23 Aug 2023

Effortless Greenery: Low Maintenance Plants for Your Garden

• Read Time: 3 Minutes

If you're looking to spruce up your outdoor space without committing to a high-maintenance garden, you're in luck. There's an abundance of low-maintenance plants that can add beauty and serenity to your landscape without requiring constant attention. These resilient greenery options thrive with minimal care, making them perfect choices for busy individuals or those new to gardening. Here's a guide to some of the best low-maintenance plants you can grow:

Plants can be both beautiful and easy care if you understand the factors that create additional work and balance that knowledge against what you personally enjoy. For example, if you like the meditative aspect of deadheading spent flowers, then avoiding perennials that need this attention will not be important, as it is not a chore to you.

When selecting plants that are lower maintenance, the first step is to ensure you are following the “right plant-right place” principle. Less than ideal conditions, such as growing a sun-loving shrub in shade, will result in a plant that may survive but won’t thrive, increasing the potential for it to succumb to disease, to develop longer, weaker branches and therefore need additional pruning to manage its shape and size.

Seek out plants or varieties that don’t need staking, regular deadheading, frequent dividing, complicated pruning or excessive watering so that you can relax and simply enjoy your garden. Listed below are some of our favorites.

Cuddly Cactus

Drought-tolerant and sun-loving, this small cactus lives up to its name. Unlike most of its cousins, it doesn't have any sharp spines, so it's ideal for households with curious children and pets.

Winter Daphne

Evergreen, easy care, beautiful yellow-edged foliage, and intensely fragrant white blooms in winter— what more can you ask for? Given the right conditions of full sun (in cooler climates) or filtered sun and well-draining soil, winter daphne (Daphne odora 'Aureomarginata') will reward you a hundredfold. Be sure to cut a few branches to bring indoors during the winter. A single cluster of blooms will perfume an entire room. No pruning is necessary but be sure to plant this shrub where it has room to spread, as daphne do not transplant easily.

Oregon Grape

Native to the Pacific Northwest, Oregon grape (Mahonia spp.) is an evergreen shrub, typically with holly-like leaves and yellow shuttlecock flowers in winter that are followed by edible blue berries. The blooms are especially favored by overwintering hummingbirds.

Tolerant of dry shade, these are a great solution for growing under towering conifers yet they also do well in a more open aspect and morning sun.

From the low-growing, creeping mahonia (Mahonia repens) that will create a ground-covering carpet, to varieties that reach 8 feet or more, you are sure to appreciate these as an easy-care addition to your garden. There are several species and varieties to select from, enabling gardeners to enjoy these in a wide range of climate zones.

Boston Fern

This fern needs more humidity than it does sunlight, making it a great plant for bathrooms or kitchens. That's why you always see it hanging on Southern front porches, where the light is shady and the air is damp and warm. Spray it with a mister in between waterings to keep it looking fresh.

By incorporating these low-maintenance plants into your garden, you can enjoy a beautiful outdoor space without the stress of constant upkeep. With a little initial care to establish these hardy plants, you'll have more time to relax and savor the natural beauty of your garden.