Small courtyard. Spouse allergic to shrubs. Could use some ideas for what next.

[politicat]

https://flic.kr/p/WL3EGa

That's the view of the courtyard from the third floor. We live in townhouses, and we're allowed to do as we please with our courtyards. We bought this house two years ago in September, and have done very little with the courtyard so far. I'd like to return to container gardening in the space we have, but last summer was busy, so all I did was hack stuff down. I'm a desert kid, so I only water food plants. That's what's survived without any input from us.

Spouse is allergic to the shrubs on the right. I'm not attached to anything the builders planted, and have been hacking back what was there (the pile on the left, going to municipal compost tomorrow). Spouse just wants to have a load of pavers delivered. I don't, because we have bindweed in the area and some green helps keep the house cooler in summer. I don't want grass, but I've had good results with clover as a ground cover. We have to avoid pine (my allergies) and anything in the aster family (spouse, ragweed) and most European grasses (spouse). High alpine climate, technically Zone 5B, but dry.

Right now, there's 20 year old landscape fabric and 5-10 year old bark mulch under the shrubbery. The front walk has about an inch of frost heave on two squares, but I'm not willing to break up the concrete right now. I am planning a wide, long arch/trellis over the walk, to grow pole beans or possibly hardy kiwi, and a set of trellis on the right for tomatoes. We face west, so the courtyard gets morning shade. The trees are deciduous, not maintained by us, except by HOA fees.

I am just out of ideas and decision making capacity. Any suggestions?

[cyclonefence]

1. Mimosa tree allergies

Do you know for sure it's the bushes he's allergic to? What species are they?

I notice that the tree hanging over your shrubs on the right is a mimosa, which produces highly allergenic pollen. You might want to make sure your husband isn't allergic to mimosa (acacia) before you do anything else.

http://www.gardenguides.com/132061-mimosa-tree-allergy.html

[politicat]

4. It's not a mimosa or an acacia - it's Sophora Japonica (Japanese Pagoda).

That one, he's not allergic to; we have done multiple rounds of allergen testing, with local identification. We don't *like* the pagoda, but we don't have much choice on it. We had one at the previous house, too; that one was over the driveway and shed leaves and sap, so this one is an improvement. Pagodas are fairly common builder trees locally - they're not too thirsty, they grow fast and they're slightly less messy than cottonwood. (Slightly.)

The shrubbery on that side is somewhere in privet, and he hived up after his first encounter with it. That one, he's known about for a long time.

He has an Admiral Akbar immune system -- everything is a trap. We deal with it, and I know he's never going to spend much time in the outdoors again. I just don't want him swelling up when he goes for the mail.

[cyclonefence]

5. Oh dear

Well, the privet has to go, and if I were you--given his history--I'd put in some nice paver stones and pots of plants you know he can tolerate. I wouldn't plant anything into the ground for at least a year to make sure he is absolutely not allergic to the plants in pots. With pots, you can do elimination testing if he does react, and it's a lot easier to ditch a potted plant--or find it a new home--than to dig something up.

You could do herbs, flowers, even small trees. Pots would also give you the opportunity to try out different landscaping arrangements, plus it's easier to care for potted plants.

I do not envy you (or him); serious allergies are a dreadful, miserable problem. Good luck!

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. hours of direct sun? straw bale gardening! I mix bales with containers - great results

depends what your sun is, as far as what you can grow well

[politicat]

7. Summer, it's 8-10 hours of direct; winter it's less.

We're on the 40th parallel. (It's a point of absurd pride for me -- I have always lived in New Spain.) I stop working in the courtyard by 11 in June and July, because I am a delicate flower of a snowflake. I don't quite turn into a puff of dust when exposed to sun, but it's close.

I'll have to see if I can source bales I trust locally. The last time I got one, it was a disaster, due to bindweed. (That plant is on my eradicate the species list, with mosquitos.) There's some local wheat production which produces some straw, but mostly grasses are for hay and pasture. I don't mind alfalfa much, but I am not spending another ten years eradicating the bindweed I introduced. Last time, it took a propane torch for four years in a row.

I have been square foot or waffle gardening almost all of my life, either in 3x3s or containers, so that's what I know. The only thing I've ever failed at in this climate is asparagus; it's just too dry and our winter usually extends well into May. (We make it up in October and November.) I usually grow lemon cucumbers, beans and peas, tomatoes and smaller summer squash outside, and I keep hydroponic lettuce, cress, spinach and a brassica (usually bok choi) going year round indoors. I know I'm not feeding us year round on a 20 x 20 patch, but anything that reduces some food miles and captures some carbon and rainfall is worth the effort.

[Mr.Bill]

3. How about herbs?

We downsized to a mobile home last year, and while I miss my big garden and all the vegetable it produced, we just don't have room for it. I have one 4X4 planter box with tomatoes and jalapeno peppers, but everything else is in pots. We have mint (don't grow mint anywhere but in a pot, or it will take over the yard), rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, you get the idea. Very easy to care for, pots can be moved if something needs more or less sun, results are good and it makes cooking more fun when you've got fresh herbs right in the yard.

[politicat]

8. LOL -- we had a mint yard at the last house.

I had to go deal with a family health emergency just after we moved into that house, left some plants to be transplanted, and Spouse thought I meant everything. Including the four mints that he put in the flower beds. By the time I got back, they were established. Oops. The yard was spearmint, peppermint, lemon mint, and catmint amongst the clover. Made mowing nice. I like mint as a ground cover; it's tenacious, but it outcompetes most of our local noxious weeds.

I have never wanted the half-acre garden -- that's part of the reason we chose a townhouse. I know it's mostly for my pleasure. My herbs grow in the kitchen window upstairs. I play with very small hydroponics systems during winters. My bigger issue is always watering.

[WhiteTara]

6. Okay. I would first look at native perennials

for your area. I find they work best. Look for things that like afternoon sun. I always like to add color in the way of flowers, leaves and bark. Give me more info about your environs and I'll do some thinking.

[politicat]

9. Colorado, Front Range, just under 6K feet.

Natives are buffalo and bunch grasses, lupins, columbine, pines and cottonwoods. We back up on a wetlands, so we've got a bit more water than most, but this area is all microclimates. High alpine, thin soil, lots of calcium and clay. Lilacs do well, if watered well during establishment, and of course roses.

The other factor is that this house has not been lived in for most of its 20 years. The first owners were only here a year or so (they bought it as a summer place) before their health interfered. Their child inherited and visited for a few weeks a year (he's a priest, I think, per his junk mail), but it was mostly caretakers, so very little has been done to the soil except natural composting, which is slow due to dry climate.

[WhiteTara]

11. You have some great choices for your plantings

Here is a source of flowers for your area. These are all perennials, so you plant once and water while establishing and you will have a better garden each year and you don't do anything except occasional weeding and watering.

http://www.bhg.com/gardening/gardening-by-region/mountain-west-and-high-plains/types-of-mountain-west-perennials/

This is my favorite of the high country seed and plant companies
https://www.highcountrygardens.com/

Here are some shrubs.
http://www.highcountrygardens.com/perennial-plants/shrubs

My thoughts are that you choose the colors that you would like to see. I don't recommend things like lilacs as they are not native cultivars. They are from Europe I believe and natives are much more able to withstand all the elements of your area.

I'm working on my one acre native garden in Arkansas. It's sometimes fun and sometimes trying. We have so much humidity and water that all the non native invasive are troublesome. Also, the bugs. You don't have the bugs, lucky you.

Planning the garden is almost as fun as looking at the finished product. Since you don't seem to have lots of time to devote I would definitely suggest bulbs and perennials. Plant them and you are done.

Good luck and enjoy the journey.

[forgotmylogin]

10. Perhaps irises and or day-lilies?

Once they get established, they are nearly unkillable unless you dig up the hard network of roots they develop which choke out all weeds. You can literally mow them down completely and they'll happily grow back. They have lovely leaves and flowers.



My dad had to dig up a bunch on his property, and I took the root like bulbs and planted them in a row along the side of my grandmother's house where the gutter would overflow every year preventing anything from growing because it became a washed out muddy trench.



The day lilies took a year to grow in, but were then unstoppable and kept the ground from turning to mud. Both have sharp bladelike leaves and beautiful flowers that attract butterflies and honeybees.

[Botany]

12. Plant native plants

n/y