Having a beautiful garden is one of the surest ways to surround your home with a fundamental element of luxury. But if you want to have a gorgeous garden and you're faced with a short growing season like we have in Calgary, you have to work a bit smarter than you do in say, California. With this in mind, here a few tips to help bring out the best in your yard.

The Quicker the Better

The growing season in Calgary is relatively short, amounting to about 170 frost free days a year. So whatever you plant, make sure it gets to the point quickly. Fast growing plants are the way to go if you want to be surrounded by greenery and flowers this summer.

As Beautiful as the Day is Long

Fortunately, Calgary gardens have a distinct advantage when it comes to the growing season. Though there may not be many days for growing, those days are long. In the summer, the sun shines from 5 am to 10 pm with dusk stretching as far as midnight. In fact, at the height of summer, it never really gets dark for long. While we're on the topic, Calgary is actually one of the sunniest places in the county with an annual average of 2400 hours of brilliant sunshine.

Everything's Coming up Roses

It's easy to have a rose garden if you stick to wild roses. Hardy and abundant, the prairie rose makes a great border that blooms early and provides colour all season with very little help from you.

Rock On

Rock gardens are a go in Calgary. Use local rocks for the best effect - they look better and cost you nothing. Did I also mention they look better? Fortunately, most of the plants that grow in a traditional alpine rock garden will also do nicely in Calgary. Visit the Reader Rock Garden for a supreme example of how beautiful this type of garden can be.

Turn Your Face to the Sun

Before you plant a thing in the ground, turn your attention to the sky. Figuring out where the sun is going to hit your little patch of paradise and from which direction, should be the first thing you consider when planning your garden. A north facing yard will call for shade tolerant plants, while a south or southwest facing yard will soak up the rays. If you want vegetables, plant them in the sunny spot. You'll also want to look for elevations and slopes when you are making your site selection while avoiding depressions and low areas that allow water to pool.

Everyone Knows it's Windy

The first thing you need to know about the prairies is that they're flat. For gardeners, this means that unless you intervene, there will always be days when there's nothing to stop the wind from whipping itself into a frenzy and making your garden shiver with wind chill. Nothing that is, unless you create a windbreak, which you definitely should do. Windbreaks stop the wind from lowering the temperature on the property which is good for the garden, good for your house and good for you. Fences are the quickest way to enjoy the benefits of a windbreak and open fences (picket style) will always do better than solid fences which just seem to make the wind angrier.

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