The Port Demonstration Project

Environment Lethbridge has its office at The Port Coworking Space (theportyql.com) and wanted to offer a demonstration garden full of drought-tolerant cultivars for folks to have a look at in the east courtyard. With the installation, the space gained valuable aesthetics for outdoor meetings and it is now also a great project for teaching interested Lethbridge citizens introductory landscape design, microclimate awareness, project implementation, soil structure/health, and hydration basics. We were fortunate enough to have donations by EcoLogic Horticulture (plants) and Flexahopper Plastics (rain barrel) to augment the design with turf-alternatives and water harvest. The demonstration garden is meant to assist a residential landscape governor (i.e. single family homeowner/renter) with planning their own project.

The first step in any landscape design project is observation and gathering information. Namely, understanding the size of the space, the microclimates that exist, availability of natural and augmented water sources, light conditions, and traffic. Winter and midsummer are the best times for this activity, as planting is impossible during the former and very risky during the latter. Watch for what time the sun comes up and goes down, where it hits first and how long it is available. Dry spots will come out (which generally indicate compaction and/or under surface structure like old hardscaping or tree roots). Footpaths through vegetation will be seen (think about a rock or mulch pathway). Test your soil (see soil sedimentation test here). Measure the space you are seeking to transform and consider the costs of removal and amendments (equipment rental and transport, soil, compost, mulch). Walk around and take pictures of gardens/yards you admire and research the plants (or start with research and go see if you can find them in your neighbourhood). A good landscape design plan starts with information.

Our demonstration garden didn’t need much initial creative thinking: there were only two available garden spaces that hadn’t been hardscaped. We moved immediately to measurements, light availability and microclimate concerns of those unplanted areas.

If you peruse the slideshow below, you will find the measurements of the garden and the landscaping norms for amendment and mulch volumes. These norms are used for budgeting purposes. We had a set budget of $1000 that could be used on plants, amendments, mulch, and transportation. It’s important to note that large landscaping installations can be expensive but can also be very intensive to establish (watering, weeding). Small changes year over year are easier on finances and the time/effort required by the gardener. 

Microclimate recognition was the last thing we needed to consider before we moved to plant choice. The courtyard is on the east side of The Port coworking office building and walled on the north and south sides. The two gardens run along each of the walls and are located in the understory of mature, large trees. The south garden sits almost entirely in shade and is protected by the prevailing SW wind by an eight foot concrete wall. It contains a green ash and a French lilac on either end of the bed and receives and retains good moisture just from rainfall.

Furthermore, it had a potential additional water source from the downspout located at the corner of the building. The north garden has a completely different microclimate: it sits in full sun for most of the day, is a tiered, south-facing mound (a “sun trap”), that elevates to several feet above the hardscaping. The most difficult challenge of this garden space is the line of very mature blue spruce trees that are growing in the uppermost tier against the north courtyard wall.

The dripline (the outmost edge of the tree limb canopy) extends beyond the main planting area of the bed, meaning that rainwater will be directed away from the future planted area by the tree canopy and taken up under the ground by the spruce tree roots. This means anything planted in this area will require additional irrigation even after the plants establish (this is a requirement of all succession planning under aged trees).

At this point, we have done our observations, our measurements, and have established all budget requirements outside of plants (so we knew what we had left to spend on actually populating the beds with shrubs and perennials). Choosing drought-tolerant cultivars (cousins to native plants) that fulfil the aesthetic requirements of the outdoor meeting space was the next part of the design journey.

Please find our resource page here and a list of the plants chosen at the end of this overview. The design itself incorporated the owner’s desire to have lots of purple (a favourite colour) as well as to create a short understory to fit the existing urban “forest” that exists on the property. Shrubs in each bed anchor the design and will create understory height and structure. Environment Lethbridge was also ecstatic to receive donations from EcoLogic Horticulture (drought-tolerant turf) and Flexahopper Plastics (rain barrel) to augment the demonstration.

Purchasing plants in July can be easier on the budget (plants start to go on sale in the heat of summer) but also more difficult for choice as many popular varieties have sold out. We managed to find all of our first-choice shrubs, but missed some popular ground covers and perennials. The weather, however, ended up being oddly perfect for planting (so much July rain). The heat of midsummer is often a detriment to large planting projects as heat stress can damage the top growth of plants. As it turned out, midsummer in 2025 was better for planting than mid-spring! The planting and mulching occurred in about four hours of concentrated work.

The downspout was diverted and secured to a good location inside the courtyard, and tested to ensure high flow actually ended up in the rain barrel and the overflow diversion worked appropriately (testing rainwater capture and storage is likely the most important part of rain barrel placement to avoid water damage).

The shrubs were heavily watered (new trees and shrubs require about 1 gallon of water per foot of height per week) and the rest of the garden areas were watered in with a small sprinkler for about 15 minutes each location. 

Watering-in is exceptionally important after planting, even after a heavy rain. What we discovered was that the soil in the north bed under the spruce trees was so dry it was hydrophobic. This was partly due to the trees and partly due to the fact that the garden has sat as unplanted soil for a long period of time and become almost a hardscape. This will take regular short watering times the week after planting to correct, and thereafter the shrubs will be watered directly with a bucket weekly. This will give time for water to move through the soil structure and rehydrate. The south bed, on the other hand, had very good moisture content and was less of a concern (but post-planting watering still occurred).

Finally, our last step was to do soil sedimentation tests for each of the gardens to understand the root underworld and prepare for long-term watering requirements. Like so many properties close to the coulees, the soil is mostly sand, with small amounts of silt and clay. This means that infrequent, deep watering will permeate the soil structure and allow the roots to reach deeply (unlike high-clay soils, which need frequent, short watering to keep the soil damp without waterlogging roots).

For more detail on the installation of The Port Demonstration Garden, please download our step-by-step PDF. Be sure to sign up for our Living Cities in Your Yard if you are interested in learning more about creating drought-tolerant landscapes. We will be covering all of the design and implementation methods discussed here in our public education sessions starting in fall 2025.

The Port Courtyard Plant List

Thank you to Ecologic Horticulture and Flexahopper Plastics for supporting this project!