Flower Gardens Is there a no maintenence garden?

[Marty]

Every year I say I want to plant a flower garden.

But I manage to kill everything that I plant.

Last year, I was weeding and well, I pulled out the growing flowers thinking they were weeds

I do not want to have to sit there and pull weeds every day and I want a garden that will just grow flowers that doesn't have to be messed with.

Is there such a thing?

 

[Minxiesmom]

Marty,

In a word, no. With that being said, part of the enjoyment of gardening is just walking through the garden enjoying each plant as if it is your baby. You don't have a mini without grooming it, do you? Same with plants. You start with it as a baby then proudly watch it grow.

Most people neglect the most important part of gardening and that is beginning with the soil. If you prepare the soil properly, your garden will be a lot less work. Knowing what to plant where helps also.

You probably have a Master Gardener program through your local extension service, they will teach you everything you need to know and probably a lot you didn't think you needed to know.

Diane in OR

 

[Warpony]

I actually had a very nice work free flower garden. I planted TONS of bulbs that came back every year and spread. I selected ones that bloomed at different times so i always had some colour and when there wasn;t much colour there was pretty foliage there. In the spring before the came up I pulled up anything that looked weedy and kept it pulled until the foliage from the bulbs grew up enough to keep the weeds out, then I just admired it for the rest of the year.

I went to a yard and garden shop and told them what i wanted to do and they loaded up my cart with stuff. I had hostas around the trees and the edge of the flower bed, then all kinds of lilies and such in the flower bed... short ones in front, tall ones in back, and I had some purply ground cover around the outside of the hostas. Pretty, trouble free and it came back every year. Then I moved. lol.

 

[RainSong]

Warpony is right... bulbs are really the easiest thing I've ever had to deal with when it came to gardening.

EXCEPT when it came time to split them... we've got a massive group of iris out front we really need to split. They're scary.

Carnations are pretty easy too- the ones we have keep attempting to take our our roses and the aforemention irises.

Wild roses (rambling roses, climber roses... etc) are easy too- you can just let them go! However, if/when you need to trim them, they are a royal pain... all the ones I've delt with have masses of thorns, and some are absolutely tiny... and all of them are like RAZORS!

Irish moss will do a nice ground cover, and hyacinth are right in there with the bulbs in coming back yearly with no real fuss... bonus, they're pretty! Gladiolus (sp) are bulbs, and very pretty (but tall)... and they have the mini daffodils and iris readily available now, too...

 

[coopermini]

Hey Marty!

Have you been shopping here at our greenhouses? We get several requests exactly the same every year!

As said there is work involed in maintaining all. Just a matter of how you want them to look and how much work you want to do.

Best advice for your area is to go to a garden center. Not Lowes or HD. Tell them where you live, the conditions where you will be planting and then give the details like no work involved and something you can't kill. After they get up from "roflmao" they can really help!

Mark

 

[Warpony]

After they get up from "roflmao" they can really help!

LOL, yeah, the people who helped me giggled, rolled their eyes teasingly and had this look on their faces that just screamed, "Oh boy, we have ANOTHER one!!!!"

 

[Relic]

l have a black thumb..very black thumb. Couldn't raise a plant to save my life a few years ago but then was told about lilies and those great big daisies. l love rocks as edging because there free just need to do the labor once.. after we went nuts edging everything in sight threw in some lilies daisies and a few ground covers waited for 2 years and by golly l think it's coming along kind of...l don't like to water and for sure am not going to go weeding anything around here. l love Roundup takes care of everything only need to spray weeds twice once in spring and mid summer. l did a box out front by the driveway and put in 3 very old rose bushes and they bloom spring to fall l cut them back in winter so l don't hurt myself and they do well without water and cover most any weeds in there..one day when l'm very old l'll take a course on growing stuff..

my latest project l hope it will be in bloom some year here's it's just killed dirt with used bedding pellets on top lillies go under the bell and daisies in between the rocks around the back..Roundup for whatever else peeks it's weedy head..

 

[Koko]

Oh. Love In A Mist. Sprinkle some on whatever area you're using around the start of the rainy season, by May or so you have a bunch. You just have to crush the pods to get even more the next year. They're one of the few plants I can't kill.

:

Edited to say: Oh yes. They also have the tendency to smother nearby plants. My first bunch was right next to some mint that mom absolutely hated, two years and there wasn't any mint left. I think they're pretty much safe from weeds. :bgrin

 

[susanne]

Forget annuals except the self-seeding kind. With a few exceptions, I refuse to plant again and again every year.

Shrubs, hardy perennials and bulbs.

Old garden roses are as tough as nails and just go on looking beautiful WITHOUT any pruning.

Overplant, placing those plants closer than sane gardeners believe you can -- if you adopt a "no bare earth" policy, you'll have no room for weeds.

Groundcovers like ajuga form a carpet that will keep weeds down

Laydown cardboard and newspaper to supress weeds. Cover with horse poop. By the time the cardboard breaks down, the weeds will be deader than a doornail.

Shrubs can be anywhere from small to tree size and look great even when not in bloom

Hydrangea

Buddleia (butterfly bush)

Spirea

Wygella (wonderful grandma shrub)

Shrub members of the willow family

Some herbs grow in shrub form and smell great:

lavender

sage

santolina

While you don't want truly invasive plants, those that volunteer are my friends.

lychnis are nice spreaders, self-seed, and have gorgeous hot pink flowers

lambs' ear are delightful (technically an annual, but they are truly no work

day lilies grow like crazy in really dry, difficult places

grasses don't often flower, but look stately and grand, even when dried in winter

(picture 8 feet tall and zebra-striped!! --miscanthus sinensis zebrinus)

You may not be able to get off completely work-free, but I'm pretty darned lazy and had over 1/8th of an acre in gardens at our old place.

 

[PaintedPromiseRanch]

well i had the same problem, no green thumb and no time for weeding etc. plus my husband is severely allergic... so this is just a couple of samples of what i did:

 

[mininik]

I love my Winter Pansies! I also have a not-so-green thumb, but I do love to have a few flowers around. I frequently have a vase sitting somewhere to bring those beautiful, natural colors indoors since I don't have much luck with potted plants, although I do keep a Juniper Bonsai.

Weeding the old fashioned way can be tedious, but it's an excellent workout and good quality time spent outdoors. I do not (and will not) use any unnatural pesticides or chemicals in or around my home. In fact, this year we are ordering some Puncturevine Weavil bugs for killing off the neighbor's goathead weeds (http://www.goatheads.com). I'm also thinking about ordering in some Ladybugs and Preying Mantis for bug control. I have a slow working compost pile in the backyard where the ground wasn't going to work for anything else. I fertilize everything every now and then with my compost mulch as well as a natural sugar beat concentrate. There's a bit of work involved in all of it, but the results are soo worth it!

: I think the key is to KEEP TRYING...

: Good luck!

 

[Wee Mite Miniatures]

Yes there is, almost . It will take a few years to get to that point but mine takes very little work.

I have a few raised gardens. I use landscaping timber and build up about 18 inches. I make them narrow enough that I can sit on any side and reach to weed or pick. No place is unreachable. You do not get as many weeds since the grass and weed roots do not grow in from the surrounding area. You and ensure that by laying down a weed barrier before filling them with dirt.

The first few years I kept a close eye on them and pulled out every weed as I saw it. Never giving them a chance to take hold. Now I very seldom have to pull a weed. I use the raised gardens for my herbs, mini roses, strawberries, veggies and flowers. Perrenials are nice since they come up every year.

The raised sides make it great since you can sit on the edge and weed or pick.

 

[FairytailGlennMinis]

After my second year of being sick and unable t tend my gardens, I had hubby mow over my rose beds...including all of the sage/salvia collections, daylillies--all of it. Aaaack! Man I regreat it now! There were over 30 roses in there alone! My gosh was there a lot of maintenance though. This year I am doing like last only adding to it. I have a 2' wide border along the house with an arched bed at each corner rolling into a front and back border. I have several different color butterfly bushes as a base, then added just a few special carefree roses (OGR types and my bloved Tiffany). I have added some purple homestead verbena (the perrenial type that comes back on it's own and doesn't need a thang), hardly rainbow lantana comes back for me, black eyed susans and purple coneflowers come back on their own every year too. I have several mounds of daylillies and some danged lariope that I keep trying to pull out--uuug, can't kill the stuff! I have a section for my japanese iris and my tall bearded iris as well. All of these come back on their own and i don't have to fool with them at all. On the shady side of the front I have hostas and stella de'oro daylillis on the sunny front. There is a jackamanni clematic climbing the front porch post. I put down a good layer of umm...fertilizer from the "been there awhile pile" in the fall, then a THICK layer of newspaper, and I mulch heavily. I use soaker hoses, so all I have to do to care for all this mess (other than the fall tending) is turn on the spicket the hoses are attatched to. This year I am back to myself a bit more and have about 6 flats of zinnias, bachelor buttons, annual salvias and a few other things started in a cold box that sprouted about a week ago. I can't help it..I need something to baby!

-Amy

 

[Just Us N Texas]

Marty, not that I've ever tried it, but there is a thing called garden cloth. You lay it over the ground, poke holes in it as you plant your plants, water and air can get in, but the weeds underneath it can't grow! I keep saying I am going to use it, but never have.

 

[capall beag]

Initially, it is a lot of work but if you pick the right plants it can be pretty easy to keep up!

Ground cover is great for keeping weeds away.

Lillies, hostas, daisies, phlox etc etc take care of themselves, plant around some pretty rocks and you will have a garden in no time

I love gardening but refuse to stress over it and with 3 kids and a crew of animals time is not on my side! Hubby would rather mow over my plants than tend to them

:

The other thing is don't be too optimistic, keep it small or do some beautiful potted plants. THey can be so pretty and no weeding!