Unlearning to Garden: A Guide to Natural Garden Design in Colorado
The art of natural gardening isn't about adding more to your landscape—it's about learning to do less, but with more intention. As I've discovered in my own garden journey, creating an ecological garden requires us to unlearn many traditional gardening habits and embrace a new way of thinking about our role in the landscape.
The Gardener as Co-Creator
The most profound shift in natural gardening comes from understanding that we're not the sole architects of our gardens—we're collaborators with nature.
Five Essential Principles for Natural Garden Success
1. Start Small, Think Big
While it's tempting to transform your entire yard overnight, start with a small area where you can experiment and learn. This might be a corner of your lawn or a single flower bed. Watch how plants interact, how they spread, and how wildlife responds. These observations will inform your larger garden plans.
2. Know Your Plants Intimately
Before pulling out that "weed" or adding that native plant, take time to understand its life cycle. How long does it live? Does it spread by seed or runners? What role does it play in the local ecosystem? This knowledge becomes your garden's foundation.
3. Embrace Succession
Natural gardens aren't static paintings—they're more like time-lapse photographs. Some plants will thrive and then fade, making way for others. This isn't failure; it's the natural rhythm of an evolving landscape. Your role is to guide this succession rather than fight it.
4. Design for Disturbance
In nature, disturbance creates opportunity. That bare patch where a plant died? It might be the perfect spot for those annual wildflowers you love. The key is learning when to intervene and when to let nature take its course.
5. Practice Patience
Unlike traditional gardens that often aim for instant impact, natural gardens reveal themselves over time. Each season brings new surprises and interactions. Give your garden time to develop its own character and complexity.
Beyond Aesthetics
While color and form matter in natural garden design, they're secondary to function. Instead of starting with how your garden will look, consider:
What wildlife does your area support?
Which native plants historically thrived here?
How can your garden contribute to local biodiversity?
What natural processes can you support?
Common Challenges and Solutions
The Messy Middle
The transition period between traditional and natural gardening can look untidy. Create structure with paths, edges, or focal points to help visitors "read" the landscape while nature does its work.
Neighbor Relations
If you're worried about neighborhood reactions, maintain clean edges along property lines and add signage explaining your garden's ecological benefits. Sometimes, the best advocate for natural gardening is a well-executed example.
Maintenance Mindset
Rather than following a rigid schedule of pruning and cleaning, learn to observe and respond to your garden's needs. Some years might require more intervention than others.
Looking Forward
As we face increasing environmental challenges, our gardens can become more than just beautiful spaces—they can be vital havens for biodiversity and models of ecological stewardship. The key is letting go of our preconceptions about what a garden "should" look like and embracing the dynamic, sometimes messy, but always fascinating process of natural garden design.
Remember: You're not just creating a garden; you're fostering an ecosystem. Every choice you make—from plant selection to maintenance practices—ripples through your local environment. Start small, observe closely, and let nature be your guide.
Your garden doesn't need to be perfect. It needs to be alive.
Ready to transform your landscape into a thriving natural garden but not sure where to start? Larkspur Landscaping specializes in creating beautiful, sustainable gardens that work with nature, not against it. Our expert team can guide you through every step of the transition, from initial design to ongoing maintenance.
Contact us today for a consultation and take the first step toward your own ecological paradise. Click here to book a consultation and to learn how we can help bring your natural garden vision to life.
