Question
Hello James,
We are moving into a new house.  There is a small back "lawn."  My husband was unable to accompany me when I chose the property and I as I am not the gardener, I did not realise that an old tree must have been cut down, resulting in making it impossible to kill it off completely, so it keeps sprouting all over the lawn.  So, no tree and no lawn.  How could we tidy the backyard up?  My husband, J.J., would like to cover it over with maybe gravel and then putting potted shrubs in. It is a small area. As it is in Fort McMurray, he will sink the pots into the soil in order for the shrubs to survive the winters.
We are new in this world of severe cold and snow and J.J. would like to make something of what now is just about nothing.
Your advice and kind help will mean a lot to us and I thank you.
Best regards.
Wendy

Answer
Hi Wendy, For low maintenance, your husband has a good idea.  I'd cover the area with a good quality landscape fabric and then cover with gravel.  The fabric will stop most anything from coming up in the gravel.  You have local plants that will survive the cold, so I'd plant a few as background plants and then drop pots of annual color into the gravel to brighten up the area during your short summer.  Consider plants with winter interest like yellow twig dogwood for your background plants.  It should survive there.  If you have a local nursery, go see them.  They should be able to help you plan your garden.  Jim