Rosemary's Garden Tour & Plant List

by Stephanie Kohnen

​On November 1, 2023, our permaculture class visited three Flagstaff homes that featured extensive gardens that embrace permaculture principles. 

The first site we visited was the home of our instructor Rosemary Logan. Rosemary’s house was built in 2012 and is an example of how permaculture ideals can coexist with practical considerations. For example, the entrance to the structure was shifted so that the building could be oriented with its longest side facing south. This allows the greatest absorption of the sun’s warmth during the cooler months. The strategy is part of a passive solar design that increases a building’s energy efficiency. 

For the structure itself, Apex Block was used. Not only is it more energy efficient than standard building materials, it also qualified for a construction loan. (Straw bales were not eligible for construction loans at that time.) 

 A truth window (see photo below) shows the Apex Block that makes up the interior of the home’s walls. The walls were then covered in plaster. 
The home features locally sourced materials whenever possible. Wood beams came from local forests. The homeowners also were creative about repurposing items for different uses such as turning a wine barrel into a bathroom sink. (See photo.)

Next, Rosemary took us on a tour of her garden. Although the timing of our visit (late Fall) meant the garden had peaked long before, it was evident that harvest was abundant.

Rosemary has filled her yard with food-producing perennials, like these raspberries, as well as medicinal species.

Rosemary has observed her garden over the years and notices which areas stay damp, which areas are warm.

Both watering and composting systems focus on resource efficiency – conserving water and time. The garden’s watering system is divided by the needs of different plants: native, orchard and annuals. Compost materials are seasonally trenched directly into garden beds for decomposition. Four-inch pipes located at the center of several raised beds are used for vermiculture. Red wiggler worms are replenished each year.

The pipe at the center of this garden bed is used for worm composting (vermiculture). After red wiggler worms are replenished each spring, fruit and veggie scraps can be deposited in the pipe to feed them. Holes have been drilled in the pipe below the soil level so the worms can move freely to access the food and travel around the container.

Other tips from Rosemary:

• A yarrow lawn is a lush, native alternative to a standard lawn and satisfies need for soft green place to play and walk.
• Young fruit trees should be staked so they grow straight in Flagstaff’s windy environment.
  
• Do not pile mulch high around the trunk of a fruit tree. This can cause rotting.
• Grafted fruit trees – such as a three-way grafted cherry or apple tree – offer a greater variety of fruit in a limited space. 
• Silver buffaloberry is an excellent nitrogen fixing companion plant.
  
• Pair warmth-loving plants – like tomato and basil – together in “Walls of Water.”​
• Use your Zone 1 for plants that need more attention. Rosemary shifted items to raised beds outside her front door when they were neglected elsewhere. 

Featured Plants

A garden offers the chance to play and experiment with a variety of plant species. 
The plants featured in Rosemary’s garden included the following: 

• Ursuline Pear - hardy and can cross-pollinate
• Veteran Peach
• Nanking cherries
• Wild plum
• Mulberry 
• Elderberry
• Thornless Blackberry
• Raspberry
• Mountain Ash
• Showy Milkweed
• Arizona Grape
• Goji berries

Fruit Tree Resource:
Trees of Antiquity in upstate New York is a source for well-adapted fruit trees for Flagstaff.


OTHER PLANTS

On our fieldtrip, we visited two other residential gardens. Below is a list of a few unique plants these gardeners are growing.


From Patrick Grant:

• Good King Henry Spinach 
• Sea Kale
• Caucasian Mountain Spinach
• Winter Giant Spinach (Territorial Seed company)

From Greg Macallister:

• Winecap mushroom block
• Orach, purple mountain spinach
• Turkish rocket, a perennial green
• Egyptian onion.
• Oca, a South American tuber that tastes like potato only sweeter. Greek white bean
• Yacon, a South American tuber. 
• Jerusalem Artichoke – Used in sideyard to keep javelina away

Greg’s kale forest:

• Sea Kale
• Tree Kale 
• Thousandhead Kale
• Walking Stick Kale