We all want to in the garden. Who wants a high maintenance landscape that takes up all our resources? If you grow edibles you already know they take a bit of care so it’s even more important to have the rest of the yard more sustainable.
As much as we would like, there’s no such thing as a no maintenance garden. Perennials and grasses, for instance, need a haircut in the spring before they reward us with beautiful flowers and foliage that shimmers in the breeze. Your garden can be truly low maintenance, however, if you follow a few guidelines.
Shrubs, planted in exactly the right place needs little pruning or maintenance. There they can be allowed to happily grow to their full potential and beauty. A garden needs foliage color, texture and form for interest year round. An evergreen shrub that meets all of these requirements and then some is Coprosma. Valued for ease of maintenance in difficult situations and able to get by on little water when necessary, the foliage is a show stopper.
During the growing season the variegated foliage of Evening Glow is pink and gold and in the winter it turns orange-red. The variety, Rainbow Surprise, is pink and cream for most of the year but the leaves are washed with red In the fall and winter. These tidy shrubs stay low and compact and look beautiful as foundation plants, in borders, short hedges and containers. Not bothered by pest or diseases you can plant it and forget it.
If you already have a tree, shrub or perennial that is suffering from insufficient space or the wrong light conditions, now’s the time to move it. Water the plant first and allow the moisture to be taken up into the plant. Then prepare the new hole. Be sure to fill the hole with water if it’s dry. Dig up as much of the root ball as is practical to move, keeping it intact. Lift or lever the plant onto a tarp and pull or carry it to its new location. Replant at the same depth and keep watered but not soggy. Next year you won’t be troubled by extra pruning or diseases as you’ll have the right plant in the right spot.
An easy task to do while you’re out enjoying the garden is to comb out the off-color blades of evergreen grasses such as blue oat or blue fescue. Striking in the winter garden, these grasses will look fresh if you don some of those rubber coated gloves and run your fingers through the grass. The brown blades will come right out while leaving the healthy steel blue leaves intact. Try it. It’s worth a few minutes of your time.