Beginning in April, 2025, Kaufman County Master Gardeners planned to install a four-season perennial garden at the entry door Trinity Valley Community College Building, located at 800 Ed. Hall Drive. The Kaufman County Resource Connection has space there, so many county residents will pass by the garden.

This case study shows examples of the steps that were discussed in Landscaping: Native Perennials for 4 Seasons.

Goal

Our goal is to create a demonstration garden for native perennial landscaping that requires little water and maintenance after it is established and to carefully document the process in a way that will allow homeowners to understand how to create their own native perennial landscapes. 

Site Analysis

Soil: The beds have been mulched for several years, and there is a layer of partially decomposed organic matter that is between one and two inches deep. A soil test, done according to the diagram below, left, was submitted to the Texas A&M Soil Testing Laboratory . The results are shown in the report, bleow, right.

Light: Both beds receive full sun almost all day, all year. There is some minor shade from nearby trees, but the entire site should be considered full sun for at least 6 hours per day.

Water: There is an existing, non-functional sprinkler system, but there are no plans to repair it. On the side of the building, there is a faucet that we can attach a hose to for watering the beds, but it requires a key. Discussion is underway with TVCC about specifics.

Hardscape: As visible in the photo below, the outer edge of both beds is edged with scalloped concrete edging. Some are leaning and will require adjustment, but all appear in good repair. There is edging along the front of the bed on the left and most of the bed on the right. There is none by the sidewalks, along the building, or by the hedges. There is currently a wooden bench at the front of the left bed, but the college is willing to move it because it is in poor repair. They have also offered three concrete benches salvaged from a table set after the table broke, but the beds are probably too small to allow their use. About 2.5 ft. from the front sidewalk, there is a metal grate for drainage between the two beds. It can be seen just in front of the first black, rubber mat. A closer photo is on the right. The drain under the sidewalk appears to need clearing.  

The bed on the left has a hedge along the outer edge that extends beyond the corner of the building. Between the hedge and the front sidewalk, there is an open area approximately 1.5 ft. wide by 2.8 ft. long. At the corner near the front sidewalk, there is a 1 x 1 ft. concreted tile, which can probably be removed. A trash can on a concrete pad (about 2.5x 2.5 ft.) sits at the corner of the sidewalk and building.

Just across the sidewalk in the right bed, shown below, near the building, there is a shoe scraper on a concrete pad (about 1.5 x 2 ft.) The pipe showing against the bricks appears to be a sprinkler. The front sidewalk on this side is angled at the inside corner beginning about 2 ft. from the outer edge of the bed. The hedge starts at the end of the bed about two feet from the building. This leaves about two feet of open space behind the hedges. A scale drawing showing the hardscape elements and existing plants is below, right.

Plants: The hedges will be retained in both beds. It hasn’t been finally determined whether the beds will extend beyond the edge of the building in the left bed or beyond the hedge at the edge of the right bed. The left bed contains only one plant, a crapemyrtle that has become bushy. Its current location in the center of the bed doesn’t lend itself to easy inclusion in the planned design, but with considerable pruning and training, it may be possible to retain it.

The right bed contains a crapemyrtle that has been trained to be a multi-trunk tree, although it needs to be pruned to remove some lower branches and shoots. It will be left in place and integrated into the new design. There are also two red knockout rose bushes very near the crepe myrtle. Both have what appear to be stumps of previous crepe myrtle trees near their bases. This complicates moving the bushes to another area, so the plan is to leave them, and design around them and the tree.

Along the central sidewalk, there are two small clumps of Dianthus. They appear to be remnants of a row of plants. Since they require deadheading and die back when they get too little water, we will transplant them for other uses.

Challenges: There is a serious drainage problem throughout the site because it is the lowest-lying land in the area. Water flows to it from three sides: two streets and the hospital. Both beds are clearly affected. The problem areas are easily seen because the water has created channels around the edges of the beds, particularly next to the sidewalks. It may be necessary to install some kind of barrier to direct the flow of water away from planted areas.

Developing the Plan

From the site assessment, we knew our priority was to solve the drainage problems. While researching solutions, we continued creating our task list. 

After reviewing the soil test data, we decided:

• We would weed the area, rake the existing mulch, add minimal soil supplements, and put new mulch over the existing mulched areas. 

• After some debate, we decided to use river rock in the washed-out areas because of its durability, easy maintenance, and aesthetic appeal. 

• We selected plants based on a list of native perennials known to do well in our area. 

• We created a diagram of possible plants and locations that reflected what we planned for the final bed. Planting would be done in two phases, fall 2025 and spring 2026.

Go to  Case Study Part 2