Have you ever struggled to start tackling a tired and under-loved landscape? For our Patio team, the Berm behind our perennial section has long been one of those challenges — and what better way to re-imagine this space than a collaborative design?
If you walk around the Patio today, you'll see a landscape in progress. Follow along here as we catalog the growth of our newest demonstration garden, from the initial ideas to the implementation. Along the way, we hope you find some inspiration to get started on own your garden projects.
A garden can be many things: a canvas, a sanctuary, a patch of nature, and so much more. Our team came up with three major themes to divide the new landscape.
As hotter and hotter summers beat down on the Pacific Northwest, choosing drought-tolerant plants helps keep full-sun areas lively with minimal watering and maintenance.
Taking advantage of existing tree cover creates a home for shade-loving plants. These understory dwellers can deliver spectacular color to brighten up even the darkest corners of the garden.
Pollinators help our gardens and wider ecosystems flourish. Using native plants and ornamentals rich in pollen and berries, a diverse pollinator garden helps invite wildlife like birds and bees.
Our team began to form goals for the space by identifying problems and opportunities. This berm redesign is a collaborative effort, so each gardener from our Patio team took home a map of the area to brainstorm their own ideas. Once you have a goal in mind, it's sometimes harder to narrow down your garden design ideas than to come up with them in the first place. Our team worked together to combine these ideas into a multi-purpose garden.
The Berm is a large area with a variety of different conditions. Full-sun conditions made it hard for many plants to thrive in the western corner, so this spot was set aside for drought-tolerant plants. In the center, existing tree-cover created a perfect opportunity to showcase shade-tolerant color. That left the largest section to become a diverse pollinator garden, showcasing a mixture of annuals, perennials, and native plants to support our local ecology.
Once our goals were identified, we came up with a list of plants that were up to the task. We plotted each of these plants onto the map. The full list of plant choices is available at the bottom of the page, both as a map and collection of products to add to your own garden.
The next step is cleaning up. Creating a 'blank slate' helps you see your vision more clearly.
First, our team cleared the soil of unwanted plants like weeds and overgrown perennials. Then, we heavily pruned the perennials, shrubs, and trees that we wanted to keep in the landscape. This is also a great opportunity to nourish your soil with compost or a layer of mulch.
Before we started planting, we acquired and set aside all of the plants that we wanted to use. Staging them where they'll be planted allowed us to preview how the final landscape will look and make any last-minute adjustments before we started digging.
Early spring is a great time to plant. The soil is damp from nourishing rains, yet the days are getting warmer to encourage new growth and microbial activity in the soil.
When you're ready to plant, dig a hole about the size of the container. Massage the bottom of the root ball to make sure any compacted soil or roots can freely grow downwards into the ground. Keep the potting soil from the pot level with the surrounding ground and make sure not to cover the stems to avoid rot. When you're done planting, give your new plants a hearty watering and remember that they may need extra water while they're getting established in the soil.
While we're still early in the process, we're excited to watch this new landscape grow into its full form. Come take a peek the next time you stop by the Farm!
For an example of a mature and successful landscape design project around the Farm, look no further than the Pollinator Meadow adjacent to the Berm along 82nd Avenue. The pathways around the farmhouse Cafe are also lushly planted, providing a beautiful and functional demonstration of how these plants will look as they grown in your own garden.
Our weekly newsletter is the best way to keep up with the freshest seasonal updates from the Nursery and Cafe.
