It occurs to me that I approach my blog much in the same way I approach gardening. If anyone reading this entry has been to one of my speaking engagements, you’ve heard me say time and again that I am a good horticulturist, but a lazy gardener. When I plant something in the yard, it has one chance. If it dies or requires too much care or just isn’t performing at the level I want, I’ll replace it next year. If I really like the plant, I’ll give it one more shot, but that’s it. Merciless, maybe, but I live, eat, breathe, and sleep horticulture almost every day, April through November. My husband, however, does not. After spending an entire afternoon slaving away on my patio containers I will ask him how they look and he responds, “Oh…yes, they are very nice. Now can we go to dinner?” He appreciates what I do to improve the yard, but just can’t quite muster the levels of enthusiasm I possess. Obviously on the days off we have together, his idea of a good time is not weeding or pruning. So I totally understand when a client wants me to do a design, but the biggest priority is that the landscape needs to be low maintenance.
Notice I used the term “low maintenance” not “NO maintenance”. Unless you are living surrounded by a concrete slab, there will be some maintenance required. But it does baffle me when these same low-maintenance-thinkers believe that having 90% of the yard as lawn is less work than landscape beds. Think of how often you have to mow the grass- Once or twice a week? Then there is watering, fertilizing, and chemical applications so you don’t have any dandelions or clover. A well thought out, low-maintenance, established landscape should only require about one weekend a month of work outside.
The key to a low-maintenance landscape is picking the right plants, for the right spot. For instance, don’t plant an Endless Summer Hydrangea in a hot, full sun location, unless you want to spend extra time watering it. If you have a line of yews in front of your house, do you find yourself cutting them back two or three times a year so they don’t grow over the windows? Just rip them out already! My favorite example is when a visitor to the nursery is looking at a particular shrub and it will grow taller than they would like, so they ask me, “Well…can I keep it pruned so it doesn’t get taller?” In theory, yes, you can prune just about any shrub to keep it to a certain height, but that’s a lot of extra work, and unnecessary. Wouldn’t it be easier to just pick a plant that will naturally maintain the size you’re looking for?
Here is a list of my favorite shrubs and perennials that don’t require a lot of maintenance, once established.
Ornamental Grasses
There are many great grasses available in a wide variety of textures, heights, and spreads. Even though they can be slow to emerge in spring, once they are up, you don’t need to do anything. Leave the foliage standing through winter and wait to cut them back until late March. Most grasses do best if you don’t fertilize them beyond the first year, otherwise they can get quite leggy. If you want something tall, try Northwind Switch Grass. Its blue-green foliage gives way to a lovely golden color and is the most upright of the switch grasses. Looking for medium-height grasses? The Blues Little Bluestem gets 2-3 feet tall and also stays more upright. For a shorter grass, my absolute favorite is Prairie Dropseed.
Perennials
Got a sunny location? Ironweed and Wild Senna are two tall beauties that are easy to grow. As with tall ornamental grasses, don’t fertilize too much (if at all) or else they will get floppy. A shorter option I like is Hummelo Lamb’s Ear. Even though it’s in the same genus as regular lamb’s ear that has the soft, grey leaves, and sprawls all over, they actually aren’t very similar. Hummelo stays in tight clumps of mounded, green foliage with spikes of bright pink flowers throughout June. When it’s done blooming, just cut the flowers back to the foliage. It may even rebloom later in the season. Rozanne Geranium is another winner and will bloom from June until frost. It actually performs better and has improved chances of surviving the winter if you wait to cut back the foliage until spring. In fact, I wait to cut most of my perennials back until spring not only to help protect the plants through the winter, but because I’m pretty exhausted by the time fall rolls around.
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Got a lot of shade? Create low-maintenance impact and contrast by mixing a variety of hostas in blues, greens, and golds with Black Negligee Snakeroot. There’s a reason you see so many hostas in shade gardens. It’s because they will grow just about anywhere, in any soil condition. However, if you have deer that like to snack on them, go with perennials that aren’t as tasty like coral bells in assorted colors or Jack Frost Bugloss.
Shrubs
Spireas are another low-maintenance option that you see everywhere because they are very hardy and require minimal pruning to keep
looking nice. But try planting a couple varieties that are less common like Tor Birchleaf Spirea or Johnson’s Nursery’s very own Pink-a-licious™ Fritsch Spirea. I also like using St. John’s Wort if I am looking for a shrub that has an easy-care, globe-shaped form.
For shade, try massing Cutleaf Stephanandra where you need a low-growing shrub. It’s a sprawling shrub that reaches 2-3 feet, will flower in dense shade, and can get awesome fall coloring. It would be really beautiful planted around a Pagoda Dogwood specimen.
For a blog that’s about how lazy I am with gardening and blogging, this has turned into quite the novel. And maybe “lazy” isn’t the right word. Because there are lots of folks out there who don’t have the time to garden, but it doesn’t mean they are lazy or appreciate plants any less. Maybe it’s time to make a summer resolution (they don’t all have to be at the beginning of
the year). I resolve to make more time for my garden. I resolve to make more quality time with my husband (not in the garden). I resolve to read more books (some of them will be about gardening). And I resolve to not let so much time pass before writing another entry again.