It’s About Time

This design approach ensures that you will have more moments enjoying your garden than working on it

Mostgardenerscome to a tip in their aliveness when they have to ask themselves if they can still keep up with Mother Nature . Not only does age make it more difficult to get the job done , but it also makes us view our time spent in nature differently . For me , it was that I call for asmaller gardenwhere I could spend more time sitting and love the companionship of friend and family alternatively of bending over to pull weeds or deadhead .

While I made sure my previous garden wasdrought tolerant , I also insisted that it featured year - round textural pastime , color , and fragrance .

strike to a smaller garden was always in my kinsfolk ’s program . Our main objective was to design what I call a “ meter - out bench ” where we could enjoy a reposeful life-style . We wanted ourcourtyardto feel private , but we also wanted to be colligate to the community around us . While this novel garden is smallerand call for much less workplace on my part , it is just as beautiful as the labor - intensive garden I leave behind . Here is how you , too , can dilute sustainment without sacrificing dish .

The “ fourth dimension - out terrace . ” The goal of this garden was to ride and enjoy it , not fret over sustentation . Hardworking variety planted in sweeps are the paint .

Not much to work with . A little employment in the root can transform an region of almost nothing to a lucullan , blue maintenance garden .

Choose the Right Plants

Plants to use in your design should make your aliveness easier . They should work for you more than you work for them , meaning they should on a regular basis be add something to your conception , but you should rarely have to go to to them . Take ‘ HGC Pink Frost ’ hellebore ( Helleborus×ballardiae‘HGC Pink Frost ’ , USDA Hardiness Zones 5–9 ) , for example . It take to be cut back only once a year , yet it provide flowers in wintertime and early spring and architectural slick lead all summer and into evenfall .

You should also use plants that search undecomposed in many situations . This will result in less time moving plants around and sample to forecast out what should go where . ‘ cappuccino coffee ’ New Zealand sedge ( Carextenuiculmis‘Cappuccino ’ , Zones 7–9 ) is the little dim dress of the garden , jazzing up any gay , well - enfeeble spot no matter what else is implant there .

The same nurse dependable for plants you already have : They need to do the work , not you . Editing is the most feared task of any plant lover . But ask yourself these questions : Do I really hump this flora ? Does this flora hold its own potent place in my pattern ? Is this plant the right scale for this space , or do I constantly need to prune it ?

Be pragmatic and documentary when review your garden . Late winter tends to be the best meter to do this , as the soil is soft and it ’s easy to dispatch a plant . Also , you will not be seduced by colors and fragrance .

Another benefit of removing plants is that you increase the air circulation in your garden . Gardens want to breathe like we do . More strain circulation trim down the potency for plant diseases ( which ask your fourth dimension and travail to manage ) and creates breeze corridor and possible position through the garden . Always keep the big characterization in mind when editing and building a new garden .

If you are removing plants , consider giving them out . It will alleviate the pain of farewell with an former acquaintance . Plus , you will sense great about improving the beaut and wellness of your garden while reduce its maintenance motive .

Use more of the Same Plants

When you have found a plant that meets your necessary , plan with it in groups , and endeavor to place those groups near or among plants with standardised ethnical needs . Not only will this create a textural arras upshot , it will greatly simplify any employment you have to do in the garden .

Whether you ’re using 3 , 5 , or 20 of the same plant to make magnanimous brushstrokes across your garden canvas , the effect is the same . mass fewer varieties adds harmony and make a calmer , more peaceable tone to the garden .

Groups of the same low - maintenance plants have in mind fewer job than if you had multiple plants with single needs . And by grouping plants with similar needs , you may pay heed to those need at the same time rather than going from sphere to surface area .

you’re able to keep theimpact of containersfrom being too much of a chore , too . Using succulent in containers gives me the excitement of exploring a different type of planting mood without have to move there . You ca n’t have a juiceless , desert - succulent garden and a Pacific Northwest garden on the same holding , but you could love both using container , which are mini garden .

Consider the soil as if it were in your landscape painting , and use plants that have like needs , water , and visible radiation in each container . I like to use succulent mostly because of the zero upkeep affect . Using these type of plants free up my clip from deadheading , which give me more time to pass sharing my garden with booster during the long growing season in the Pacific Northwest .

Most types of succulent get along great together , and the jazz band are endless . In the Pacific Northwest , some of these varieties are not brave but they are easy to winter indoors . alternatively of purchasing annuals for summer color , I venture out into the nurseries in bounce and enjoy choosing interesting combination to last throughout the season and beyond .

Design

Reduce the Work, But not the Looks

For a garden that you’re able to enjoy without thinking about all the work that it involve , keep these bakshis in thinker .

1.Choose Hardworking Plants

Some people have to spend hours to look good ; other multitude make it encounter in just a few minute . You want plant from the 2d group . A little effort once or twice a yr is all it film to keep them expect great .

2.Use More of the Same

You could perform different tasks on legion plants throughout the twelvemonth , or you could handle much of your work at once by repeating the same flora in the same area .

3.Space to Encourage Air Circulation

A lush garden is crammed with plants , which make it hard for air to move and advance disease . Judicious redaction keeps line moving without adding noticeable holes in your design .

4.Group Plants with Similar Needs

Rather than imbed A needing one thing , Plant B requiring something else , and Plant C needing a third affair , ensure works A , Bel , and C need the same thing .

Plants

13Hardworking Performers

1 . Amber Jubilee ™ ninebark(Physocarpus opulifolius‘Jefam ’ , Zones 2–7 )

2 . Beyond Blue ™ blue fescue(Festuca glauca‘Casca 11 ’ , Zones 4–9 )

3 . ‘ Blue Star ’ juniper(Juniperus squamata‘Blue Star ’ , Zones 4–8 )

4 . Golden Ruby ® barberry(Berberis thunbergii*‘Goruzam ’ , Zones 4–8 )

5 . Hellebore(Helleborusspp . and cvs . , Zones 4–9 )

6 . Japanese maple(Acer palmatumand cvs . , Zones 5–8 )

View of the finished smaller garden with lush plants, red umbrella, table and chairs

Full, but not crammed.The sense of fullness and lushness hides the fact that the plants are spaced enough to allow them to stay healthy.

7 . ‘ Midwinter Fire ’ redtwig dogwood(Cornus sanguinea‘Midwinter Fire ’ , Zones 5–7 )

8 . Mondo grass(Ophiopogon planiscapuscvs . , Zones 6–10 )

9 . Purple coneflower(Echinaceaspp . and cvs . , Zones 3–9 )

before photo of tree trunk, root, rocks

Full, but not crammed.The sense of fullness and lushness hides the fact that the plants are spaced enough to allow them to stay healthy.

10 . New Zealand sedge(Carex testaceaand cvs . , Zones 6–10 )

11 . ‘ Slowmound ’ mugo pine(Pinus mugovar . ‘ Slowmound ’ , Zones 2–9 )

12 . Sweet box(Sarcococcaspp . and cvs . , Zones 6–9 )

After, lush plants cover the rocks

13 . Yew(Taxusspp . and cvs . , Zones 4–9 )

Stacie Crooks is a landscape painting architect in Seattle .

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The sense of fullness and lushness hides the fact that the plants are spaced enough to allow them to stay healthy.

Full, but not crammed.The sense of fullness and lushness hides the fact that the plants are spaced enough to allow them to stay healthy.

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succulents in containers

Containers, simplified.Making succulents the building blocks of your containers is the easiest way to reduce your work without sacrificing impact. Whether they are the entire composition or smaller highlights to something bigger, these plants rarely need feeding and watering.

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