About us

We are two friends who met by chance at a National Night Out in our Saint Paul neighborhood. We quickly bonded over our love of gardening. Throughout winter 2020-2021 we bonded even more as we became part of each other’s pandemic pod. Both of our small urban yards are intensively gardened with fruits, vegetables, and perennial and annual flowers. We decided to support each other in becoming Master Gardeners and started our year as interns in January 2022.

The challenge

Yard with driveway

A friend of ours bought a house nearby. The previous owner of the house had some mobility challenges and the previously- gardened area had turned into a weedy lawn. The house came with a lovely old rose near the property line, a 60 year old clematis on the garage, and a raspberry bed in the back. However, the yard in general suffered from neglect over the last decade or two. However, the neighborhood ducks loved the yard.

We decided to design and install a pollinator garden in her front yard. By keeping track of our process, costs, and time, we hoped we could share what we learned with other gardeners.

The requirements

We talked to our friend about what she wanted because it was her yard and she would eventually need to maintain the garden.

We followed suggestions from the landscape design process. After talking to her we learned that she wanted to create some privacy for her back and side yards by blocking the view from the major road in front of her house. She enjoys watching birds and wanted to emphasize plants that benefit birds. Finally, she wanted a garden that would be relatively easy to maintain due to time and energy constraints. The garden site is in full sun.

We created a bubble landscape design with the main functional features mapped out. We then sat down surrounded by our books on native Minnesota plants, materials from Xerces Society, Minnesota Board of Soil and Water Resources, and several seed catalogs and got to work selecting plants.