Low-Maintenance Landscaping Ideas for Busy Homeowners

As a busy home owner, there is a dilemma that comes with wanting to have an awesome looking landscape and creating the time needed to maintain it.

Most homeowners don’t even bother working on their landscape because they don’t believe that it is possible to achieve their dream landscape with the tight schedule that they have.

Not being present to maintain the landscape leads to uncontrolled weeds, damage from pests or wildlife, overgrown bushes and flooding (due to not being able to maintain water levels).

This then begs the question, green thumb or not?

You should definitely go for a green thumb that requires low-maintenance. This ensures that you don’t have to maintain your garden all the time unless it is absolutely necessary to do so.

In this article, we will be covering landscaping ideas ranging from low-maintenance plants, effortless irrigation, and landscaping for minimal efforts.

Low-Maintenance Plants

The first step is to use plants that require low-maintenance so that they can thrive even with the little care they receive from you. There are different types of flowering plants, perennial borders, shrubs or even groundcover plants categorised under low-maintenance plants.

Examples of low-maintenance flowering plants include coneflower, black-eyed susan, daylily, stonecrop, catmint, hosta, hydrangea, coreopsis, garden flox, daffodil, marigolds, peony, blanketflower, Russian sage, etc.

Examples of low-maintenance shrubs include Juniper, Forsythia, Spirea, Viburnum, Weigela, Azalea, Boxwood, Coral bells, Geranium, Holly, Hosta, Ornamental grasses, Rose, Abelia, Thuja, Daphne, Lavender, Hebe, Mahonia, etc.

Examples of low-maintenance ground cover plants include Creeping flox, Creeping thyme, Bugle Herb, Dwarf lilyturf, Creeping Juniper, Periwinkle, Stone plants, Pachysandra, Sweet woodruff, Creeping jenny, Ferns, Ajuga, Alyssum, Bunchberry, Barrenwort, Cotoneaster, Festuca glauca, etc.

Landscaping for Minimal Effort

Another thing to consider is landscaping design that requires low maintenance.

Some tips on landscape design that require little or no maintenance include using low-maintenance composite decking, using gravel instead of grass in walkways and using mulching to suppress weeds.

You can also reduce your lawn space if you are looking for a quick way to cut back on maintenance. Water features and artificial turf can also be installed as it requires little or no effort.

You can also incorporate hardscaping elements such as concrete or stones to build your patios and walkways.

The benefits for doing such include increased durability and longevity, improved drainage, versatility in design, seasonal interest, increased property value, seasonal interest, low maintenance, eco-friendly options, etc.

Including patios and walkways is one of the best decisions you will make as a busy homeowner. It creates a cohesion for exterior landscape, requires less outdoor maintenance, and increases your home/property value.

Effortless Irrigation

Here, the idea is to let the system do the work for you by incorporating efficient irrigation solutions. Good examples are drip irrigation and rainwater harvesting systems.

For drip irrigation, water is delivered directly to the root of plants which is a more preferable option for surface or flood irrigation that delivers water to just the surface thereby preventing it from reaching the plant roots.

The excess water on the surface simply evaporates, defeating the whole purpose of irrigation. This is where drip irrigation comes to save the day. It gives the plant nutrient and water directly through its roots in the right amounts and at the right time.

The means of collecting rainwater come in two major types – rain barrels and cisterns. The major difference between the two lies in the volume of water that each one collects and the means of storing them.

Other forms of collecting rainwater include purification systems, tanks and pumps.

Generally, rainwater harvesting comes in various types and they include direct pumped, indirect pumped, roof water rain harvesting, surface run off, and indirect gravity.

Rainwater harvesting helps to reduce flooding and erosion, reduces water bills, improves water quality and augments well-water supplies.

Final Words

As a busy homeowner, the tips and tricks mentioned in this article will save you so much stress, time and money. Whenever you have time to finally work on your landscape, it will no longer require much effort on your path.

Regardless, you also have the option of consulting a local landscaper for personalised advice or hiring the landscaper to take care of your landscape on your behalf.

We hope you found this blog post on Green Thumb Or Not? Low-Maintenance Landscaping Ideas For Busy Homeowners useful. Be sure to check out our post on Essential Tools Every Beginner Gardener Needs for more great tips!