Gardener's Corner
Low maintenance gardening
by Judith Rogers

Although there are some that will tell you that there is no such thing as low maintenance gardening, I think there is if you do your homework. Take for instance, when we removed our front and side lawn and planted trees, shrubs, native plants, grasses and other plants that are drought tolerant. I can assure you that less time is spent on the diversity of plant material we added than when we had a mono-culture of turf that needed watering, fertilizing, edging and mowing on a regular basis in the summer. I always hand dig weeds in the lawn so pulling the odd one that germinates in the front now takes less time and effort than before as they easily pop out of the bark mulch. Early spring is when I spend the most time tidying up after winter, cutting back the perennials and grasses, doing a bit of pruning to keep the shrubs a manageable size and of course watering new plants or shrubs until they're established. In the fall I welcome blowing leaves that tuck themselves under the shrubs and around the perennials to break down over winter and become worm food the next year.

The idea of low maintenance gardening is to eliminate or at least reduce the repetitive chores like the ones mentioned above for the care of a lawn. Look around at which plants are enduring our dry and frequently hot summers and any native varieties will stand out. You can also investigate plants from a similar climate zone as us and know that they will survive our summers and cold winters for they will have naturally adapted to these conditions. Decisions have to be made whether to keep various perennials like irises that need dividing regularly or those like obedient plant that seed around the garden; it would be less work to have clump forming varieties that don't call for dividing repeatedly.

Think about where you spend the most time having to do chores in your garden and identify these high maintenance areas so that smart choices can be made about which garden elements to eliminate. If you're dragging a hose or lugging a watering can a distance to keep water-loving plants alive you might want to contemplate a 'downspout garden' which is locating them to the moist area where your downspout empties rain water.

Someone constantly having to trim a fast growing hedge may decide a fence is less work and a garden full of finicky plants that need special care could be replaced with those that don't, like natives. Every choice you make should free up more time or eliminate chores that were tedious.

If you don't think you could take that bold step that we did to remove our front lawn you can at least start small by enlarging beds around existing trees and joining smaller beds to create a large one. Perhaps even tackle the boulevard first if you have one, keeping in mind the height of plant material so as no to obstruct the vision for drivers.

Construct wide pathways out of shredded bark or gravel to lead from one area or side of the house to another. They can have more appeal if you incorporate stepping stones or flagstone as well but be sure they are wide enough to accommodate a wheelbarrow, garden cart, (stroller or wheelchair depending on your circumstances) or just two people walking together side by side.

Here is some good advice from Anne Lovejoy, writer and designer who recommends that each bed should have one third evergreens, one half to one third native plants and the rest chosen for drought tolerance, adaptability and seasonal interest.