1 of 13
2 of 13
3 of 13
4 of 13
5 of 13
6 of 13
7 of 13
8 of 13
9 of 13
10 of 13
11 of 13
12 of 13
13 of 13
CLICK HERE FOR A GALLERY OF THIS SEASON'S NEW GARDEN PLANTS AND PRODUCTS
St. Louis yards tend to hold certain characteristics in common: clay soil, drought conditions, and poor drainage, to name a few. Other things—elements like patios, trees, flowers, containers, etc.—are more variable. We placed a mix of conditions, both regular and random, into a hypothetical backyard scenario and asked four local horticulture professionals how they might approach it.
Their approaches are as interesting in their similarities (recommendations for lots of ground cover, minimal lawn) as they are in their differences (suggestions of meadows, ornamental grasses, and certain seating options). And just as our imaginary scenario is a patchwork of challenges, it’s fun to imagine what a patchwork of their solutions might look like in our yards.
THE YARD:
A 6,000-square-foot rectangular yard covered in weedy turf. The front third gets gutter runoff and has a moderate drainage problem. The middle third is shaded. The back third gets a fair amount of sun, but its clay soil is compacted. Plantings, turf included, have had a rough go in this part of the yard.
THE CHALLENGE:
Design a landscape that addresses the above concerns while also satisfying this hypothetical homeowner’s wish for as little work as possible. Native plantings and other sustainable gardening methods are welcome.
Ted Spaid
(Hunter Beckham, Klaus-Dieter Rausch, and Jay Wohlschlaeger Jr.)
Landscape Architects
SWT Design, 314-644-5700, swtdesign.com
The professionals at landscape design firm SWT Design work on everything from home gardens to commercial spaces like Plaza Frontenac. It’s on these commercial projects that SWT gets to push the envelope a bit, trading in same-old lawns and annuals for less familiar approaches, including meadows. “A lot of people aren’t ready yet for meadows, but that’s usually just because they haven’t seen one that’s been planted neatly,” says SWT designer Klaus-Dieter Rausch.
SOLUTION:
The “meadow” in this design takes up about a quarter of the yard and is planted with native grasses and colorful perennials that happen to do well in poor soil. The height and color of the meadow will change as the seasons pass, but according to Mr. Rausch, it will always look good. “In spring, you’ll have yellows, followed by reds in summer and purples in autumn,” he says. “The grasses go from green to yellow and will even look beautiful in winter when frost covers the seedpods.”
Commanding the center of the yard is a large woodland garden inhabited by large trees, shrubs, and low ground cover. It’s potentially the most beautiful—and least work-intensive—part of the yard overall. And in the front of the yard, a small but efficient rain garden laps up water while also providing the foundation for an adjacent flagstone path. “It’s basically a cut-and-fill,” Mr. Rausch explains. “We would cut soil out of the rain garden to create a detained area, then use that soil to fill in the area under and around the flagstones.”
ADVICE:
“You’ll need to do some weeding in the establishment phase of this garden, which is about one to two years,” says Mr. Rausch. “But after that, it basically boils down to trimming the meadow once a year in spring and cutting back the rain garden annually.”
Ellen Barredo
Horticulture Manager
Bowood Farms, 314-454-6868,
Ms. Barredo has often used her own home garden as a guinea pig, testing out the plantings and products endorsed at her workplace, Bowood Farms. For this design, she pulled from the backyards of her childhood. “It’s the way people used to have their yards in the ’50s and ’60s, but have stopped for whatever reason.”
SOLUTION:
One reason gardens have changed is today’s widespread disdain for clover. “It’s a useful plant,” Ms. Barredo says. “Clover is a nitrogen fixator, which means it takes nitrogen from the air and feeds it to the surrounding lawn. It also provides food to rabbits and deer, distracting them from your flowers and vegetables.” An oasis of clover and fescue sits in the center of Ms. Barredo’s yard, surrounded by a “fence” of shrubs and trees. “That way, neighbors who might not appreciate the clover aren’t face-to-face with it,” she says. Another old-school trick: building a low-sitting deck (about 12 inches above the ground) above the swampy portion of the yard. “Underneath the deck I’ve put a fabric gravel liner, and to the side, a small patio of permeable pavers,” she says.
ADVICE:
“What I love about this garden is that you can expand or subtract from it, depending on your tastes and budget,” Ms. Barredo says, referring to the various perennials and shrubs peppered throughout the yard. “That’s where you will get most of your color.” Personal preference should also determine how often the lawn is mowed, Ms. Barredo says. She recommends using a slit seeder to reseed every three years. “That will give you more of an even, less clumpy look.”
Scott Woodbury
Curator
Whitmire Wildflower Garden, Shaw Nature Reserve, 636-451-3512,
Someday, sustainable gardening will be old hat. And on that day, Scott Woodbury will be recognized as a man way ahead of his time. He has been preaching rain gardens and native plantings to St. Louis gardeners for decades. For him, our hypothetical backyard scenario was a no-brainer. “This yard is pretty typical in St. Louis, with its compact clay, poor drainage, shade trees, and neighbors who care about how the neighborhood looks,” says Mr. Woodbury.
SOLUTION:
Large patches of ground cover, minimal lawn space, a shallow rain garden, and a small patio are the anchors of Mr. Woodbury’s design. “My approach was to make the yard look as simple as possible to reduce overall maintenance and to also make it look clean,” he says. Weeds don’t have room to grow through the turf of thick, clay-loving field sedge, and water runoff routes to the rear of the yard via an underground tile trench.
ADVICE:
The “lawn” portion of Mr. Woodbury’s sketch is small enough (less than a third of the yard) to mow with a push or electric mower. “Mow the field sedge down the center, and let it grow out to its full height of 10 inches in the surrounding raised beds,” he says. Although Mr. Woodbury designed the small patio expressly to stage a rain barrel, he scaled it just big enough to fit a small picnic table as well. “I’m a firm believer in designing a place for yourself in your garden,” he says. “That’s how you’ll come to know it and appreciate it.” Tuck-
ing the rain barrel behind a screen of leather-flower vines disguises it from view.
Jerry Pence
Owner
Landscape Design Services, 314-974-0705
Landscape designer Jerry Pence says there’s no such thing as a no-maintenance yard, but this design is about as close as it gets. “It’s adaptable, fairly easy to maintain, requires little to no chemicals, and features a mix of colors, forms, and textures,” he says.
Mr. Pence, who also teaches horticulture at St. Louis Community College–Meramec, has applied that same low-fuss approach to many home gardens over the years. “Will this yard be different from your neighbors’? Probably,” Mr. Pence says. “But not so different that it is offensive.”
SOLUTION:
Mr. Pence’s design uses three large masses of plantings. “All of these plantings are either native or on the Plants of Merit list,” he says, which is viewable at plantsofmerit.org. “By planting in mass like that, you’ll be working in the yard
a few times a year versus weekly.”
Near the house’s downspouts are water-adaptive plants such as holly and ‘Blue Star’ amsonia. Water filters through these plants, getting absorbed and detained along the way. “By the time it reaches the turf in the back of the yard, most of that runoff is gone,” says Mr. Pence.
ADVICE:
For the rear of the yard, Mr. Pence selected plants that don’t require a lot of soil preparation, keeping prep work and costs to a minimum. Allowed to grow to full height, shrubs will provide more privacy around the deck. Mr. Pence recommends simply cutting back the grasses and perennials at the end of winter and then standing back. “There won’t always be something to do in this garden,” he says. “You don’t need to be deadheading and pruning all the time,”
he says.
By Shaila Wunderlich / Photography by Whitney Curtis / Illustrations by Vaclav Malek
