What plants grow well in Cle Elum?

Aspens, native pines, vine maples and drought-tolerant natives and groundcovers all do well here. They're used to dry summers and snowy winters.

Do native plants need watering?

Yes, for the first season or two while the roots get established. After that, most get by on far less water than a lawn.

Landscaping built to need little water. Here that usually means boulders, river rock, mulch and drought-tolerant plants in place of a big thirsty lawn.

Why plant aspens in groups?

Aspens grow in groves in the wild, so a cluster looks natural where a single tree can look lost. A grove also gives you a bigger show of fall color.

Native Plantings & Rock Landscaping in Cle Elum, WA

The plants that do best around Cle Elum are the ones that already grow here. They’re used to dry summers, long winters under snow and thin mountain soil, so once they’re settled in they ask for very little. We build beds around them, with boulders and river rock giving the bones and natives filling in.

What we plant

Aspens, planted in groves rather than one at a time, so they look like they came up on their own. You get fall color and light, moving shade.
Native pines for height, screening and green all year.
Vine maples, smaller and softer, with strong fall color.
Drought-tolerant natives and groundcovers that fill the ground between rocks and hold the soil.
Trees, shrubs and bed planting at any scale, from a single entry bed to a whole yard.

Boulders, berms and river rock

Rock does a lot of the work in a mountain landscape. A boulder mound or berm adds height to a flat lot, screens the view of the road and gives plants better drainage than the ground around it. River rock fills between plants, edges beds and can double as a dry creek bed when water needs a path. Put boulders, rock, mulch and tough plants together and you have a xeriscape-style bed, one that looks full without much water.

Young aspen grove planted along a paved drive with river-rock edging and boulders

Planted boulder mound at the driveway entrance of a timber home

Planted bed with a young pine, boulders and driftwood beside a timber home

Boulders and young aspens in a new front bed

Planting for dry summers and deep snow

Even natives need water for their first season or two while the roots get going. After that, most can get by on far less. We’ll talk through how to water new plantings, and if you’d rather not drag a hose around, our sprinkler and irrigation work can put the beds on a timer.

Snow matters too. We look at where it slides off the roof and where it piles up along the drive, and keep young trees and shrubs out of the way of both.

A little room around the house

Wildfire season is part of life here, so we keep it in mind without making a big production of it. Sensible plant spacing and keeping brush back from the house are easy to build in from the start, and we can do some lighter clean-up and brush clearing around the home.

Boulder bed with young native plants behind the patio

Mulch berm with a young spruce beside a river-rock dry creek

Planted bed with a river-rock border curving along a paved drive

Tumble Creek: an aspen grove and native beds

At Tumble Creek in Suncadia, we planted a front-yard aspen grove of more than 14 aspens with accent rocks. Two large landscape mounds at the entrance carry decorative rock, native pines, vine maples and drought-resistant flowers. Out back, dry creek beds wind through the woods into beds of drought-resistant pines, groundcovers and native flowers, and an ornamental pine with natives around it anchors the pond. See the Tumble Creek pond project.

“Scott & Brandon were wonderful to work with. The estimates were accurate and made a number of helpful suggestions. We are so pleased with the transformation to the front of our cabin.” — Ann H.

New beds still like a little attention once they’re in. Our landscape maintenance crew can handle mulch, weed control and bed refreshes.

Ready to plant? Book a free design consult or call 509-260-3659.

Yard care is better with neighbors

Once your landscape is in, we can keep it looking the way it did on day one: mowing, trimming, bed refreshes and sprinkler care. Up here, much of what you pay for is our drive between yards, so when neighbors on the same road or in the same HOA sign up together, the price for everyone can drop a lot.