I’ve spent the last 12 years watching various parts of my landscape die, and I’m now ready and willing to do something about it. It has to be done on a tight budget so I’m planning on it taking several years to finish, which is probably a good thing anyway because it will take plants several years to grow to their mature size and I’ll probably change my mind a few times as to what I actually want.
As of July of 2007, my backyard is basically a wasteland of weeds, a couple of dying rose bushes, one nice 20 feet tall blue spruce, one apple tree that’s about 10 feet tall, and about 20 junk trees that started from seeds that fell off the neighbor’s tree. These junk trees range from 6 inches to 8 feet in height.
My Landscaping Goal
I want to convert my backyard wasteland into a place where it’s confortable to spend time in. The kids need a place to play, there needs to be some shade to block the oppressive summer sun, and if there’s enough room, trees that will give us some privacy.
My house is a split entry. The basement is about 5 feet in the ground, and the upper level’s windows are about 10-15 feet off the ground. My neighbor’s house directly behind me is about 10 feet higher due to the fact that the ground slopes. For privacy, I’m going to need a tree or trees that are at least 20-30 feet tall.
The area that I live in is a desert. Summers are hot with little to no rain, and winters are cold and snowy so the plants that I choose have to be able to survive under these conditions.
I’ve tried and failed to successfully grow a lawn in the backyard. Whatever the reason, the lawn simply could not survive the summer and by August, it was completely brown. We gave up on it several years ago and killed the entire backyard. Since then, the dead brown lawn has been replaced with a carpet of weeds. As I proceed with this project, very little space will be devoted to lawn - in fact only a small patches will have any lawn at all. The rest will be flower beds, ground cover, rock gardens, etc.
Climate Zones
The US hardiness zone map puts me in either zone 6 or 7, but I’ve read a few articles that state that I should focus on plants that survive in zone 5 or lower. I’ve read that each part of the yard can be in a different zone; for example, the dryer vent will raise a small area a zone, as well as the southern side of the house because sunlight reflects off the house and helps raise the temperature.
USDA Plant Hardiness Zones divide everything into 11 zones, which are based on the average minimum temperature in 10 degree Farenheit increments. Zone 3 is -40 to -30 F, 4 is -30 to -20 F, 5 is -20 to -10 F, 6 is -10 to 0 F, etc. Since it uses an average, I can see why it appears that I’m in a higher zone, but temperatures have dropped to -10 degrees F before, so it makes sense to try and stick to zone 5 or better for the majority of plants.
There’s a lot of work to do before my backyard will be comfortable, habitable, and something that I can be proud of. Right now, it’s in the design phase and consists of a few chicken scratches on a pad of graph paper. When I’m happy with the design, I’ll post the drafts.