- So sometimes we have the reputation of being a little crazy 'cause our neighbors will look out the window while it's snowing and we're digging holes.

(upbeat music) - I am oozing with envy.

We are at Maria Fox's house, and she is not only a professional landscaper but also a garden coach in Highland, Utah.

And three years ago she bought this property, an acre of land, and she tells me it was a nightmare.

There is no way this could have been as bad as she says.

But check this out!

(upbeat music) Let's learn all of Maria's secrets.

But before we do that, you need to make sure that you hit that subscribe button and also get that notification button on.

Maria, I wanna know your hot tip of how you were able to do this on such a good budget.

- I just look around everywhere.

I look on Facebook Marketplace.

But if you look at the plants, I really would really suggest to go shopping in the fall, late fall, when plants don't necessarily look the greatest, and they're gonna go dormant pretty soon.

You can buy things for fairly cheap.

Like you can go to local nurseries or local even hardwood stores, they'll sell it down to 75% off.

You'd be surprised that I have some trees that I have literally paid only $15 because it just didn't look quite right.

I have a a tree there that I bought it and he was small enough I could put it in my car, and I think I paid $12 for it.

It had a lot of issues, but I've trimmed it for the last two and a half years, and he is starting to come to shape now.

- Letting those plants take time and finding him at a killer deal of $12 for a tree, when it's usually like what, 150?

That's amazing!

- Yeah.

Our gazebo, we just got that at Costco and I was really excited 'cause there was even $200 coupon on it.

- Oh my gosh!

Well gazebos are super expensive.

- They are, and I mean, I think we paid $1,600 for this.

- That's usually like a $5,000 buy!

- Oh, yeah.

And don't be afraid to go on joy rides.

I call those joy rides.

If you go up north, north of Salt Lake, a lot of plants are less cheaper than down here in Utah County.

And so, I mean I just went up north and bought gallon perennials for $2 per pot.

And those are usually $10.

(upbeat music) - Tell me about this path.

- So this is actually made out of palette and I'm not that ingenious that I made it up.

I actually saw it it online on another gardener, Garden Answers.

She made these pallet paths and I told my husband, "We're making a path!"

So anybody can do it.

You just break up your the pallet and then just use some long nails and just hammer it in the ground.

And then eventually the nails will rust in and hold it to place.

- Brilliant!

One of the things I love are all the seating that you have.

Tell me a little bit about that.

- So I kind of made a point to always have seating in the area so that when I get tired, or I wanna sit and smell some flowers, I love the areas to just go and be.

And just, it's great for mental health.

It's great for mindfulness.

And this is why I've chosen to do sitting areas.

And I actually have local young women that I've seen that they'll just come when even I'm sitting in my office and I'll see them sneaking here, and I've told them they're welcome to, and just sit in the different areas and just have that moment to themselves.

- Just enjoy.

- Yep.

- Ah, that's so fun.

I can't wait to see how this is going to turn out in a few years because it just needs, you know, everything needs a little bit of growth.

- Yep, it does.

- But it is beautiful now.

What I wanna know is what would you have done differently?

- I wish that we had removed more of the grass and brought the garden a little closer this way.

But initially just felt like a lot of work and so you just have to think of gardening as a journey and not a destination.

And so I kind of now am thinking of other things that I can do to remove the grass.

(upbeat music) - Okay, so I'm looking around, Maria, and there is so much.

There's so much that's just incredible.

Tell me what is your favorite area or what is the one that you wanna highlight the most?

- I love all the areas that were once rough looking.

And I keep looking back because that's one of the areas the grass was pretty much dead last year.

And with the help of my, I have two teenage sons, well one is off now, but they had friends, they needed to make money, and they help us to remove the sod, and we went to work.

So a lot of the areas where their once was sod and now has been cultivated to something pretty is my favorite.

- But tell me, so how much mulch do you have, and how could you afford this much mulch?

What did you do?

- So first off, let me show you here this mulch, I'm about four to, well, probably five inches deep, and that is the best way to suppress weeds.

The other thing is we get our mulch from it's North Point Waste Management in Lindon and it's only $20 a yard.

The nice thing about is there's a lot of grass in this mulch so it acts as a binder so it doesn't blow away in the wind.

- Yeah 'cause you live kind of in a wind tunnel, right?

- We do, we do live in a wind tunnel.

And so this has been great.

I mean this stays here all winter long and I don't even have to add any.

- For a beginner, tell me what your piece of advice would be.

What would you tell them to start with?

- Just do whatever you desire and it doesn't have to happen overnight.

Just remember that things take time, as we've talked about and just go for it.

You can develop a green thumb, you just have to wanna do it, and just love what you're doing.

- Oh, great, Maria, you definitely have the masters touch.

That's all I can say.

This is gorgeous, incredible.

I can't wait to see it flourish in a couple years.

And thank you so much for inviting us to this beautiful yard.

- Oh, thank you.

- And what you have changed over time is really just impeccable and so creative and so gorgeous.

- Well thank you for coming.

I appreciate it.

- Yeah.

- Thank you.

(upbeat music) - What do you all think?

Maria is so impressive with all that she has accomplished here on her land.

I wanna know below your comments of what you loved, what you're going to take away, or what you're already doing.

Okay, until we see you next time.

(gentle music)