How much time do you give to your garden each week (and I don't mean sitting in it, enjoying the view)? Most of us want to enjoy the outdoors, but have less and less time to do the work. We want plants that look good with the minimum of care, that cover ground quickly without cutting back on quality or quantity. We want restful, guilt-free places. Is that too much to ask for?
Work it out
To achieve this you'll need self-control, commitment, and you'll need to plan. Every plant you select should have a realistic purpose. But before you plant anything, take a long, hard look at what you've got. Check what soil type you have. Peeking at your neighbour's garden may give you some indication, but a soil-testing kit is far more reliable. What's the aspect of your garden? Split it into areas of shade and sun, and then consider how many plants you'll need to fill each area. Generally, shrubs take up a square metre, and herbaceous perennials swell into 60cm rounds. Leave space for things to grow. Cram things too tightly and you'll be constantly pruning, splitting and re-planting. Knowledge is everything in a garden. Know its limitations, and you'll easily find plants that will thrive.
Eager evergreens
No plant is perfect, but try to choose ones with the least flaws. Avoid, or get rid of, any high-maintenance plant: ones that catch diseases or need a lot of feeding. Give a wide berth to plants with messy fruits, pods or huge leaf drops. Damage limitation is the key with low-maintenance gardening. Aucuba is an obliging evergreen, and seems to grow almost anywhere. The leathery green, voluptuous A. 'Rozannie', with its light, reflecting foliage, is perfect for lifting dark patches. Other undemanding evergreen shrubs to structure your space include Mexican orange blossom (aromatic with clusters of orange-scented flowers), Photinia ¥ fraseri 'Red Robin' (brilliantly scarlet spring leaves), and Viburnum tinus 'Eve Price' (more compact than other varieties, with vibrantly pink flowerbuds). Yet the secret of any garden is variety through the year. For this you'll need some deciduous shrubs and herbaceous perennials.
Buoyantly deciduous
The smoke bush is the perfect undemanding deciduous shrub. Cotinus coggygria has grey-green young leaves that unfurl to a mid-green mass; but it comes into its own in autumn, with vivid orange-yellows and reds, and puffs of flowers that turn a smoky grey. You'll find more drama in the claret foliage and purple-pink blooms of C. coggygria 'Royal Purple', while C. coggygria 'Flame' morphs into a great fireball of red in autumn. This shrub will develop into a small tree, but cutting it to the ground in spring keeps it in check and encourages larger leaves. No garden is complete without at least one lilac. Syringa meyeri var. spontanea 'Palibin' grows in any soil; it is almost pest and disease free, and reaches a height and spread of about 1.5m. Lilac pink, scented blooms arrive in profusion in May, after which it can be cut back hard to save on space. Helpful herbaceous Bare soil is every gardener's enemy: brown, empty patches of earth are both unsightly and a portal for weeds. Weed-proof membranes and mulches help the fight, but nothing beats a smothering cloak of ground-covering plants. Send in weed-stomping troops of Geranium ¥ oxonianum 'Claridge Druce', a vigorous grey-green leaved plant with rose-pink flowers, which will hold its own among the most pernicious of weeds. Sturdy and semi-evergreen, G. macrorrhizum 'Album' not only colours up in autumn to shades of russet and red, but will glimmer with white blooms in the driest, shadiest spots. Other carpeting plants include Symphytum grandiflorum, Vinca minor (I hear Christopher Lloyd cuts his back every three years), Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae and Lysimachia punctata.
Swelling numbers
Don't forget plants that will produce more of the same for free. Salix alba is an undemanding plant that'll blow you away come winter. S. alba 'Britzensis' has coral-red stems, while S. alba 'Vitellina' has strong limbs in glowing acid-yellow. Cut them back hard each spring for an abundance of young, coloured growths, then use castoffs to produce more plants for perking up your evergreens. Layer shrubs and climbers to stretch plants on walls and in borders without breaking the bank. Jasminum nudiflorum, Akebia quinata, hops, some honeysuckles and most passionflowers can easily be increased by bending flexible limbs to the ground and pegging them in place with a hairpin or wire; they'll root and spread to form dense, bushy masses.
Reap what you grow
Whatever you grow, make sure you plant things properly. I'm amazed how many plants are bunged in without concern for their health.
Dig planting holes shallow and wide (most new root growth is concentrated in the first 15cm of soil), mix compost and fertiliser, then firm the plant in at the same level as it was in its pot. Use at least 5cm of mulch around it to keep water in and weeds out (organic mulch rots into and improves the soil). With forward planning such as this, you'll have a full, easy-maintenance garden for years.
