Two landscape crew members weeding on a rocky hillside blooming with sumac trees and purple russian sage. A red fence for livestock is in the foreground.
  • Location: Eagan, MN
  • Property Type: Residential
  • Year: Ongoing
  • Phase I: East Hillside, Phase II: South Hillside
  • Project Size: 15,000 sq. ft.
  • Services: Invasives Removal, Design, Installation, Maintenance
A rocky hillside with red and orange sumac trees changing color in the fall.
Blooming orange-red poppy flowers on a rocky hillside on a sunny day.
IMG_5009
A rocky hillside with red and orange sumac trees changing color in the fall.
Blooming orange-red poppy flowers on a rocky hillside on a sunny day.
IMG_5009

About The Project

We’ve been working with this client over a number of years to both rehabilitate and maintain many areas of the vast property. This hillside rehab started with a focus on a large south facing slope that had been previously planted but neglected. The client’s main goal was to plant species that would survive in the hot, dry conditions as well as to diversify by bringing in native plants for pollinators.

Since the previous planting was half-functioning, the client agreed to move forward with a non-traditional design process that began with management time to reduce weedy and invasive species. Once we removed the weeds, some of the existing plantings bounced back, allowing us to map out which areas needed additional native plantings. This process saved time and cost associated with a formal plan and also reduced waste materials by retaining and designing with the already existing desirable plants.

Phase I – The East Hill

A landscaper looking at the camera standing in front of a hill overgrown with trees and bordered with a wooden fence.
A landscaper watering new plants on a hillside with rocky boulders, sumac trees, and conifers.
Blooming yellow, pink, and white flowers under sumac and conifers on a rocky hillside between two wooden fence posts.
A landscaper standing on a rocky hillside with blooming purple Russian Sage flowers in front and sumac trees behind.
A sumac tree with bright red and green leaves on a hillside retaining the blooming flowers below. A fence is at the bottom of the hill in the background.
Red to green stemmed Dwarfbush Honeysuckle in front of rocky boulders on a hill.

Phase I – The East Hill

A landscaper looking at the camera standing in front of a hill overgrown with trees and bordered with a wooden fence.
A landscaper watering new plants on a hillside with rocky boulders, sumac trees, and conifers.
Blooming yellow, pink, and white flowers under sumac and conifers on a rocky hillside between two wooden fence posts.
A landscaper standing on a rocky hillside with blooming purple Russian Sage flowers in front and sumac trees behind.
A sumac tree with bright red and green leaves on a hillside retaining the blooming flowers below. A fence is at the bottom of the hill in the background.
Red to green stemmed Dwarfbush Honeysuckle in front of rocky boulders on a hill.

As we removed the invasives, we uncovered many boulders and rock outcroppings, which inspired us to model our plantings on the driftless region of southeastern Minnesota. This region is characterized by steep hills, forested ridges, and dotted with limestone rocks and is quintessential of the Great Lakes.

Over the years, we have done a version of this remove-first, plan-plantings-second process on other zones of the property, slowly rehabilitating neglected plantings, adding new natives, and maintaining our newer plantings. Uniquely, this hillside site requires extra maintenance to ensure the success of our plantings due to the adjacent horse pasture, which allows a lot of weed seeds to enter planting zones. We factor the horses into our maintenance as we plan our care of this hillside property.

Phase II – The South Hill

A thick green hillside with overgrown plants in front of a wooden fence with a brown wooden house behind.
A side view of a rocky hill blooming with purple Russian Sage and yellow flowers to the right of a wooden fence.
two chickens next to a rocky hillside with blooming red and purple flowers, and sumac trees and conifers behind. The chickens are enclosed by a wooden fence.
A variety of textured grasses and purple, yellow, and orange flowers on a hill.
Several small green cacti amidst light brown dirt and boulders.
Two brown and white horses eating plants from a green bin.

Phase II – The South Hill

A thick green hillside with overgrown plants in front of a wooden fence with a brown wooden house behind.
A side view of a rocky hill blooming with purple Russian Sage and yellow flowers to the right of a wooden fence.
two chickens next to a rocky hillside with blooming red and purple flowers, and sumac trees and conifers behind. The chickens are enclosed by a wooden fence.
A variety of textured grasses and purple, yellow, and orange flowers on a hill.
Several small green cacti amidst light brown dirt and boulders.
Two brown and white horses eating plants from a green bin.
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