A well-sited, low maintenance garden can increase the value of your home- truly! Great landscaping significantly increases curb appeal, but which plants are self-sufficient so you can enjoy the most return on your landscaping investment?
Fall is a wonderful time to plant perennials, plants that come back year after year. Here are seven seasonal tips for creating a minimal maintenance garden, with year round appeal, without breaking the bank.
1. Mums the Word
Those colorful garden ‘Mums you just bought for containers? Cut the spent flowers off (deadheading) and more buds will bloom. Later in the season, pop them in the ground, there’s a good chance they are hardy and will come back next Fall.
2. Bursting with Bulbs
Before the first frosts, enjoy some time outside planting bulbs - a fun activity to enjoy with family, and have a hot chocolate afterwards! Springs’ favorite, Daffodils, come in hundreds of varieties with bloom times in early, mid or late Spring. Planting a mixture will give you a longer season of color. And for contrast, try the miniature Iris Reticulata ‘Harmony’ for week-long blooms of dark purple, with a sweet light scent.
3. All About Alliums
Did you know Southport Connecticut is Onion Country? In the 1800’s, Southport even named its own variety, the Southport Globe. Now considered an heirloom bulb, this mild sweet onion can be either red or white. Our great soil conditions extend to growing other onion family plants such as edible pink-flowered chives to garnish a summer salad, and ornamental allium, the tall striking purple round starbursts at the back of a summer border.
4. Sayonara Squirrels
My top tip for stopping squirrels digging all those bulbs right back up again? Sprinkle the planting hole with hot chilli powder! Then pop the bulb right on top, tip facing upwards, cover with soil, and generously dust chill powder on the topsoil after watering them in.
5. Helluva Good Rose
Hellebores, also known as Lenten Rose, do particularly well in Connecticut. The large leaves create year round interest, and the long lasting blooms will begin even with January snow on the ground. The eye-catching cream and burgundy speckles of ‘Father Of The Bride’ on deep green stems are a welcome sight in Winter.
6. A Stand Up State Flower
In 1907, Mountain Laurel was designated Connecticut's state flower. This wonderful broadleaf Native shrub is evergreen, meaning it holds its leaves all year round. In May and June, clusters of delicate pink bell-shaped flowers pop open. Planting evergreens means less Fall clean up, but if you do have deciduous trees like Maple dropping all over your lawn, check with your town to see if it offers a free curbside leaf collection program. Some also offer Christmas tree collection!
7. Growing Native
For ease and economy, work with rather than against the landscape your home is in by using Native plants. Many are deer and rabbit ‘safe’ meaning you didn’t just plant a buffet for your furry friends. There are many excellent nurseries in Fairfield County that can advise you on low maintenance Native plants that will thrive in the conditions around your particular home. The Aspetuck Land Trust annual native plant and tree sale every Fall is exceptionally good value for larger Native shrubs and trees, and has hard to find specimens in different sizes.
Fairfield County has so many pockets of environmental interest, from windy, salty, sunbaked beachfront homes to deeply shaded acres on inland wetland. Whatever your garden landscape looks like, I look forward to chatting with you about yours.
