Feature article

Not a green thumb? Here are 5 ways to create a thriving low maintenance garden

A low-maintenance garden lets you toil less and enjoy your outdoor space more. Here are five easy low-upkeep ideas.

20 May 2024

HOME Magazine
AI

AI summary

Create a beautiful, low-maintenance garden and enjoy your outdoor space more with less work. These clever choices focus on smart design and easy-care planting.

Key ideas include:

- Ditching the lawn for hardscaping like tiles or concrete.

- Using native plants and low-maintenance shrubs instead of flowers.

- Planting ground cover or using mulch to suppress weeds.

Extending outdoor entertaining areas with features like a fire pit also reduces upkeep while maximising your usable space.

1. Ditch the lawn

In this alfresco area, hardscaping allows for a beautiful low maintenance space. Image: Simon Devitt

2. Go native

This house, designed by Jerram Tocker Barron Architects embraces the natural landscape of native bush rather than creating a garden. Image: Jason Mann

3. Ground cover

This Westmere landscape design by Strachan Group Landscape Architects incorporates vast areas of ground cover, alleviating maintenance requirements. Image: David Straight

4. Extend outdoor entertaining areas

The landscaping around this house, designed by Jerram Tocker Barron Architects, embraces a mix of hardscaping softened with lush planting around the edges. Image: Virginia Woolf

5. Swap flowers for shrubs

This landscape design that surrounds a holiday home at Lake Rotoiti incorporates low maintenance garden borders. Image: Simon Devitt

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