Hi Jim,
We live in a small town, Eagle CO. When we moved up here from Denver, we didn't know anyone up here. It was boom times then. You couldn't find a landscaper and when you did, it was "wham, bam, thank you mam". So the landscaper who did our yard botched it. Then we brought in another landscaping company, they made it worse. We've been through two landscaping companies since.
Now, we know people. A friend who retired from the town (taking care of their landscaping and flower beds) and is a Master Gardener is helping us. He's great, really knows his stuff.
My yard is big, 6/10 acre. We have 32 trees on the property.
Yes, we do have some growth that's not exactly native to the landscape. For example our place is 6800 feet. We have some Aspens and Aspens don't typically grow at this altitude. They grow above 8000 feet. We have some wildflowers we put in. They're doing good, but one section was planted in an area that's always in the sun and that's not good for wildflowers. So rather than take them out, we're watering them for a few minutes a couple times a day. So this is one example where we need multiple start times.
Another example of multiple start times is that we have a zone with flowers on one side of the house and Kentucky Blue on the other. So in order to water the flowers, the Kentucky Blue also gets watered which is a waste. We have other zones with the same problems; in order to water a small area, we have to water a big area that doesn't even need water. My wife has a garden. Same problem. In order to water the garden, we have to water areas that don't need it.
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