Today we’re off to Des Moines, Iowa, to visit with Kyle Dallefeld.

He grew up working with plants in the family grass seed business and got into horticulture at an early age.

Kyle uses his rock garden to grow lots of interesting cactus and other succulents. The cactus here is Echinocereus reichenbachii subsp. perbellus (Zones 4–8), which lies next to the bright yellow flowers of Delosperma ‘Reznicek’ (Zones 5–8). Many cactus and other succulents are quite winter hardy provided they have great drainage during the winter.

Pediocactus simpsonii (Zones 4–7) has beautiful pink flowers in the spring.

Eriogonum ‘Kannah Creek’ (Zones 3–8) is one of the buckwheats, with bright yellow flowers.

The towering flower stems of Silphium laciniatum (Zones 3–8) rise above the Iowa prairie.

Salvia greggii and hybrids (such as Salvia greggii × lycioides ‘Ultra Violet’, pictured) are often grown as annuals, but this one is hardy to Zones 6–9 or possibly colder with good winter drainage.

Gladiolus byzantinus (Zones 5–9) is one of the European species of gladiolus that are much hardier than the usual hybrids of the African species. Here it is backed up by the profuse flowers of Nepeta ‘Purrsian Blue’ (Zones 3–8).

Echinocereus viridiflorus is another hardy cactus, growing up to Zone 4 with good drainage.

A Yucca hybrid

Cardoon (Cynara cadrunculus, Zones 6–9) is a relative of the artichoke with beautiful silvery foliage.

You might not think of figs (Ficus carica) as thriving in Zone 5 in Iowa, but Kyle has found that several varieties (‘Violette de Bordeaux’, ‘Little Miss Figgy’, and ‘Hardy Chicago’) do quite well for him without any special winter protection.

If you want to see more of Kyle’s garden, check out his instagram: @grasslandgardener

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