Hello From Iowa!

[gardeninggreen]

Hello everyone!
I'm new to the forum and am looking forward to reading all the great info/advice that is available here on the boards. We are planning on doing some much needed landscaping here on our property in the hopes of selling in 2-4 years.
Great to be here!

 

[Beverly]

A warm welcome to you @gardeninggreen...love your name. This is a great place to be, so enjoy!

 

[gardeninggreen]

Thank-you, Beverly!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

We are planning on doing some much needed landscaping here on our property in the hopes of selling in 2-4 years.

Welcome! The best possible advice I can give you is to consider planting native plants. Not only is it becoming more and more popular in landscaping and gardening, it's also highly, highly important, and considering you're in Iowa, you're in one of the most important locations to help the Monarch Butterfly by planting its caterpillar host plant, Milkweed. Not all milkweeds are big like Common Milkweed. My personal favorite is Orange Milkweed:

It generally grows to two feet tall and looks great in groups.


Of course, it's also important to plant nectar sources, like Purple Coneflower, Blanket Flower, and Black-eyed Susans.

I personally like planting my native plants in groups, intermingling with each other, rather than evenly-spaced. Not only does it help each color pop, but the less ground you have showing, the fewer weeds will pop up in years to come.

Big or small, there are all sorts of native plants out there that will amaze the next owner of your house!

 

[gardeninggreen]

Thank-you JB for all the information and beautiful pictures! I have so many things to think about and choices to make. Definitely will be planting some milkweed to help the butterflies. My daughter just loves watching them. Spring is just around the corner and I'm in the throes of planning. I've got a hill that needs color so all of those flowers will look spectacular. And I can quit mowing it. Thank-you again!

 

[zigs]

Welcome to the forums

 

[rosiecotton19]

Hi GG, a friend of mine has been planting her yard for years with perennials and grasses with the goal of having to mow less

 

[Becky]

Great to have you here! Welcome aboard

 

[Trellum]

Hi there and welcome to the forum A pleasure to meet you, I hope you like it here and find this forum super useful Wishing you the best of luck with your landscaping projects!

 

[Sheal]

Welcome gardeninggreen.

 

[Thomas Gannon]

Hello everyone!
I'm new to the forum and am looking forward to reading all the great info/advice that is available here on the boards. We are planning on doing some much needed landscaping here on our property in the hopes of selling in 2-4 years.
Great to be here!

Welcome to the site. I used to live in Iowa myself, and I must say I miss it.

 

[Rrrrraine]

Welcome @gardeninggreen!

 

[gardeninggreen]

Thank-you everyone for being so kind and welcoming!
I was born here in Iowa; I moved away for about five years and really did miss it, too. We've been discussing the possibility of moving to another state and I don't think I could leave. LOL So I can relate to what you're saying, TG.
Yes, RosieCotton, that is my ultimate goal. To get rid of this hill as far as mowing goes. We're going to be attempting to sell this property in about four years and I don't want the hill to drive away prospective buyers.
Thank-you zigs, Becky, Trellum, Sheal, and Rrrrraine for the friendly welcome as well. I look forward to hanging out on the boards and soaking up the wisdom from you pros. I'm a total newbie! LOL

 

[Thomas Gannon]

@gardeninggreen the thing I always forget when I visit Iowa is how nice everyone there is vs illinois that and the cheap gas haha

 

[gardeninggreen]

@gardeninggreen the thing I always forget when I visit Iowa is how nice everyone there is vs illinois that and the cheap gas haha

Hopefully you make it back over to Iowa very soon, TG!