Designing A Native Plant Garden, Part II: Analyze Your Site

Maybe some would tell you to do this step first, but I like to have my head stuffed full of beautiful images of plants before I start looking at my own patch of barren, weedy soon-to-be-garden ground.  I find that I can better picture what to plant where if I already know that I want a Western Redbud, groundcover Ceanothus and a few 3-foot salvias, because I've seen pictures of them.  Maybe that's just me.

With that being said, we come to the second step in our series.

Step 2. Analyze your site

Site analysis is a critical step in the process of designing any garden or landscape.  You need to know how much space you have to work with, and what plants will do best there.  To ensure success, don't skip this step!  This is the hands-on portion of the planning stage.  Your end result will be a sketch that probably looks pretty messy, covered in notes and scribbles, but contains valuable information and accurate (hopefully!) dimensions.


Tools for site analysis:
- Clipboard with graph paper, or a notebook or sketchpad
- Pencils and erasers
- Measuring tape
- Compass

When analyzing your site, be sure to:

- Measure your site and create a footprint of the basic size and shape of your property.  This is especially important to gain an idea of just how many plants will fit in your space.  Most people way overplant!  The plants end up crowded, vying for space, your yard ends up looking like a jungle, and you end up wasting time and money on extra plants and extra maintenance down the road.  Measure the perimeter and note the location of existing features that will not change: the edge of your house and position of windows, walkways, established trees, etc.  Put this down on paper!  The drawing doesn't have to be to scale - just a rough sketch with accurate measurements.  (You'll redraw it to scale later.)

- Note aspect and exposure (the direction it faces and if the site lies in full sun, part sun, full shade, etc.)  Are you landscaping the cool north side of a building?  Is there a tree that casts afternoon shade?  Our front yard faces directly south, with absolutely no shade.  So, it is blazing hot in the summer but pleasantly warm on cold winter days.  An arrow pointing north drawn on the side of your paper should do the trick.

- Note any existing slope.  Does water puddle somewhere on your site?  This would be an excellent place for a bioswale.  Does water run quickly off of your site?  Consider plants for slope stabilization and erosion control.  Use arrows to sketch the direction of slope on your property, and dashed lines to indicate elevation changes, like mounds  or swales.

- Note the location of important non-negotiable, immovable features, things that are here to stay, like power lines, water mains, gas lines, etc.  Take measurements to get their relative locations and draw these into your plan, and call 811 (or visit the website) to find the location of underground utilities.  Then plant around them!  I would love to plant a majestic Valley Oak to shade our blazing hot, south-facing front yard.  But the ideal place for it, in front of our kitchen window, is directly over our main water line and under not one but three different power lines that cross our yard.  *sigh*  It wasn't meant to be.  So, we have two little Western Redbuds instead, short, power line friendly trees planted well away from the water line.

- Do a quick soil test.  Native plants grow in native soil, so there is really no need to add amendments.  But you will need to know how rapidly (or slowly) your soil drains.  To discover this, perform a simple test.
Dig a shovel-sized hole (maybe a foot deep) and fill it with water.  Note how long the hole takes to drain (or how long it takes for the water to soak in.)
If your hole drains in 10 minutes or less, you have sandy soil = good to excellent drainage
If your hole takes between 10 minutes and 2 hours to drain, you have loamy soil = fair to good drainage
If your hole takes over 2 hours to drain, you have clay soil = poor to fair drainage.
Las Pilitas has a helpful tool which will walk you through this process and provide suggested plants for your soil conditions.
Most of the natives we plant for drought tolerant landscapes are from desert, coastal sage scrub and chaparral plant communities and require good drainage in order to thrive.

- Consider irrigation.  Make a note of where your hose bib and sprinklers are (if applicable).  Even drought tolerant native plants will need some water to stay looking their best during the peak of summer's heat.  And the first initial watering is absolutely critical.  But ideally, your landscape should eventually be nearly self-sustaining.  Hand watering is fine, as are micro sprinklers and regular lawn sprinklers.  (Stay away from drip irrigation!!  In all but the sandiest of soils, drip irrigation creates super-saturated soil in a concentrated location at the plant's roots.  Combined with warm weather, this creates the perfect conditions to kill most drought tolerant natives.  Remember, the natives we plant for their drought tolerance are from climates that are hot and dry during the summer, and cold and wet during the winter.  So, these plants can tolerate cold, wet soil, but not warm wet soil.)

- And of course, remember to snap a few "before" photos!  In addition to being sweet memories, these photos can be useful for showing to folks at nurseries and native plant gardens as you are getting ideas and soliciting advice and suggestions.

Here is our front yard "before" photo:


If you missed it, be sure to read Part I: Planning (Read, study, research and dream)

Next up: Part III: Visit Local Gardens

Comments

You Might Also Like:

Birds of the Desert: Residents & Spring Migrants

Great Horned Owl Fledglings

Gardens Gone Native: A Native Plant Garden Tour in the Sacramento Valley

Joshua Tree Woodlands: A Tale of Sloths, Moths and the Trees that Need Them

Exploring New Places: South Carolina's Salt Marshes and Tidal Creeks

Birding in Southeastern Arizona: Madera Canyon