How gardener Heli makes her yard flourish despite clay soil, drought, and harsh winters

The midday sun scorches so intensely that the small patio at the side of the house becomes almost unbearably hot, with no refreshing breeze. Heli Rajala doesn’t mind, though—she prefers spending time with the garden’s plants rather than lounging in a deck chair.

“I love creating my own environment, doing physical work, and tinkering with all sorts of projects. Before I had a garden of my own, I often weeded my cousin’s place. She was sorry when we moved, because I no longer had time for her vegetable patch,” Heli says with a laugh.

She finally got the garden she had been yearning for in 2010, when her young family needed more space and built a new home on a plot carved out of an old potato field. Before that, the Rajalas lived by the sea at the famous Kalajoki sand dunes. There, Heli had a container garden on the terrace, but it wasn’t the same as having a real garden.

Even though this is Heli’s first real garden, she had a clear design in mind from the start. She earned her first degree in horticulture and has been gardening since childhood. So, she mapped out the placement of the paths before any digging began.

“The stonework has held up well because we laid a proper base. I like to build everything in the garden carefully. A new perennial bed gets the best start if you don’t leave any weeds behind.”

Over time, the planting areas have steadily expanded, taking over land once dominated by the lawn. The newest sections were finished just last fall.

In the foreground, pink-flowering border sage, white musk mallow, and the ‘Bowl of Beauty’ peony are finishing their bloom. In the middle is culver’s root.

In the foreground, an ornamental grass called Balkan blue grass sways. Behind the bed is the mountain currant hedge that Heli started herself from cuttings.

Heli keeps the ‘Pekkala’ and ‘Rautell’ apple trees short to make harvesting easier. By the terrace grows a dwarf almond that blooms beautifully in spring, along with a shrubby Koehne mountain ash. .

Heli uses summer flowers to fill newly created flowerbeds. Poppies bloom magnificently, and once their flowers fade, their seed pods remain decorative. Over the summer, Heli removes withered growth to give other plants space to shine.

Heli cuts off the mullein’s flower stalks before the seeds ripen.

Despite careful planning, the conditions have tested Heli. Rain clouds often pass by without dropping any water, leaving the garden parched in summer. Last May, for example, saw only 2 mm (0.08 in) of rain. Because of the drought, the lawn at the side of the house kept scorching, so the Rajalas finally replaced it with a deck.

Some parts of the soil are extremely clay-heavy, so it bakes rock-hard when dry. Dense clay also doesn’t absorb water well, so if a sudden downpour hits, water can remain on the surface.

“I’ve built raised beds so excess moisture drains off. Planting the seedlings closer together helps reduce evaporation.”

Drought considerations can also be seen in Heli’s plant choices. In the well-draining raised beds, globe thistle, mullein, and bee balm flourish. Oregano and pussytoes work well as low border plants.

The edge of the property stays wetter than the rest of the garden, so even moisture-loving snowball viburnum thrives there. Heli’s go-to variety is the reliably hardy bigroot geranium, which covers the soil effectively.

“I’m not usually a romantic type of person, but in the garden, I find myself attracted to soft, pastel shades. I also like leaves that come in colors beyond green, like red or white.”

The plantings look dense. In front is the showy stonecrop ‘Herbstfreude.’ With the overwintered verbena bonariensis grow ‘Moerheim Beauty’ heleniums, mulleins, and wood betony.

The ornamental value of lamb’s-ear comes from its silvery, velvety leaves. In front of it are spring-blooming dicentra. The yellow daylily came from Heli’s parents’ garden.

This lot used to have curly birch, and they kept a few. Hostas do well in clay pots under the tree’s shade in summer, and Heli moves them into the ground for winter.

Heli loves romantic, delicate blooms like the purple mullein.

Heli thinks ornamental grasses look best when woven among other plants.

Heli first saw heleniums on a garden visit and fell in love. Now they bloom in her own yard.

The variegated shrub is the ‘Ivory Halo’ dogwood. In front grow the hosta ‘Praying Hands’ and a bleeding heart from a friend. In the background, you can see the red ‘Moerheim Beauty’ helenium, with mullein on the right.

In June, Heli replaces tulips with summer flowers like rudbeckia, tall verbena, and coleus.

In winter, lack of snow is typical along the Gulf of Bothnia, making survival hard for many species. Heli remembers one shocking year when it was –27°C (–17°F) with no snow at all to shield the plants. That winter, she lost many. Sometimes winter arrives so suddenly that the plants aren’t prepared; one autumn, the apple trees kept their leaves all winter because the cold came on without warning.

Due to the harsh winters, Heli waits until spring to tidy up the flowerbeds. The withered stems protect the roots and collect insulating snow. If the beds were too neat, strong winds would blow the drifts away. Heli only removes stalks from heavy self-seeders, like mullein, before fall.

Pelargoniums, cabbage palms, and tall verbena winter in storage. Heli used to keep her lavender there, too, but in recent years they’ve stayed outside in a gravel bed that remains pleasantly dry, even through winter.

“I think of the garden as an experimental plot. I love seeing how each plant does here. That’s why I don’t have too many of the same ones.”

Below the apple tree, daffodils bloom and later vanish under the geranium foliage in summer. Heli also uses her bouquets to decorate seating areas.

Pink-blooming maltese cross and the feather reed grass ‘Karl Foerster’ make a delicate pair.

The path alongside the house was built with logs from Heli’s old home, which she dismantled. She treated them with tar to help them last longer in the ground.

Mullein and culver’s root both do well in Heli’s garden.

Next to the mullein grows shiny burnet, which blooms in fall.