Landscaping Year 1

See notes for following photo regarding underlayment for this hardscaped bed.  This is one of two beds that are surrounded by red lava rock.  The light colored rock is jasper, which is beautiful.  The goal is for the xeriscaped plants to eventually take over the whole bed.  There are ornamental grasses, apache plume, desert fernbush, and gaillardia, all of which survived the deer and the summer heat.  And 3 feet of snow for the whole of winter 2015-2016.  The bush at the top, which is an ornamental buckeye something or other, did not survive the deer.

Landscaping Year 1

Our front "lawn" is quite large and steep, so in an effort to be more water wise, I wanted to hardscape the bottom section.  There will be no plants in the areas with red lava rock, and underneath those rocks is a layer of cardboard and then a layer of landscaping fabric.  The light colored stone bed has the same underlayment with holes cut out for xeriscape plants.  Our ornamental rocks also are a feature.  The woodchip bed is the original flower bed from past owners, and it had some day lilies already in place.  Other plants are ones I added.  By the end of the summer it became apparent that flowers in the pots won't work as the deer constantly pulled them out which caused the roots to dry out.  The older daylilies might as well be removed because the deer nibble the leaves and eat every flower bud right before they bloom.

Xeriscaped corner showing lots of color in the spring

Several kinds of prickly pear in bloom, as well as potted cacti that need protection in the winter.  At the back of this display are the double fringed salmon colored Oriental poppies.

Contrasts

The blooming yucca contrasted nicely with the barberry bush behind it.  Serendipity...wish I could take credit for planning this!

Cholla

My cold-hardy cholla bloomed for the first time this year, as you can see.  Notice that each spine has a little curve on the end.  That hooks the unwary intruder and requires pliers to pull out.  Wonder how we know this?  Ask Cayden.

Fernbush

This high desert bush is Chamaebatiaria millefolium, or Fernbush.  In this photo the bush is about 7 years old, and the hot dry 2012 summer brought out the best flower show I have seen.  The bees love it and the leaves are fragrant when crushed.  Wonderful specimen plant for a xeriscaped garden.