Spring in the Lower Mainland is gentle and prolonged, unlike other parts of Canada. It can be a gardener’s dream, except that its unique circumstances grant it a wildly varying climate. To create a thriving garden, you need to use innovative landscaping techniques and tools. With that in mind, let’s look at how to prepare a good garden in spring.

Creating a blooming garden in spring requires a good understanding of soil conditions, microclimate, and other factors. Modern landscaping techniques can help you keep track of these factors, unlocking faster growth, healthier plants, and breathtaking blooms. Try taking advantage of native species, smart irrigation systems, vertical gardening, smart hardscaping, and tech tools to set up the perfect garden in spring.

To inspire you, we’ll explore 5 modern landscaping hacks we’ve tailored to the Lower Mainland’s unique climate conditions. You’ll learn about choosing the right plant species, vertical gardening, smart irrigation, and eco-friendly material choices.  We’ll give you the perfect strategy for creating a lush, low-maintenance garden this spring.

5 Modern Landscaping Hacks for Lower Mainland Gardening

Due to its unique geographical positioning, the Lower Mainland has microclimates that vary greatly from each other. Understanding and leveraging these climate conditions leads to a blooming garden, but it takes skill and experience. However, using modern landscaping techniques can help you achieve a great result even with minimal gardening knowledge. Let’s take a look at 5 hacks that are certain to make your garden flourish in spring:

Taking Advantage of Native Plant Species

Sometimes, timeless strategies can be optimized to create the ultimate low-effort, high-gains results. You have to choose the right plant species for a blooming garden. Native species such as Salal (Gaultheria shallon), Red-flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum), Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium), Camas (Camassia leichtlinii) and Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum) are the perfect choices. These species are perfectly adapted to the climate conditions of this region and grow beautifully in the spring.

Here’s why you should choose these native species:

  1. Low Maintenance: These plants don’t need frequent irrigation or fertilizers to thrive. 
  2. Year-round Presence: These plant species thrive all year long, but become especially vibrant during spring.
  3. Resilient: Aside from Camas, these plant species are extremely resilient to adverse weather and conditions, surviving against all odds. Even Camas can survive quite well once it has acclimated to your garden’s soil conditions.
  4. Prevents Invasion: These native species prevent invasive species such as Japanese knotweed, Japanese stiltgrass, Reed canary grass and others from growing on your property. 
  5. Beginner Friendly: All the features of these plants make them the perfect species to plant for a beginner.

You can pair these plants with drought-tolerant Mediterranean herbs such as lavender or ornamental grasses to introduce more variety and colour.

Using Smart Irrigation Systems

The Lower Mainland’s rains are consistent and frequent, but proper irrigation is critical to plant growth here. You can use modern irrigation systems such as drip lines and smart control systems for precise, efficient watering. This creates the ideal solution for the wet winter, spring, and dry summer, and you don’t have to work too hard.

Here are the 3 modern tools that you should use to automate irrigation:

  1. Drip Lines: You can place perforated tubing with emitters on the ground that runs along your plants. These emitters will slowly drip water onto the roots of your plants, and keep the soil moisture levels optimal.
  2. Rain Sensors: You should Install rain sensors or rain switches. These will help you conserve water and prevent the soil from becoming waterlogged from overwatering.
  3. Wi-Fi Controllers: You can control the entire irrigation system remotely by installing a smart sprinkler controller. After installation, you can either allow the sensors to take over, or set schedules for watering your garden.

You can go the extra mile and install a rain barrel for collecting April showers for summer use. If you struggle with low moisture or outright dry soil conditions, you can pair your irrigation system with moisture-retentive mulch like cedar bark. If you’re in sun-drenched areas such as Surrey, you can plant water-loving plants such as hydrangeas in groups near the drip lines and plant drought-tolerant species on the outskirts.

Vertical Gardens

If you’re in urban areas such as Vancouver or New Westminister, you’ll have limited space for your garden. A modern landscaping solution is to deploy vertical gardens, where you make use of climbing plants, trellises and modular planters. You can grow food, flowers and even greenery without being limited by your space.

Here are 3 design ideas that you can try:

  1. Living Walls: You can grow strawberries and herbs on pocket planters on your walls.
  2. Treslises: You can grow cucumbers, sweet peas, squash, and clematis on your Trellis.
  3. Hanging Baskets: You can have hanging baskets around the house, and plant trailing lobelia or fuchsias in them.

For areas that lack light, try shade-loving plants that love to climb, such as climbing hydrangea.

Use Eco-friendly Hardscaping

A blooming garden doesn’t only rely on soil conditions and plant species. What harscaping options you choose to create your garden matters greatly too. Using permeable pavers, retaining wall blocks, recycled stone, or reclaimed wood around your garden will help manage water runoff and soil erosion. You can create a beautiful atmosphere around your garden with Intelligent use of these materials.

Here are 5 top hardscaping choices for the Lower Mainland by area:

  1. Permeable Pavers: For Vancouver and Burnaby, you can install permeable pavers in high-traffic areas to reduce runoff in rainy seasons. Choose reclaimed bricks to enhance your urban courtyard’s looks.
  2. Gravel Paths: For Surrey and Langley, you should choose gravel paths to create cost-effective walkways to allow water absorption.
  3. Composite Decking: In areas such as Conlquitlam and Maple Ridge, composite decking will resist rotting in damp conditions. It’s the perfect choice for your backyard.
  4. Elevated Hardscaping: Flood-prone zones such as Richmond and Delta benefit from raised patios of gravel or crushed rock. You can also go for cedar boardwalks for durability and water resistance.
  5. Dry River Bed: In Pitt Meadows and Abbotsford, you can combat excess moisture with dry river beds in your garden. They are beautiful to look at and regulate your soil’s excess moisture content effectively.

It’s all about understanding the soil conditions and weather patterns in your area. Choose the proper hardscaping solution to combat your garden’s problems and enhance its beauty.

Use Apps and Other Technologies

You don’t have to do everything the old-fashioned way. Try using digital gardening journals and other applications that track your garden’s data to generate solutions and predictions. You can also use soil sensors, and augmented reality tools to map out your garden and plan more effectively.

Here are 4 must-try applications and tools that you should consider:

  1. Sun-mapping Apps: These apps will help you understand light patterns and predict sun exposure in your garden.
  2. Smart Planters: These planters are self-watering, and connect to your phone to update you about your plant’s nutrient conditions, sunlight exposure, and other data.
  3. Gardening Journals: These apps will keep data on your gardening efforts, and suggest species to plant. These will also suggest solutions to any issues you face while alerting you about future ones.
  4. Augmented Reality: You can use the AR functionality in your phone to plan how your garden may look in real time. This will help you visualize and design your garden exactly how you want it.

By deploying technology, you take the guesswork out of gardening. You can predict things before they may happen, and stay on top of everything. But, if you truly want a hassle-free gardening experience, you should consult experts to set everything up for you.

New Wave Earthworks. We Do the Difficult Part for You.

At New Wave Earthworks, we have nearly a decade of experience in landscaping and hardscaping in the Lower Mainland. We pay attention to every detail and communicate with our clients effectively. As a result, we have provided innovative modern landscaping solutions to create blooming garden spaces for our clients successfully.

If you have landscape projects in the Lower Mainland, especially Chilliwack, Abbotsford, and the Tri-Cities, we are your best solution. Call us today at (604) 855-2603!

Conclusion

Modern landscaping can transform the Lower Mainland’s varying climate to your advantage. Your gardening experience and effort will have a minimal impact on the outcome if you exploit the ideas suggested here properly. Remember to start small, experiment, and use the data to improve. Patience and planning in spring will lead to a stunning, resilient garden that you can be proud of.