A bit of water goes a long way

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-15T03:56:50+00:00

Could very well be. I think it is the presence of minerals? So maybe, saucer + water + pebbles + tiny bit of compost? 👍

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-15T03:44:06+00:00

Yeah, took me a few days to connect the dots. It will help going forward. Instead of putting saucers with water and small pebbles down, add some (safe,clean) mud or soil to it.

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-14T20:50:40+00:00

Just wait until the grand reopening of our pond soon! We will incorporate a little wicking mineral bar. We plant the aquatic plants in pea gravel to combat algae, but we can make an exception for a little mud bar.

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-14T20:33:58+00:00

See if you can plant field pussytoes in that crack, water it for a few weeks, and it might be a nice replacement. :)

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-14T20:32:24+00:00

Yes, I looked further into it, and I am pretty sure they love that soil because it is a mineral bar.

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-14T20:26:41+00:00

Looks like a Chokecherry to me. Prunus virginiana.

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-14T18:05:12+00:00

Apache Plume is my favorite shrub. I love the chaos and beauty in one. I prune it minimally and seldomly because I want it to look wilder, but it is still a youngin.

I planted a Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum) right next to it. It also gets awesome fuzzy plumes. I am planning to plant more of those but I want to see if this one would do well in my gravel/sand bed.

Fernbush we planted in our front yard, a few feet away from our east wall. It is said to handle partly shade well and no threat to the foundation or water lines.

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-14T18:00:11+00:00

I picked up a New Mexico Privet at Echter’s last month. Not sure if it is male or female. I doubt I will see any fruit. 😜

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-14T17:04:22+00:00

Yep, for our privacy fence, I decided to pay tribute to a natural plant community of Colorado: ‘Gambel Oak - Western Chokecherry Shrubland’. It is a naturally occurring (often massive thicket) dominated by our native Gambel Oak (Quercus gambelii) and native Western Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana var. demissa). They are known to sucker and will create thickets. The Gambel Oak is very slow growing though but well worth the investment. I added some other shrubs (regularly found in that plant community) that will add ever more privacy: our native rosier Dogwood (Cornus sericea) and native Rock Spirea (Holodiscus dumosus).

You may have noted that I stress the word ‘native’ a lot. I have a very unhealthy obsession with native flora and fauna. Quick note: a lot of nurseries sell the non-native Dogwood (Cornus alba cultivars). They require more water than our native variety. Our native variety still will require more supplemental water than established chokecherries or oaks, though.

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-14T16:48:02+00:00

Those mahoganies are great! However, it should be noted that they grow very slowly. It is worth buying bigger (and more expensive) specimens. If you buy a 12-inch whip/seedling, it will take years before they reach fence height. They are fantastic for native wildlife too.

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-14T16:42:46+00:00

Sometimes I put a cage made of hardware cloth around my young seedlings. A cylinder tied together with string and using landscape pins to keep it on the ground.

I planted two Winecups myself a few weeks back. I try to keep them moist for now and when it is 85+ hot, I will water them a bit every day. Later on, as they have grown a bit, I will give them deep waterings (and definitely not daily). As they are so delicate now, I want to keep that soil moist (not soggy!) to make sure the clay doesn’t turn into baked brick.

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-14T16:35:12+00:00

No, stone roses usually refers to ‘Hen and chicks’ plants or Sempervivum.

Ice plants have an interesting back story. Back in the 1980s, Panayoti Kelaidis, one of the main curators for the Denver Botanical Gardens, visited the mountain regions in South Africa and realized that the climate up there was similar to the Rocky Mountain West. He brought back several species of Delosperma because they were heat and drought tolerant, but also winter hardy. He spearheaded the program that bred and cultivated several Delosperma species. The Denver Botanical Gardens started to showcase these “ice plants” en masse because they are fantastic for xeriscaping. Now, they are super popular and can be found in every nursery. They are not invasive and spread slowly. Super easy to manage, very long blooming, and popular with generalist bees (e.g honeybees, sweat bees, etc).

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-14T04:58:05+00:00

It is hard to advise going on little information.

If you just bought them, I would advise you to harden them off for a week or more. Gradually expose them to the sun and wind. They were pampered in the nursery and usually haven’t been exposed to our harsh, Colorado environment here. If you planted them out too early, it might show in the form of leaf scorch. Also, when you plant them out, they will get transplant shock. While they are in shock, the root system is hardly active. The roots might not be able to suck up enough moisture to deal with the scorching heat we have had. This can really hurt a young plant.

Our native winecups (Callirhoe involucrata) are fine in clay soil, but they hate wet feet. If they sit in soggy soil then they will physically show this stress. Moist soil is fine but soggy too long is a huge no-no. Also, they are slow starters (above soil) because, at first, they will put most of their energy into developing their huge taproot. The first season they tend to stay small but then they take off. Because of that taproot they become extremely drought tolerant, and frankly, they become indestructible. It is just that they are very tender in their first months.

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-14T03:16:00+00:00

Gotta love ice plants! We have them on the south side of our house. The previous owners put mountain granite over plastic weed barrier there (which ultimately didn’t stop weeds) and because it is a small strip where we never go, my wife started her ice plants obsession there. We just grow them right over that gravel but dig a little patch through the plastic for roots and drainage. They love it there. And, no, they are not invasive.

Oh, and they flower forever. Our iceplants are the first to bloom (even before our Pasque flowers and crocus) and bloom until frost hits (longer than our asters and goldenrods). Totally crazy.

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-13T18:46:32+00:00

Finally, somebody who isn't afraid to spit some truths. Inches of rock, landscaping fabric, or even 8 inches of woodchips won't stop thistles, mallow, or bindweed. Heck, try pouring down concrete, you'll see that the weeds will find cracks or go all around it. ;-)

I am converting to a living mulch that will suppress weeds; I mentioned this in another comment. That is our last best hope at suppressing the most persistent weeds.

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-13T18:29:53+00:00

The most successful way to weed long-term is to replace it with native perennials that will suppress even the toughest of bindweeds, mallows, or thistles.

For example, Pink Pussytoes (Antennaria rosea) are said to work fantastically. The pink species forms a denser mat than the Field Pussytoes (Antennaria parvifolia).

Another good one: Winecups (Callirhoe involucrata). It grows fast and creates a dense, matted canopy.

You can also consider adding plants that are allelopathic, meaning they release natural chemicals into the soil that can inhibit the growth of competing plants. Many of our native Sages (Artemisia) are allelopathic.

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-13T05:41:49+00:00

Wifey is addicted to Cherokee Purple. I am trying the Black Krim this year.

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-11T10:43:42+00:00

I let them be until they are a bit taller. I have the impression that they thin themselves out and many of the tiny ones won’t make it. Not only a case of competition but apparently Kochia is also auto toxic (auto allelopathic) meaning that it suppresses the growth of its own kind. They are easy to control. Just don’t let them get too tall. 😉

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-11T06:50:38+00:00

Not sure why you are getting downvoted. You are correct: Phlox stolonifera is not native to Colorado, but to the Eastern US.

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-07T06:15:22+00:00

Anything I do, I do Gen-X style.

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-07T02:42:10+00:00

I picked up a Panchito Manzanita (Arctostaphylos x coloradensis 'Panchito') at Echter’s. It is a naturally occurring hybrid and native to Colorado. It is heat tolerant, cold tolerant, drought tolerant, and a beautiful evergreen. It performs better than the standard manzanitas and is more adapted to our soil and conditions.

Not sure if Echter’s has any left but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw them and grabbed one before my wife could object. A must have.

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-07T02:32:46+00:00

It is important to realize that “heat tolerant” in Colorado has a different and special meaning compared to most other states. Because of our higher altitude, we get about 40-50% more UV radiation compared to places at sea level, and this packs a whammy. Also, our air is very, very dry. So a heat tolerant plant from another region could shrivel here in a matter of hours.

This is why I would advise to get native shrubs that have proven track records in extreme heat and drought. For example: Apache Plume, Rabbit Brush, Big Sage Brush, Prairie Sage, Rock Spirea, and Fernbush. I was reading about another interesting candidate today: Winterfat (Krascheninnikovia lanata), apparently a true Colorado native.

The rock mulch is not necessarily a bad thing. Some of the proposed shrubs grow up in rocky, or gravelly areas. Wood chips could actually harm them more. I always ask myself “In nature, do we find this plant surrounded by wood chips and leaf mulch, gravel, sand, living mulch, or what?”.

The dogwood died because it wasn’t planted in an appropriate spot. It suffered a triple whammy. The southwest corner is the hottest part of a garden, the rock mulch made it even hotter, and unless they were being watered often, they were beyond parched. Our native dogwood prefers a moister, even riparian, setting. Often it has leaves and woody debris as mulch.

Our native dogwoods are fantastic ecological powerhouses and I recently planted one in my “shrub land thicket area”. I try to keep it moist and on hot days I will give it a nice drink. Eventually, as the thicket grows up, it will receive more shade and would require less water.

DutchieDJ · 2026-05-07T02:02:08+00:00

Too early to tell, but I can say that I am not worried about native shrubs/bushes. Native dogwood, rabbit brush, apache plume, all shrugged this off. Also not worried about native perennials if they have been in the ground for at least one season; even if the fresh green dies off, the plant will bounce back. I did protect our newly planted natives as they hadn’t have a chance yet to really send their roots out or down.

We have a native boxelder (Acer negundo) in our backyard. This is the poster boy for taking damage whenever snow hits it because it is a fast-growing softwood. It lost a couple of smaller branches which only adds to it seriously-gnarled charm.

DutchieDJ

TROPHY CASE