We really wanted to go Native, I promise.
So the xeriscape development continues. Within this landscaping project our goal was to use native plants, or plants which are indigenous to Missouri. The idea is that these plants are naturally more resilient, have less fungal problems and require less maintenance (including less water).
We did some extensive online research to find a list of that would work for our front yard landscaping. This area of our yard is very shaded and is partially on a slope. With our list in hand we made a trip to home depot so as to develop of baseline of native plant availability and general landscaping pricing. As expected, HD had few of the plants on the list, but they were running some nice end of season sales.
Next we visited Bayers nursery on Hampton and in the Central West End. Bayer was a bit of a let down, but Bowood had a tremendous selection and even a section for Native plants. The trouble we encountered though was that the majority of the natives (talking non-shrubs) were intended for sunny areas. The guy in shrubs however gave us a good education on which shrubs would work well in our shaded area and which required little maintenance/water. With his advice and a good sense for the price difference between a local nursery and Home Depot's sale prices we headed back to Home Depot. This time we hit an HD in the burbs where the garden section was much more comprehensive.
In the end we didn't get all native missouri plants, we did however get plants which are recommended for growth in our region for their hardiness and drought resistance. Additionally, we were able to get the majority of our landscaping (shrubs, ground cover, mulch, garden soil, etc) for around $250. At the local nurseys (w/o the sales) this same purchase was guaranteed to be between $500-$600.
Some might see this as a setback, but we see it as a compromise. And when you don't have money growing on trees (green thumb joke), that's what you have to do.
(will include pics later in the week)