Yellowknife (May 26/03) - The North's short summer season poses a challenge to anyone who wants to putter around their yard, but it's not all hopeless.

There are professionals who offer advice and many residents are willing to work hard for a few weeks and turn their yards into beautiful gardens and create eye catching designs.

"It's not easy because everything blooms here in about six weeks," said Karen LeGresley Hamre, a local landscape architect.

However, that doesn't mean you can't come up with a yard or garden that can thrive here.

"It's a short summer so you have to take advantage," said Andy McMullen, while he was raking his grass on a recent Sunday.

When deciding how to set up your yard, there are many different things to choose from, and not just vegetation.

This would include trees, bushes, some flowers and you can add rock paths, decks, patios and children's play areas to create the look you want.

McMullen and his wife, Jane, have adapted to their yard, a corner lot on Finlayson Drive.

On one side, a large rock outcrop serves as a patio, with benches, trees and bushes turning it into a park-like area.

"It's a place to sit down and relax. We hope to put up a garden on raised beds up there as well," said McMullen.

The couple is currently working on getting rid of some grassy areas and set up some flower beds.

"It's doesn't make much sense to have so much grass in a dry environment," McMullen pointed out.

On the other side of town, on 48th street, the Ehnes are working with trees, specifically birch trees.

"We want to get a little bit of privacy," said Pat Ehnes, as he tried to dig through the still frozen ground Sunday afternoon in order to replace a birch tree.

He is putting in a row of birch trees along his fence, in order to provide a bit more wind resistance in the winter.

"We use birch because it transplants well, and thrives up here.

"Some people have poplars but they look a bit ragged," he said.

The Ehnes' will also plant some flowers around the house, and put in a few tomatoes.

"We've been working on this for nine years, adding a little bit every year," said Ehnes.

While the Ehnes family looks to transplant birch trees, LeGresley Hamre noted that there are other trees that will grow here as well.

"The jackpine and white spruce are available, but the birch is by far the easiest to get and transplant," she said.

LeGresley Hamre said that a few trees not native to the North will also flourish naming the amur cherry and the mayday tree as examples.

Ehnes said he just goes out to the sandpits or outside of town and picks his own birch.

As for flowers, perennials seem to be the choice for amateur and professional gardeners.

"There are a number of arctic plants that have adapted to the climate," said LeGresley Hamre.

Both Ehnes and McMullen noted that while they work around the yard, it's their wives who come up with most of the ideas, they claim they are just the doers.

"My wife gives me a to-do list, and that's what I do.

She is the one who knows what to do," said McMullen, who recently moved back to Yellowknife after a short hiatus.

"We moved back last April, and started work on the yard last summer," he said.

McMullen is also working on removing a ground level concrete patio near the house and replacing it with rocks.

"The concrete moves with the weather, so that can cause some damage to the house. With rocks, we won't have any problems," he said.

Beautification

Ehnes is looking to beautify his yard, and likes to see his neighbours do the same.

"It improves the neighbourhood," he said.

Ehnes also wishes the city would do a bit more to help home owners who are trying to beautify the city.

"When the city replaced the sewer system, they gave us some really bad topsoil to work with," he said, pointing to the outlying edges of his yard, on the outside of a nice white picket fence.

Ehnes said he can't grow anything there, so he will just put some crushed rocks.

"We have a sidewalk on the other side of the street, but not on this side, but many people walk on this side, so that doesn't help either," he said.

A yard is a reflection of the owner's personality.

If you drive around town, you'll see a wide variety of yard designs, from flower gardens to rock gardens to lawns featuring a few dwarves or small windmills.

It's your yard, and sure you can do what you want with it, and even if our summers are short, it doesn't mean your only choices are to let your grass grow long and forget about it until the winter, when everything is covered up again.