It was a cold overcast day in January 2009 when we decided it is time to do some native plant landscaping around our place. Rebecca wanted to landscape the southern exposure on the south side of our office.

Site Characteristics

1. Hottest, driest location on our place.
2. 10 feet from building to property edge.
3. Powerline hanging along property edge about 20 feet above the ground.
4. 16 inch annual precipitation (Foothills), but this hot southern exposure bakes the moisture out of the soil faster than other locations so we think it is more like a 10-12 inch precipitation reality.
5. Soil is a silt-loam with good water holding capacity.
6. We have a Puncturevine Tribulus terrestris weed problem in this area.

Ideas to Guide the Project

1. Want no plants over 5 feet tall to block the view of the Blue Mountains from office windows, and want no plants growing up into the overhead powerline.
2. We want to raise the elevation of the project so we can see the shorter plants better from the office windows.
3. We have some chunks of used concrete from the front walk we removed that we can recycle to build a low retaining wall.
4. We do not want our plants crowding over the neighbor’s property.
5. We want a rustic western look.
6. We want to showcase some of Utah’s Choice native plants.
7. We think we will use plastic weed barrier and some kind of mulch to preserve moisture and control weeds.
8. We aim to plant this area in February or March and we think that will be early enough in the spring that we will not need to provide any supplementary irrigation water this establishment year or any year. We are not planning for any irrigation system.

Plan by Nora Parkhurst, Parkhurst Gardens. The straight lines in the sketch are going to be some recycled split rail fencing, if we can find it. We have decided to plant groups of 3-5 Estate Plugs™ instead of just one Estate Plug™ in any one spot, so the project fills in more quickly in the first year. We will thin plants later if it gets too crowded. If you don’t mind waiting an extra year, you can just plant one plant in a given spot.

Native Plant Species To Use and Planting Quantities

Estimated Plant Quantity	Native Species	Plant Type
20	Achnatherum hymenoides Indian Ricegrass	grass
40	Bouteloua gracilis Blue Grama	grass
10	Leymus cinereus Basin Wildrye	grass
22	Arenaria macradenia Mohave Sandwort	perennial
18	Astragalus utahensis Utah Ladyfinger Milkvetch	perennial
10	Castilleja chromosa Desert Indian Paintbrush	perennial
7	Eriogonum microthecum Rock Buckwheat	perennial
10	Eriogonum umbellatum Sulfur Buckwheat	perennial
18	Hymenoxys acaulis Sundancer Daisy	perennial
14	Penstemon cyananthus Wasatch Penstemon	perennial
20	Penstemon eatonii Firecracker Penstemon	perennial
1	Amelanchier utahensis Utah Serviceberry	shrub
2	Cercocarpus ledifolius Curl-leaf Mt. Mahogany	shrub/tree
4	Ephedra viridis Green Mormon Tea	shrub
2	Ericameria nauseosus Rubber Rabbitbrush	shrub
3	Purshia tridentata Bitterbrush	shrub
1	Ribes aureum Golden Currant	shrub
3	Salvia dorrii Desert Sage	Shrub
205	Total Plants

What Actually Happened

• We did not lay down any weed barrier fabric, we will just do hand weeding as needed.
• After completing the planting of this project we watered it a total of 3 times, with a soaker hose letting it run overnight.  We do not anticipate the need to water it again because we matched the plant community with the amount of precipitation we normally get.
• We are very pleased with the performance of these plants.  The Amelanchier Utahensis (Utah serviceberry) put on a total of 2 feet of growth after being planted in late April.
• The planting looked attractive and filled in by the end of summer
• Nearly all plants used were either 15 cubic inch Estate Plugs™, 10 cubic inch Estate Plugs™ or 25 cubic inch Rootmakers™…we think this is a real demonstration of the survivability and vigor of the Estate Plugs™ and Rootmakers™…
• The whole planting was completed with 205 plants for approximately $600 in plant material

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