Low Maintenance Plants for Your Garden

While a well-maintained garden can fully change the overall appearance of a property, not everyone can devote time and energy to constant watering, weeding and deadheading. Whether you are travelling a lot, you don’t have the time or you are simply not confident enough in your gardening skills, rest assured that you can still have a neat and lovely-looking garden because there is a plant for every person.

Although all plant varieties require attention to a certain extent, there are plenty of low-maintenance plants that prove to be very easy to care for. Of course, you will need to take in mind a few factors, such as climate, soil and garden size, but if you choose to plant flora native to Australia or resistant to high heat and drought, you can easily save time and fuss in the long run.

So, if you:

Then, read on! From hedges to groundcovers, there are plenty of options to choose from – all of which we have covered in this article.

Hedges

Hedges serve as great windbreakers, backyard boundaries and privacy walls. However, if you are limited in space or short on time, you cannot just choose any shrub variety. Choosing the right low-maintenance plant for your garden means you get the outdoor space you wished for without having to worry about it in the long run.

A common myth is that evergreen hedges can pretty much be left on their own device, although that is partially true. While deciduous trees and shrubs shed their foliage and blossoms every year and create extra work for the gardeners, evergreens look fresh and neat all year long without requiring much attention. Moreover, evergreens are known for their hardiness, meaning it will be harder to kill them even if you fail to look after them properly.

However, if you are really looking to keep your gardening routine hassle-free, we recommend considering a slower-growing hedge variety. Although it might be tempting to choose a fast-growing plant, hedges that grow slowly require less work in the long term. Once established, they will need only minimal attention. Their maintenance will consist mainly of watering through the first few months, while the roots establish and later on, some pruning and trimming from time to time to maintain them neat and up to size.

Some examples of low-maintenance hedges suitable for your gardens are:

Climbing plants

Climbing plants, also known simply as climbers, are popular for their ability to turn gardens and otherwise unsightly structures into beautiful, fairy-like spaces. That is why many people think that those types of plants are very hard to grow and require lots of care. However, the good news here is that several low-maintenance crawling plants exist and can just as well achieve that dream magical atmosphere.

Climbing plants are extremely diverse and you will see that there is a climber to suit just about any garden or backyard. The four main types of crawling plants are:

Low-maintenance climbers are natural growers and to keep them healthy and eye-pleasing, all you will need to do is prune away dead or damaged twines or occasionally direct or cut back the plant if it becomes unruly and wanders off its path. Although there are crawling plants that can grow on just about anything, to stay on the safe side and save yourself some trouble, we recommend giving your crawler a sturdy structure like a pergola, fence or arbour.

Here are a few examples of low-maintenance climbing plants that thrive well in the Australian climate:

Flowering plants

Often, we associate flower gardens with time-consuming gardening routines, lots of watering and confusing sun exposure requirements. In reality, whether you have to spend much time in the garden or not comes down to what flowers you planted in the first place.

Low-maintenance flowering plants are considered those that are easily adaptable, high-heat and drought-tolerant, and require minimal deadheading (removing faded or dead blooms of a flower). They can be annual plants and live for only one season, then die off, as well as perennial, which flower every year. Some examples of such low-maintenance flowers are Begonia, Cosmos, Zinnias and Moss Rose.

Moreover, when the time comes to choose the flowers for your low-maintenance garden, keep in mind to select flowers that are NOT:

While it’s true that flowers require more attention than other plants, some tricks exist that help garden owners minimise the upkeep of their gardens and save them time. Here are some of our tips on how to keep your garden low in maintenance:

Groundcovers

Every professional gardener knows that exposed ground is just asking for trouble. Uncovered soil works as a magnet for weeds, can easily erode in windy conditions and also dries out quickly. That is why, if you want a healthy and thriving garden, you should consider planting a groundcover in areas, as this will minimise the need to maintain that particular patch of your garden.

There are plenty of low-maintenance groundcovers that work just as fine as lawns and can be even seen as a more colourful and less time-consuming alternative. Of course, little preparational work, such as weeding and fertilising, will be needed before you plant the groundcover, but once the plant is established, you will see that groundcovers are hardy plants and require little maintenance. Since most are drought-tolerant, thrive well in either sun or shade and aren’t very picky about their soil, it is fairly easy to find a plant to suit your garden.

Below, you can find some examples of low-maintenance ground cover plants for your garden or backyard:

Takeaways

Do you know of any other tricks on how to keep the gardening work to a minimum? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!