Six (Big) Steps to Transforming Your Yard

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July 12, 2024 by Kristen De Lay

Six (Big) Steps to Transforming Your Yard

By Kristen De Lay

On June 29th, I got to cross off a bucket list item by being a stop on a garden tour! It’s a goal I have had since I started down the road of xeriscape gardening back in 2004. When the Front Range Wild Ones asked if we’d be on their Garden Crawl a few weeks ago, I jumped at the chance. I also saw it as a great opportunity to invite our Sustainable Southern Gables group and neighborhood association members. Thank you to all that came! It was a great turnout!

Our yard is not the perfect, pristine garden many may think of when they think of a garden tour, but I have a feeling the birds and bugs see it as a perfect home. My goal at our Southern Gables house has been to create a habitat garden (that also uses a lot less water than the perfect, pristine gardens), so I feel we’ve met our goal. A lot of people on the tour asked questions about how we did this transformation. In this post, I want to share with you what we’ve learned by transitioning 3 houses to native and xeric plants. We purchased this house like many of you, with a large expanse of Kentucky Blue Grass and a silver maple or two. Our yard was not in the best shape with several dead trees and concrete pads that were cracked and slanting towards the house (aka – water flowed towards our foundation, not away). Now, we’re included on garden tours! To transform our yard, we have mostly followed the following order, and learned a lot along the way that I want to share with you.

Before Photos:

Step 1: Hardscape. Plan your electrical needs and add in your patios, walkways, boulders, heavy fountains/water features, gazebos, hot tubs, pergolas, etc. Think ahead of “rooms” you might like to have in your yard and get those set up first. If you do anything else as a first step, the folks you hire (or your husband) are going to unknowingly stomp across your plants and ruin the babies that you spent money on and cared for to get them established. (I speak from experience here.) Once you get these elements in, you have the bones of the yard and it’s easier to decide what trees, shrubs, and plants you’d like to plant in later stages. P.S. I have used Dhiel Concrete for three concrete projects and they have been amazing. I highly recommend them.

Step 2: Trees. Have you ever heard the ancient proverb: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”? It always makes me giggle when I see it, but it’s so true! Like many cities, Lakewood is working to increase its tree canopy size because trees add a whole host of benefits. Adding trees to our landscapes provides shelter and food for birds, bugs, and other animals, makes sitting outside much more enjoyable in the heat of summer, can lower our heating and cooling bills, and increases the value of our homes. However, as you all know, it takes time to grow a tree. Our yards are bigger than many Denver neighborhoods, but when choosing your trees, the biggest mistake I see is getting ones that grow too big (also planting too deep, but that’s a topic for another day). Think about protecting views you may want to keep and what areas you may want to block. I know we love our neighbors, but privacy is also highly desirable. Choose trees that fit in your yard at their full height and width and provide the coverage you want, without the need to prune. My husband is a big fan of columnar trees, as they grow tall and narrow. I also highly recommend regionally native trees or native cultivars. These will provide more resources for our neighborhood animals and will thrive in our environment.

Step 3: Shrubs. Next, I recommend adding shrubs. Like the trees, they can take a bit to establish, but not nearly as long. Choose ones that are regionally native, in addition to the ones you just love. I am trying for a mix of 50% native, but you do you. I highly recommend ones that don’t need a lot of water. The Plant Select program offers a lot of options that are both beautiful and regionally appropriate. If you can squeeze in some natives, I will be singing your praises (and so will the birds).

Step 4: Perennials. Remove any weeds in the areas where you’ll be planting. It’s so much easier to remove them first vs fighting them while you’re establishing new plants. Granted, you will still be fighting them when establishing new plants, but it’ll be way less. On a side note here… DON’T use weed barrier. You’ll ruin your soil and weeds will still get in, and the plants you want more of, won’t be able to spread. It’s so much better to use wood mulch, pea gravel, or even groundcover plants or grasses as weed barriers (which is what I do) Now for the fun part! Add your perennials. Plant the low plants in front and the taller plants in back. People tell me I have a green thumb, but really my secret is just to choose low-water plants that love the sun in sunny spots and low-water plants that like shade in shady spots. Then… I push the limits. I move things around. I divide them when I want more. I have also killed a lot of plants. To save money, I almost always buy a plant and divide it into 4 plants with a saw. My thought is that if one plant lives, then I won’t lose any money, but usually, 75% of them live. Here’s a great list of native plants for our area from the Colorado Native Plant Society. Also, Plant Select has a great list to peruse. Many of the plants at Kendrick Lake are Plant Select plants, so you can see them in action, or come visit my yard and I’ll share what I’ve chosen.

Step 5: Grass (optional) Grass is controversial. The traditional beautiful lawns are what people imagine when it comes to those pristine lawns many people highly value. However, Japanese beetles love those well-manicured lawns and grow their babies in the soil. They also need lots of water and chemicals to keep them beautiful. If that’s your jam, keep doing your thing. Note: There are some really great reasons to have turf grass, but I do believe we still don’t need as much as we have. Here are some thoughts:

Do you have young dogs who run around a lot? Turf grass is better able to handle what they do.
Do you have small children who will leave their electrical devices long enough to run around in your yard? (If so, well done Mom and Dad!) Kids can use the yard and it will handle their abuse, but I had a really hard time getting my two kids out the door.
Do you love mowing and watering? Maybe you do, I’m not judging.
Even if you have dogs and kids, and love mowing and watering, do you still need all the grass in your yard? Could it be reduced?

We removed all of our inherited grass. In the front, I used a combination of solarization and scraping it off with a sod remover. In the back, I dug it up and flipped it over. There are so many ways to kill grass that are all over the internet, so I won’t spend time here talking about it, but if you want to chat about them, just let me know. They all have their pros and cons and there is no perfect, easy way. In my front, I seeded a no mow low water grass seed, that I do still mow or weed whack about twice a summer. I water it maybe 2-3 times a summer depending on how hot and dry it is. I’ve also interplanted it with native plants and grasses, and I let new plants seed where they may. I am still constantly pulling out bindweed and dandelions. So, it’s not a perfect science, but I love the result. The back is all patio and walkways with planting beds, but I am using grass as living mulch to help keep the weeds down. It’s not turf grass, but grasses like blue grama, buffalo grass, and blue avena, fill in beautifully around perennials. I still constantly fight the turf grass back there. I didn’t fully remove all of it before planting, which is why I put the weed removal tip higher up in this article.

Step 6: Enjoy your creation! You’re going to be amazed about how many more birds and bugs you’ll get in your yard. My husband and I’s favorite thing to do is sit out and watch the visitors. I can spend hours doing that. You can tell because my home’s interior is basically ignored during “garden season”. I hope this helps you on your journey to transform your yard. None of this has to be done all at once. We’ve converted section by section, as it allows us to stay in our budget and save our backs (mostly). It’s not easy, but well worth it in the end. If you have any questions! Please feel free to reach out to me. I am on the job hunt now and have way too much time on my hands. My email address is [email protected], or text me at 303-885-4215. (I’d say call, but I don’t typically pick up calls that I don’t recognize.)

Kristen De Lay is an avid gardener with a special interest in native plants and creating wildlife habitats. She is a member and volunteer for the Colorado Native Plant Society and also participates in our Sustainable Southern Gables group. She and her family have lived in Southern Gables since 2016.