garden would cost many thousands of dollars.

    I'll have seed of natives late this summer and into fall that I would be happy to share with you (if you want). Unfortunately I don't have much right now that is available for cuttings. Send me an e-mail if you're interested in seeds :)

    Nancy

    (nancy_rynes@yahoo.com)

    If you get up to Denver, Paulino's Gardens on the north side has a fall sale - plants 50% off. I think it starts late August, and they usually have a good collection of native flowers and shrubs.

  • BradleyQT
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Okay let's clear up a couple of misconceptions about native plants. And maybe xeriscape while we are at it. Because there are so many in one post - I'll quote it here.

    1. Native plants help people have less impact on the environment.

    People that are truly into natives tend to create microclimates to allow them to have greater diversity. Creating those microclimates can be just a big an impact as the poor trying-to-cottage-garden-in-CO gardener. Plus if you buy seeds from non-local sources, you risk screwing with the gene pool of native plants.

    2. They tend to use less water and be just beautiful in thier native environment.

    Native does NOT equal xeric! These are two very, very different concepts. Columbines and Aspens are two of Colorado's more notable native plants. Neither use less water. In fact, both prefer moist environments.

    Native equals native.

    Xeric equals xeric. There are many wonderful xeric plants from areas all over the world that use less water.

    3. Introduced plants tend to(but not always)fight to look 1/2 decent.

    Introduced is a very broad term. Usually it means a plant that has escaped cultivation. For example, chicory is introduced and naturalized. It's a plant that does well on very little water and in all conditions.

    Many xeric plants look twice as good as wet-adapted native plants in Colorado drought.

    4. Herbacides,pestacides,amending the soil,and insecticides are usually the result of plants that can't take the climate they are bieng introduced to.

    Native plants have just as many problems with bugs as non-native plants do. Look at the pine beetle. You can't tell me that pines aren't native to Colorado.

    I will agree that many non-native plants need something better than Colorado clay. However, I don't think that adding organic compost to the soil and mulching my plants well as being detrimental to the environment.

    5. HUGE bucks there.My mother likes non-native and non-xeriscape plants. her water bill is 4x's mine. (She's rethinking xeriscaping).

    Xericscaping is a great way to reduce the water bill. And it will allow your mom to keep her very favorite non-native/non-xeriscape plants in little plots of high water/high maintenance plants. Xericscape might mean dry landscaping but the best practioners find that it is 1. putting together plants with similar likes, and 2. putting low water plants around the border to stop cement watering.

    6. Part xeriscape non-native and xeriscape native looks nice too.

    Agreed. Check out the xeriscape cottage garden at the Denver Botanical Gardens (it's straight ahead after you enter off York).

    7. There's a lady on the Texas Gardening forum that saves herself 12,000 a year on water trading from non-native/xeriscape plants to native xeriscape.

    I assume she went from non-native, non-xeriscaped to native xeriscape. That sounds like a reasonable water gain if that is the case. If she went from xeric with non-natives to xeric with natives, I think something's wrong.

    Xeric is not no water. It is not gardening with rocks. It is putting the plants that are high water/high maintenance together as islands in your yard. You might even use burms to help them collect the water they need. It's using the next highest level (some water/some maintenance) as surrounding plants. It's using low water/low maintenace plants along all outside edges.

    Any of these plants may be native or non-native. Hopefully, you don't plant invasive natives or invasive non-natives.

    If you do buy seed of native plants that are in your area, please buy it from locally collected populations. Don't screw with the genetics.

    Happy gardening!

    ~becca

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