Have beautiful gardens made easy with low-maintenance perennial plants. Enjoy your own show case gardens without letting them rule your life!

All the plants in my garden have been carefully trialed before being deemed a “keeper”. They must be attractive and long-lived. The foliage must look good all season, whether the plant is in bloom or not.

My selection of a “keeper” plant follows the following process.

In the first year of the trial or planting, my plant’s are carefully tended. I make sure the plant gets all the watering and feeding that it needs.

When just planted the plant’s root system has not developed enough for the micro roots to reach out to the surrounding soil. The micro roots absorb both water and nutrition, resulting in healthy root growth.

Healthy roots make for a healthy plant.

After the first season these new plants receive no extra attention. They must rely on nature. If at this point they do not survive, they are out. They have not passed the “keeper” test.

This tough love is also applied to varieties that require more maintenance. NO staking, deadheading or fussing is allowed in my gardens. There just is not enough time for it.

I have a few varieties that I cut back flush to the ground after they have finished blooming. I call this the “brush cut” method, since this is literally what I do. Everything, foliage and flowers is cut back. The re-growth of the foliage puts on a spectacular show for the rest of the season with no further work.

Finally, I have NO invasive plants.

I learned this lesson the hard way.
At one point, I had to dig up my whole garden. The roots of these invasive plants were deep and grew through all my shrubs and other plants. Never again!

There are no invasive plants at our garden center!

When you pull up in your driveway at the end of a busy workday, your low-maintenance garden will bring you joy without stress! There will be time to sit on your patio and enjoy the view!