Get Long-Lasting Good Looks with Less Work

When creating a year-round, low-maintenance garden, form and foliage rule

Ihave a big garden on a horse cattle ranch in Petaluma , California , and when I come here 16 years ago , the landscape painting consisted of Acre of reclaimed pastureland festooned with a few ancient oaks and a handful of jejune sequoia . I could n’t bear the bleakness , and attacked my garden - making undertaking with much verve but without much forethought . I did n’t have a budget to buy all the plants I need , so I schnorr plant life wherever I could , haunting glasshouse sales and end - of - season closeout . I paid little aid to upkeep requirements . If it was a plant that I liked and would fit into what I somewhat grandiosely thought of as “ my intention , ” I bought it and found a blot for it .

It took me a while , but I cease up with a jolly nice garden . It was sumptuous and eclectic , ponder my tastes to a fairish degree as well as representing the overstock of Sonoma County nurseries . The immense legal age of the plants were flowering perennial , capable of brilliant seasonal display . Caring for such a large , maintenance - intensive garden , however , started to take a price on my body . I alsobegan to resent the fact that all that work result in a garden that only looked its best in recent spring and summer .

Reliable structure replaces high-maintenance flowers

One year , wintertime ’s reaching concur with that of a new pup , which had to be taken out in the middle of the Nox . As I marked time in the front garden , waitress for her to take maintenance of business , I realized that the garden looked totally dissimilar in the night , lit only by the walkway lights . It was well-to-do to see the garden ’s overall structure than to see the individual plants . The ornamental grasses and perennial were dormant and formless , with no color or form and lilliputian texture . Daylight encounter me pulling out a plant here , a clump there . After a few week , I had reduced the front garden to a few plant that I loved or that help as keystone . I then spent many mid - night looking at the nearly empty space , pondering where I needed to add bodily structure and definition to make the garden look balanced in the daytime . I also resolve that I want to change the flower - intensive fashion , with its trust on plants that required unconstipated cutting back and dividing . I began to think in terms of form and foliage rather than just flower , and this meant a much greater use of trees , bush , and evergreens . Several books on conifers and leafage bush help me focalize , and I discovered a remarkable mixture of leaf colors , texture , and shapes . The conifers had needle that roll from blue to fluxing lime and from gold to every shade of light-green conceivable . Some were spiky , and some were lenient and wispy ; some were weepers , and some were vertical and majestic . Broad - go forth evergreen plant , often with shining leafage , provided cornucopia and depth . Deciduous Tree and shrubs , if choose wisely , could add interesting barque and sculptural emphasis , even when not in leafage .

Using the plant tilt that I had develop from my reading , I easy start adding plants back into the garden , replacing those maintenance - intensive perennials with plant with exceptional foliage and manakin . dead on target , the garden lose most of its flowers , but it gained the bright red stems of great deal common pepper ( Drimysspp . and cvs . , USDA Hardiness zone 8–11 ) ; the prosperous yellow needles of false cypress ( Chamaecyparisspp . and cvs . , Zones 4–9 ) ; the unbending , dark spikiness of New Zealand flax ( Phormiumspp . and cvs . , zone 8–11 ) ; and the crisp green - and - livid foliage of wintercreeper ( Euonymus fortunei * cvs . , Zones 5–9 ) . What ’s more , these attributes are on show all year long . I still use perennials but in the same way that I habituate jewellery or accessories to accent an outfit : The woody plants are the garden ’s wear , the flowers the jewels . And my garden no longer expect dormant in the depths of wintertime or sear in the heat of summer .

A well-balanced garden requires ample patience

Many of the plants in my raw invention make strong morphologic program line , providing a foundation and form that the softer perennials did not . I taught myself not to be afraid of receptive space between the plants . Where the more intimate perennial garden had featured a riot of plants running together , this raw approach could afford to highlight case-by-case shapes . It was challenge to set such a strong mixture of shape , colors , and textures in a pleasing way . I learn to localize the plant life in their pots where I thought they belonged , and leave them there for a few days while I took in their musical arrangement and compatibility . seldom did I plant them where I had ab initio put them .

While this approach to garden innovation was more time - consume and expensive than my first one was , several factors mitigated the investment of metre and money . First , the time invested was exactly that : an investment . The likelihood was that , if I got it right-hand , I would n’t be ripping out large sections of the newfangled garden , so fourth dimension spend now was time saved later . More significant , my raw invention need a fraction of the yearly sustainment that my quondam one did . While many of the perennials were drouth liberal , the shrubs are mostly deeper rooted ; in addition , the conifers are largely autochthonous to areas with climatic extremes , and many hold out drought conditions reasonably well . My Petaluma territory is clayey and I mulch profusely , so my water system use has not increase . The advantages are not just practical . I make out the direction each plant ’s structure is displayed to its best vantage , and I love the striking combinations of maroon and blue - green or lime and brown foliage . I also love the fact that , now , the front garden is attractive class - orotund . Compared to the flowering perennials , these plant generally grow more tardily ; thus , there will be minimal need to alter the pattern as works outgrow their locations . In my choices of deciduous shrubs and Tree , I favored those with outstanding downslope color , such as viburnums ( Viburnumspp . and cvs . , Zones 3–9 ) , barberry ( Berberisspp . and cvs . , Zones 3–9 ) , Nipponese maples ( Acer palmatumcvs . , Zones 5–8 ) , and smoke bushes ( Cotinus coggygriacvs . , Zones 5–9 ) , so November in my garden is now more spectacular than June .

My garden is not for everyone : It ’s not the most spectacular garden in fountain and summer , and it ’s definitely not the most floriferous . But it ’s packed year - round of golf with beautiful blue , golds , Citrus aurantifolia , purples , silver , pink , Robert Brown , and creams . And remember , that ’s the leafage that I ’m describe .

Four Seasons of Spectacular Color

When most of us remember about foliage , we call up of its most obvious and desirable uses — as a spate to allow for a covert or hedgerow , for example . We also incline to think of foliage in autumn , when we see the deciduous trees begin to exchange color . Foliage , however , can provide a arresting showing in any time of year , and some foliage can give even the most striking flowers a trial for their money . The following are my best-loved star for each time of year .

Spring

Summer

Fall

Winter

Sara Malone gardens in Petaluma , California .

Photos : Janice LeCocq ; courtesy of Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder ; Steve Aitken ; courtesy of Richie Steffen / Great Plant Picks ; courtesy of Monrovia ; Michelle Gervais

hunky-dory Gardening recommend Products

Lee Valley Garden Obelisks

o.k. Gardening receive a mission for item purchased through link on this site , including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising course of study .

Buffalo - Style Gardens : make a Quirky , One - of - a - form Private Garden with Eye - Catching design

SHOWA Atlas 370B Nitrile Palm Coating Gloves , Black , Medium ( Pack of 12 Pairs )

Get our up-to-the-minute tips , how - to articles , and instructional videos send to your inbox .

Signing you up …

Garden Design that Looks Great After Hours

How to Make a Small Garden Look Larger: Creating an Illusion of Space

Regional Picks: Plant This, Not That - Southeast

Focus on Seasonality

Join Fine Gardening for a free engaging live webinar featuring Dr. Janna Beckerman , a renowned works pathologist as well as professor emerita at Purdue University and the ornamental technical coach …

When I spotted a particular sand clam cactus ( Astrophytum asterias ) at the Philadelphia Flower Show a few month ago , I knew I was in trouble . With a delicious color pattern …

When we only prioritise plants we want over works our landscape need , each season is filled with a never - ending listing of chore : pruning , filch , lacrimation , treating , remedy , and fertilizing , with …

Video

Touring an Eco-friendly, Shady Backyard Retreat

You must be heedful when you get in the backyard of garden interior designer Jeff Epping — not because you ’re likely to trip on something , but because you might be dive - bombed by a pair …

4 Midsummer Favorites From a Plant Breeder’s Garden

Episode 181: Plants You Can’t Kill

Episode 180: Plants with Big, Bold Foliage

4 Steps to Remove Invasive Plants in Your Yard

All Access members get more

ratify up for afree trialand get access to ALL our regional subject matter , plus the relaxation of the penis - only content library .

Start Free Trial

Get complete web site access to expert advice , regional content , and more , plus the photographic print magazine .

Start your FREE run

Already a member?sign in

Late November is just as exciting as July in this garden.Blue, burgundy, gold, and green foliage combine to create a vibrant late-fall tapestry. A variety of forms, like the arch of the weeping blue Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica‘Glauca Pendula’, Zones 6–9) and the dark fans of the phormium (Phormium‘Dusky Chief’, Zones 8–11), makes the scene even more dynamic.

Spring brings only subtle changes.The young shoots of the grapevines on the arbor are one of the only clues that this photo was taken in April. The rest of the garden held its own all winter.

Each season has its highlights.In late autumn, after the grasses have been cut back and colorful fall foliage begins to fade, the icy blue and silver tones in this portion of the garden keep things looking cool, collected, and attractive as winter sets in.