While you may love your landscape, you don’t love the thought of maintaining it—or paying to have it constantly maintained. That’s why you might be looking for a simple, low maintenance landscape that will look great but won’t need constant upkeep and a ton of care.
There are different ways to achieve the low maintenance landscape that you desire. The key is to work with a landscape professional who understands your wants and needs and helps you make decisions that will get you on the right path.
Here are some ideas to get you started.
Be Picky with Plants
Choosing plant material that isn’t going to need lots of care is a key element of a low maintenance landscape. This means choosing plant varieties that don’t need frequent trimming or ones that aren’t “messy,” meaning they drop a lot of fruit or other debris on your property. You’ll also want to choose plants that are not prone to pest or disease problems. Finally, look for plant material that is native to your area and highly drought-tolerant as a result. Putting the right plant in the right location is a big key to success. A landscape professional can help guide you with the ideal choices for your landscape.
Choose Quality Materials
If you’re having any hardscaping or other landscape construction projects completed on your property, it is beneficial to choose higher quality materials that are going to be long-lasting. While these may cost more, they’re also going to potentially hold up with fewer problems. Talk to your landscape professional about what material will work best for the project that you’re considering—and be sure to ask about durability and longevity as a key factor. After all, you don’t want to be performing repair work down the road.
Looking at Mulch Vs. Stone
If you have mulched areas on your property you know that there is a little bit of maintenance involved. Mulch does need to be periodically refreshed. While mulch is ideal for your plants (it provides important benefits if installed properly), if you have areas that can work with decorative gravel, that might be a low maintenance option to consider. Stone won’t need regular updating and is basically maintenance free. Of course, not all plants will thrive in this environment so it’s important to work with a landscape professional.
Upgrade your Irrigation System
With today’s smart irrigation technology, chances are, your irrigation system can be operating much more efficiently. For instance, with rain sensor technology you can reduce wasted water by ensuring your system doesn’t run when your lawn has already received enough from precipitation. A smart irrigation system can also automatically adjust watering schedules as seasons change. In terms of watering plants, it also helps to be sure your landscape is grouped into zones of plants with similar water requirements. This will help ensure your plants are being watered properly without wasting water on drought-tolerant plants.
Work with a Skilled Professional for Low Maintenance Success
It’s important that you choose the right landscape professional to help you achieve your goals. While you have a lot of landscape companies to choose from, some are more adept at creating low maintenance landscapes than others. For instance, there are plenty of landscape companies out there that don’t have an extensive knowledge of plant material and may make high-maintenance selections that won’t perform well (and will require a lot of care) in your landscape. But a highly trained and comprehensive landscape provider will be able to help you make smart choices that help keep your landscape looking beautiful without requiring a ton of work.
