The results of the 16-year-old’s efforts can now be seen all around his family’s home at 2723 Ashwood Lane. Flower beds there are blooming all through the spring and summer with coneflowers and hibiscus in various colors, black-eyed susans, and Russian sage all balanced with the greens of hostas and ferns.

“In my flower beds, there are different flowers blooming at different times,” he said.

His efforts have resulted in the Anderson property being named the latest Yard of the Month by the Fort Dodge Federated Garden Club.

Carter Anderson, who will be a junior at Fort Dodge Senior High School when classes start next week, is the son of Chris and Steph Anderson. His parents have let him take the lead on the landscaping.

- Messenger photo by Bill Shea
White coneflowers, bee balm and tiger grass are growing around the base of the mailbox at Carter Anderson's home in Fort Dodge. Anderson said he started the landscaping around the mailbox last summer.

“They tell me the space and I just go out and find something cool and add it,” he said.

That space includes lush flower beds in the front and rear of the house, planter boxes in the backyard, a window box on the front of the house and an area around the base of the mailbox.

He said coneflowers are his favorite. Red, pink and yellow coneflowers can be found throughout the flower beds.

“I’m still in the hunt for a blue coneflower,” he said.

Big pink, white and red hibiscus flowers are also prominent.

- Messenger photo by Bill Shea
A flower bed along the backside of the Anderson residence on Ashwood Lane features coneflowers, hibisicus and black-eyed susans, among others. Carter Anderson, 16, planted and maintains the flower bed.

“It brings a kind of tropical element to the flower bed, which I love,” Carter Anderson said.

He said the pulmonaria, which has pink and purple flowers, is always the first plant to bloom.

“It blooms very early,” he said.

He planted the area around the base of the mailbox last year with white coneflowers, tiger grass and bee balm.

There is still some space on the east side of the house where flowers can be planted. It will no doubt be the site of Carter Anderson’s next landscaping effort.

- Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Large white hibiscuis flowers can be found in the flower bed at the Anderson residence on Ashwood Lane in Fort Dodge.