How much time and money do you want to spend on landscaping? If it’s not a lot, steer away from water-gulping flowers and high-maintenance shrubs. Instead, look at creating a landscape with low maintenance plants that you can tend to on a biweekly or monthly basis.

Plants to Consider

Focus on adding plants that don’t require a lot of watering, pruning, trimming and mulching. Some to consider include:

• Thyme
• Daylilies
• Hydrangea
• Lavender
• Roses
• Peony
• Hawthorn

The key is to get more perennials than annuals, if possible, into your garden. Find varieties that will thrive in your local climate and the shading or sunlight conditions of the space. If you choose perennials that bloom from spring into fall, you can enjoy colorful blooms throughout most of the year.

Drought-tolerant perennials might be the best option if you live in a particularly hot climate. They’re good for keeping your water bills down and meeting any water restrictions during the summer. If you need more ideas for a low maintenance landscape, talk to a local gardener.

Additional Steps to Take

If you don’t have the budget or time to invest in a lot of new plants, focus on how you can rearrange or adapt the garden you have. Some options may be to:

1. Group plants of the same type: To cut down on watering, trimming and mulching time, group plants that need the same kind of maintenance. This lessens the amount of time and resources you need to spread across the garden.

2. Create borders: Building brick borders around your flowers and shrubs can create an attractive separation between the shrubbery and grass. This can be done professionally for about $1,300, or you can buy the materials yourself and do it over a weekend.

3. Apply mulch: Laying mulch around your plants, and on top of the soil that covers their roots, keeps out weeds, helps them retain moisture, and adds to the natural nutrients they receive. Mulch can also be used as a decorative border.

4. Install automatic irrigation: An automatic irrigation system will save you time watering the garden. The cost to install a sprinkler system averages between $1,900 and $3,300. You can program sprinklers to go off at certain times, which prevents you from having to replace dead plants down the road.

5. Consider rocks instead: Rather than spending money on high water bills and replacing plants every year, consider xeriscaping your yard. Rock gardens with a few plants spread out across them are just as beautiful, especially in drought-susceptible regions.

Conclusion

Whether you decide to rearrange your current garden or spend a little extra money replacing some annuals with perennial alternatives, there are plenty of ways to create a low maintenance landscape that will save you time and reduce your monthly water bills. Don’t let your garden suffer because you didn’t consider an alternate plan.

Andrea Davis is the editor at HomeAdvisor, which connects homeowners with home improvement professionals in their area for free. Connect with Andrea on Google+