Landscaping the New Studio
Last winter we had our friend and contractor Jess Hall build a new residence/studio for us, and we moved in during the coldest month in Alaska, January. During the next few months, while the yard was covered in snow, we got settled inside. My studio is wonderful, it is in a loft upstairs with good light and windows facing the view of the lake.
Now it is the middle of May, the ground has thawed, the ice is gone from the lake and my one acre of yard is nothing but dirt. And after a rain, it is an acre of mud. In this region of Alaska we can’t begin to put new plants outdoors until the Memorial Day weekend, any time before that is subject to occasional nighttime frost. So, my annuals are all sitting in little plastic planters under a window in the garage. I will begin to bring them outside during the day later this week to harden them off, but they will stay inside at night.
I am working on a landscape plan. I have located everything on the lot and created a plan view to scale on grid paper and have included all buildings, the well and septic system, and the location of existing trees. Now I am waiting for a sunny day to determine shade patterns so that I can plant shade loving plants in shady areas and sun loving plants in sunny areas. I am also going to draw some perspective views of the yard from each side so that I can play around with arranging plants using different heights and see how everything should look after a few years of growth.
One thing I want to have in the yard is a rose garden. I have purchased a number of hardy roses that prosper well in Zone 3, and have had good luck growing them in the past. They need a good sunny location, and the area that I picked first for the garden looks like it will be shaded now that the trees are beginning to leaf. I don’t know why I didn’t notice this before, but our Alaska sun is on a different path now than it was a few months ago. We will have about 22 hours of daylight in the middle of June, so choosing the proper location for plants is critical for successful growth.
Designing this landscape plan is fun for me, I look forward to the task.
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist
