easy-care gardening

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Since I just moved to a new house this past fall and pretty much have a blank slate for a brand-new garden (here’s a pic of my daughter and me scratching some spinach into the ground while impatiently waiting for warm weather to return), I’ve decided to take a pro-active approach to easy-care gardening. Believe me, I love the meditative therapy of deadheading and weeding as much as any diehard gardener, but as the mom of a preschooler who works part-time from home, I don’t have the time to also babysit my plants.

So I did some research on how to design, plant, water, choose plantings – and more – to make sure my landscape can start and stay low-maintenance.

Here are some of the great tips I found on how to establish an easy-care garden – or at least make your existing garden work – and look – much better.

Choose easy-care plants

Go heavy on the trees and shrubs, which typically only require a yearly pruning at the most, suggests a great article entitled “Plants for Low, Medium and High Maintenance” on the Sustainable and Urban Gardening blog. Other easy-care plants recommended by the article include ornamental grasses, which only need a cutting back to 6 inches in early spring; groundcovers (by themselves or around big plants like trees and shrubs) and bulbs that "perennialize" or "naturalize" (spread on their own and come back for years) like crocus, chinodoxa, hyacinths and certain kinds of daffodils.

C. Colston Burrell, in his HowStuffWorks.com article entitled “How to Grow a Low-Maintenance Garden,” suggests dwarf and slow-growing plants that eliminate the need for pruning and pinching. His other tips:

Avoid tall flowers or veggies that might need staking, caging or other supports.
Look for compact, self-supporting sizes of tall flowers like delphiniums, asters, daylilies and Shasta daisies.
Avoid fast-spreading and aggressive perennials such as yarrow, plume poppy, Artemisia ‘Silver King’ and bee balm.
Plant easy-care, disease-resistant varieties of your favorite plants.

Mulch, mulch, mulch

“Mulch is one of the unsung heroes of low-maintenance landscaping,” says About.com Landscaping Guide David Beaulieu in his article “Tips for Low-Maintenance Landscaping.”

“An application of mulch can reduce your watering needs significantly,” he notes. “Mulch also suppresses weeds, making yard care much easier.”

Pursue “weedless gardening”

In his widely-acclaimed book Weedless Gardening, Lee Reich suggests reducing the need for weeding in your garden by:

Minimizing soil disturbance (that is, no unnecessary tilling or turning over of the soil, thus exposing weed seeds to the light and air they need to germinate). You can do this by designating permanent areas for planting and for traffic.
Keep the soil covered. “Not all weeds come from below. Some hitchhike in by wind or bird,” says Reich. A thin, annual mulch of some weed-free, organic material snuffs out young seedlings, he says. His hungry veggie garden gets an annual, 1-inch deep mulch of compost, his paths get wood chips and his flowerbeds get shredded or decomposed leaves.
Where regular watering is needed, use drip irrigation.

Know Your Plants

“Buy only the plants that have labels, then keep those labels somewhere you can actually find them — even a large envelope will suffice,” says Sustainable and Urban Gardening blog editor Susan Harris in her article “How to Garden the Low-Maintenance Way.” Harris keeps her labels in a three-ring binder garden book with one page for each plant. “In addition to taping the grower’s label to the page, I include such details as where the plant came from, the date of purchase, what it cost, and everything I know about the care it needs.”

Water wisely

Invest in soaker hoses – or for more money – an automatic drip irrigation system, says Beaulieu, and put the system on a timer. “Automatic irrigation systems, incidentally, can end up saving you money in the long run,” says Beaulieu. He also suggests grouping your plants by their watering needs.

Click here for Beaulieu’s FAQs on automatic irrigation systems.

Use smart design

Here are some more great ideas from Harris’ article (above):

Plant in masses (for large plants, 5 to10; for smaller ones, 10 to 30). “This limited plant palette makes it easier to keep up with their care and prevent their intrusion on neighboring plants,” she explains. “Also, the fewer the species, the easier it is to limit yourself to those that are well suited to your site. And aesthetically, massing of plants usually results in a better looking garden, one that’s restful to the eye, not chaotic.”
Limit freestanding islands, continues Harris, and try to incorporate trees and shrubs into borders in ways that mimic nature — tallest trees in the back, smaller trees and shrubs in front of that, then shorter plants in front of that and then groundcovers in front of that.
Use large curving lines that are easy to mow along. Edge the lawn with a paved mowing strip flush with the lawn to eliminate the need to trim after mowing. Try to incorporate shrubs and trees into borders.
Limit high-maintenance plants to one area that’s easily reachable by you and your water supply.
Include stepping stones or pavers through wide borders, for easy access without causing soil compaction. High-traffic paths should be pavers or stepping stones, set flush with the ground, never lawn.
Containers are popular in the gardening media but qualify as high-maintenance by any account, especially in the sun where they dry out quickly. “We’re talking daily watering.” Plants in containers also require more frequent feeding.
One or two high-impact plants in prominent sites can dramatize an otherwise simple garden using a very limited palette of plants.
“Avoid ponds like the plague,” she says. “Go ahead and try an easy plug-in water fountain, but ponds are a lot of work and don’t believe any pond salesman who tells you they’re not.”

Shrink your lawn

“Turf grass is a problem, because it’s a water-guzzler,” says Beaulieu in his article (above). So he recommends trying to enlarge or extend hardscapes like walkways and patios. You can also replace a patch of lawn with groundcover, easy-care shrubs and mulch.

Grow a water-wise landscape

Consider xeriscaping (or landscaping for dry areas), says Beaulieu. Some of his drought-tolerant picks include:

Rock garden plants (designed for thin soil and arid regions).
Succulents like hens and chicks and aloe.
Native wildflowers.
Ornamental grasses like purple fountain grass, yellow pampas grass, Mexican feather grass and blue oat grass.
Drought-tolerant perennials like Sedum ‘Autumn Joy,’ Coreopsis ‘Moonbeam,’ Bluebeard (caryopteris) ‘Longwood Blue,’ lamb’s ears, maiden grass (Miscanthus sinensis ‘Gracillimus,’ blue fescue ‘Elijah Blue’ and northern sea oats.

Click here for Beaulieu’s drought tolerant landscape plan.

Go easy on the pruning

“Prune to eliminate crowding, to prevent disease by providing better air circulation, and simply to have better-looking plants,” advises Harris. “Don’t prune shrubs into perfect – but unnatural, and very high-maintenance – shapes. If you let them be their natural size and shape they’ll look better and be healthier, too.”

Most shrubs need thinning, she adds, with old or stray branches being removed to the ground or the next major limb. “Old, overgrown or misshapen shrubs usually need renewal pruning, in which one-third of the branches are completely removed each year until they’re all gone.”

Don’t overfeed

If your plants are looking pooped and have been neglected for a few years, go ahead and apply some organic fertilizer around their root zone once or twice early in the growing season (in addition to an organic mulch), says Harris. And veggies, annuals and anything in containers need regular feedings.

But “most plants are happiest with a yearly layer of organic mulch and at most, application of some compost in the early spring." If the plant’s doing well, she says, uneeded feeding could mean excessive growth (read: more work for you). "And don’t forget that runoff of excess fertilizer, especially the synthetic, nonorganic kind, is a huge problem for our waterways.”

Well, those are my contents of my notebook for now. Have your own easy-gardening tips? Please share them in our Comments section!

See you next time on Your Easy Garden by Tesselaar!

Top Garden Trends 2010

[1] Sustainability

“Sustainability,” the latest buzzword being drilled into our brains, is short for “environmental sustainability,” or living in a way that conserves natural resources.

That’s why some in the plant marketing industry have suggested more transparent labeling, indicating how many chemicals and how much water was used in the production of a product, how much energy was consumed in its transportation and if any recycled materials were used.

“We’d love for consumers to know all the rigorous testing for drought tolerance we’ve done, how little water they’ve survived on, or how the purchase of oxygen-releasing, allergen-filtering plants help the environmental in general,” says Anthony Tesselaar, president and co-founder of Tesselaar Plants (The Australian plant innovator markets the water-wise and no-or-low-chemical Flower Carpet^® shrub roses). “We’re even talking about labels equating each plant with a certain number of carbon credits, so the consumer can see how their purchase helps reduce their carbon footprint.”

Further down the road, says independent trend-spotting firm TrendWatch in its recent 2010 trends report, we may even see government interventions that make it easier for consumers to choose sustainable products or that even offer them no other choice (i.e. bans on products not sold in recycled packaging or that exceed water or chemical-use restrictions).

A burgeoning “localvore” movement has grown out of this, with people going beyond simply caring about where their food comes from to going out of their way to buy plants and produce from local independent businesses.

[2] Redefining luxury

“What constitutes luxury is closely related to what constitutes scarcity,” says TrendWatch. “And, beyond the basic needs, scarcity is in the eye of the beholder, especially those beholders who are desperately trying to be unique.”

And now that there are so many more ways to be unique than just buying the biggest and the most expensive, says the firm, “luxury” can now mean more time with loved ones or oneself, the freedom to be eccentric, extreme personalization or “just a place of peace and quiet – if not escape.”

The idea of luxury is also strongly tied to the idea of creating a personal oasis or
“staycation” at home –- even for those with smaller budgets.

“With the downturn in the economy, more people are tending to stay closer to home,” says Charlie Nardozzi, senior horticulturist and spokesperson for the National Gardening Association. “That means they are interested and have the time to take on gardening projects.”

[3] Water-wise landscapes

According to the 2009 Garden Trends Research Report survey conducted by the Garden Writers Association Foundation late last summer, those with lawns and gardens are becoming increasingly concerned with water conservation. Approximately one in three (32 percent) survey respondents, in fact, said they were planning to use more mulch to do the job (up 12 percent, from 20 percent in 2007), while about one out of seven were planning to use either drip irrigation (up 1 percent from 2007) or more drought-tolerant plants (up 4 percent from 2007).

In the same report, water conservation ranked highest among gardeners asked to rank their interest in several chosen topics (the others were native plants, sustainability, organic gardening, web-based gardening information and garden blogs).

[4] Plants for wellness

In the late spring survey of the Garden Writers Association’s 2009 Garden Trends Research Report, more than one-third of Americans (35 percent) said their primary reason for gardening was better mental health, nutrition or fitness.

“We’ve seen so many studies showing how plants benefit people’s mental and physical health, how gardening can help prevent Alzheimer’s Disease and how plants release oxygen into the air, boosting our mood and filtering pollutants and allergens,” says Anthony Tesselaar. “With this we’re seeing a movement toward ‘interiorscaping – designing with plants inside so we can enjoy them all the time.”

Homeowners are also turning to plants for practical and financial reasons. In the 2009 Garden Trends Research Report survey conducted by the Garden Writers Association Foundation last spring, nearly a quarter of respondents (23 percent) said they garden because they want to increase curb appeal and property value,

Hence the rise of TV shows like HGTV’s Curb Appeal – The Block – in which crews give the whole neighborhood – not just one house — a landscaping makeover.

[5] Mixing it up

There’s an “anything goes” mentality out there these days, says About.com gardening guide Marie Iannotti in her Dec. 27, 2009 post “The Best Gardening Trends of the 2000s.”

“We’ve broken free of garden design rules and dictates on good taste and we’ve embraced personalizing our gardens,” she wrote. “We may still love English and Tuscan gardens, but we’re not trying to please anyone other than ourselves. We’re willing to take chances and have some fun with our gardens, even if it means throwing in the kitchen sink. I think this is one of the most positive gardening trends, if it can be called a trend. We’ve finally learned to trust ourselves as gardeners.”

Perhaps that’s why more gardeners are mixing edibles with ornamentals. “No more 10- by 10-foot Victory Gardens,” said Anna Ball this past fall in a presentation to woody ornamental growers at the International Plant Propagators Society’s Eastern Region meeting in Cleveland. “Everything should be mixed up. It’s a trend we’re seeing in every country, even South Africa, Australia and Japan.”

More cold-climate gardeners, adds Anthony Tesselaar, are embracing non-hardy tropical plants as “tenderennials” or annuals they just throw out or overwinter. One such example is Tesselaar’s recent introduction Festival Burgundy cordyline. Testers in New England, he says, already love it for its tropical look in the summer and its exceptional ability to survive as an indoor houseplant in the winter.

“Who cares about zones if it’s a woody ornamental in a mixed container that’s going to get thrown out at the end of the year?” said Anna Ball in her recent talk. “I bought all the gardening magazines in May. With my plant mind, I was sorting featured plants by annuals and perennials. I was unable to classify some of the plants because the articles and advertisements didn’t say. People don’t care what they are. They just care what they look like.”

[6] Vegetable gardening

According to the 2009 Edibles Gardening Trends Research Report conducted by the Garden Writers Association Foundation (GWAF) in November, more than 41 million U.S. households (38 percent) grew a vegetable garden in 2009. More than 19.5 million households (18 percent) grew an herb garden and 16.5 million households (15 percent) grew fruits. Vegetable gardening was most popular among 25- to 44-year-olds and least popular among 18- to 24-year-olds.

“There was definitely a growth in edibles gardening in 2009 from both experienced gardeners and an influx of new gardeners,” reported the study (the report’s earlier late-spring survey, in fact, reported a 12-percent increase in veggie gardening from 2008). Among those who grew edible gardens this year, said the fall study, 7 percent were new to edibles gardening. One-third of the experienced gardeners, meanwhile, reported growing more edibles in 2009 than in the previous year. And 37 percent of all households reported plans to increase their edible gardens. The main reason given: to supplement household food supply.

[7] Fewer lawns, more perennials and shrubs

More and more turf is being given over to gardening – especially in the front yard, says Iannotti in her 2009 post (above). “A well-thought-out garden, especially one with drought-tolerant, native shrubs adds curb appeal and eco-friendliness while cutting down on maintenance…Just think, no mowing, no pruning the yews, minimal watering… It’s especially nice to see front yard gardens in areas where people walk about.”

Here’s where shrubs have exploded in popularity. “There’s no excuse for a foundation of yews any longer,” she says. “If you’re looking for curb appeal, garden bones or a lower-maintenance garden, take a look at today’s offering of shrubs. They bloom and bloom, they have purple, golden or striped foliage, they weep, they contort and they don’t take over. In particular, she cites repeat-blooming hydrangeas and lilacs, a rainbow of ninebarks, Black Lace™ Elderberry, dwarf buddleia ‘Lo and Behold Blue Chip’ and “evergreens that aren’t green.”

And, according to the 2009 Garden Trends Research Report conducted by the Garden Writers Association Foundation late last spring, gardeners have been increasingly adding perennials to their landscapes – from 34 percent in 2006 to 42 percent this year.

[8] Native plants

Gardeners are turning to low-maintenance or easy-care plants, especially native varieties that have already grown well in their area. In fact, in the 2009 Garden Trend Research Report conducted by the GWAF late last summer, “native plants” ranked second in a list of topics given to gardeners (other topics, as noted above, included sustainable gardening, web-based gardening information, garden blogs, water conservation and organic gardening).

[9] Online infolust

As gardeners grow in their desire for relevant, real-time gardening information online, TrendWatch says “tracking and alerting are the new searching…it saves consumers time, makes it impossible to forget or miss out, and thus ultimately gives them yet another level of control.”

With services like Google Alerts, for instance, people interested in gardening can be notified via email or feed about the latest web and news pages of their choice, including garden bloggers, YouTube gardening how-to videos and gardening communities on Facebook and Twitter. If they have an iPhone®, the GardenPilot™ App (available on iTunes) can serve as their handheld, mobile, garden guide to plants, vegetables, trees and shrubs. (Features include images of 14,000 plants, information on where to find them at local retailers and the ability to search for plants based on attributes and common or botanical names).

And yes, those looking for such information online do include Baby Boomers (the largest segment of gardeners by far). A 2009 report from Forrester Research (an independent technology and market research company) revealed that more than 60 percentof those in this generational group actively consume socially created content like blogs, videos, podcasts, and forums. What’s more, the percentage of those participating is on the rise.

[10] Foliage

“The rule used to be ‘’no bloom, no room, meaning if a plant wasn’t sold just for its pretty flowers, the retailers weren’t interested,” says Anthony Tesselaar. “But we’ve seen a change in this attitude, with more and more homeowners becoming aware of the importance of foliage and“good garden bones. This has led them to replace flat, one-dimensional gardens of short-lived blooms with foliage-first shrubs and trees for year-round interest, color, texture and architecture.”

In her 2009 blog post, Iannotti guesses that the foliage craze started with the sun-tolerant coleus. “But my goodness, look what’s happened,” she remarked. “You don’t even need flowers anymore.” In particular, she noted a rainbow of sweet potato vines, New Zealand flax (phormium), tropical cannas, alternanthera and Persian Shield (strobilanthus). “Plus there’s all that wonderful breeding going on with old standards like coral bells (heuchera) and ornamental grasses.” And the Princess series of pennisetum, she noted, goes from red to gold.