This is Part 3 of Our Native Landscape Story.
Part 3 is the area behind our garage.
I took the photo below when we were looking at the house with our realtor. The trailer belongs to the previous homeowner.
I was amazed at the amount of stone mulch that was on the property when looking at our house.
Use of decorative stone as mulch is very popular in Minnesota and it's not just used in small areas but large parts of yards. I don't know why, since it doesn't reflect anything in our northern landscape.
It is no easy task either to try to pick up or remove stone mulch. The stone here was close to 6 inches thick along with two layers of plastic. We stockpiled all of the stone mulch on the parking pad from Part 2 and it was also hauled to aggregate recycling.
We regraded the existing soil, added some composted leaves and planted native forbs that like medium to moist soil. We also removed the line of invasive Tiger Daylilies (Hemerocallis fulva) from above the stone wall.
This photo was taken in June the year after it was planted, it's just starting to fill in. A mulched path goes around to the far side of our garage where we have our two tumbling compost bins.
Some of the native plants added were Culver's Root, Sweet Joe Pye Weed, Blue Lobelia, Asters and Ironweed. This is a favorite area for Bumble Bees and Wasps in August and September. Virgin's Bower Clematis is the native vine on the trellis.
