A Low Maintenance Garden that Celebrates Fall
It's a truly glorious fall here in the Pacific Northwest – blue skies, incredible foliage color and warm temperatures that have me still wearing T-shirts rather than polar fleece. It's a joy to be outside on days like this and spending a day "working" in the garden is both fun and easy. Can you say that? Or has your garden become just sheer hard work?
Old Fashioned smoke bush – stunning color for 3 seasons that goes with everything.
Be honest with yourself? Are there some truly high maintenance thugs in your garden that seem to have taken over? Would you love it to be easier to manage – but don't know how? Or perhaps you think of a low maintenance garden as boring – all boxwood and groundcovers?
Take a short walk through my garden with me and let me show you what my deer resistant, low-water, low maintenance garden looks like – and see why I love the fall.
Raking leaves? -Make sure they're worth it!
Does this look like a boring low maintenance garden to you?? Arkansas Blue Star in the foreground – colorful extravaganza beyond
The majority of stunning fall color comes from deciduous trees and shrubs, yet that means you need to tackle the enormous piles of fallen leaves in the border afterwards – so make sure they are worth the effort. The colorful perennial Arkansas blue star (Amsonia hubrichtii) is the mega-star of my fall garden. If you read the typical description you'll get the impression that the "fall color is orange" – yet it's truly a kaleidoscopic display from purple through orange, gold, and pink. Fall clean up just means cutting the stems then raking them into your compost pile.
The twisted purple foliage of Red Majestic corkscrew hazel acts as a focal point against Arkansas Blue Star
To set their feathery texture off to best advantage consider adding a bold counterpoint such as Red Dragon corkscrew hazel. Twisted purple foliage becomes scarlet in fall but this is a four season shrub thanks to the contorted branches and spring catkins.
Include evergreens that change color
Blazeaway heather (Calluna vulgaris 'Blazeaway') blends with blue oat grass and an annual sage (Salvia 'Rockin' Fuchsia'). Arkansas blue star is in the background.
I love seasonal color changes – but some evergreens can provide that too – without the shedding (and work) of deciduous leaves. Many of the heathers (Calluna sp.) are good examples e.g. Wickwar Flame, Firefly, Winter Chocolate, and Blazeaway (shown above), with four season interest thanks to colorful foliage as well as blooms.
Strategic Plant Selection
A combination of evergreen conifers, colorful deciduous shrubs, and easy care grasses ensure this combo looks good year round – and the maintenance is minimal.
If you are concerned that transitioning (or creating) your garden into one that is less work will mean sacrificing color or seasonal interest – think again. The combination above is a perfect example. The conifer gets whacked with a broom in spring to shake out the inner dead needles that can then be left on the ground as mulch or raked depending upon my mood. The two deciduous shrubs (both barberries – Limoncillo in the foreground and Rose Glow at the back) drop their leaves – and I leave them where they fall. In spring I cut Rose Glow back by ~25% for improved color – but that isn't essential. The Shenandoah switch grass looks good until late winter when I chop it back to about 10" tall with hedging shears then toss the clippings onto the compost pile. End of maintenance.
In fact, knowing which plants to choose – or remove, is key to designing a low maintenance garden. Which is why I created this short online course; Secrets to Selecting Low Maintenance Plants.
To help you out, and make sure you've still got a few pennies for your favorite pumpkin spice latte, I'm even offering it at a discount. You'll get 15% off if you use the coupon code fall15 at checkout before October 27th.
More details and sign up here.
Still not convinced? Here's a few more photos from the garden this week:
Amsonia is just a wonderful plant. Come next year I will divide mine and hopefully begin to grow a wider area like you have. it looks great as a stand alone specimen or in a swath of growth!
Totally agree – I've even used it in a container design