When it comes to gardening, I have two very simple goals:
- I want it to look amazing.
- I don’t want to work hard to keep it that way.
I think most of you can relate. We all want our yards to look beautiful – with all-year color and plenty of show-stopping plants. But for most of us, we also don’t want to work very hard.
We don’t WANT to work very hard. We don’t have TIME to work very hard.
I like to spend a tiny bit of time planting and watering, and then I like to let the plants do their own thing. I am not micromanaging those things. I won’t be staking them or petting them or singing to them. I’m probably not even going to fertilize them or think about them until they reward me with their beauty.
Can you feel me?
I’m a lazy and distracted hands-off gardener. Card-carrying.
And so far (knock on wood), this recipe for disaster has been working. Hallelujah. I think I’ve finally planted a garden that will meet my goals.
Will someone please get me a medal?
It’s been almost a year since we planted a large front garden for some color and curb appeal. My wonderful, green-thumb aunt provided 99 percent of the plants from her yard and also helped us place them and plant them. I did have to spend some time last fall watering them in, but we’ve really just let them do their thing this year. (We have only done a little weeding and added some fresh mulch.)
Since spring, we have watched in amazement as something new and beautiful popped out of the soil every few weeks.
A garden is such a beautiful gift as a homeowner. It keeps on giving all year.
As we near the end of the season (SOB!), I have really been enjoying all the late-summer blooms. I think they may be my very favorite. (Don’t tell the other plants.)
Here are a few of the favorites in our garden at this time of year:
Black-Eyed Susans
These are probably my very favorite flowers, and it’s the first time I’ve been able to really grow them well.
What you need to know about growing black-eyed susans: they are super low maintenance, but only AFTER you’ve watered them in. So water them every single day when you first plant them. Overwater them, for goodness sakes. And they will reward you year after year. (These plants truly grow like beautiful, fabulous weeds. And they split and transplant well.)
Purple Coneflower
Any type of coneflower is a winner for me. These attract pollinators and are the perfect hint of purple. Plus, they take very little babying. We spot them in ditches everywhere, so they aren’t picky.
Hydrangea
I had to have a few hydrangea bushes after my friend Amy let me pick blooms from her giant hedge-sized versions. (Dreamy.)
So I found these two limelight hydrangeas on clearance last fall at Lowe’s. (Note: Fall seems to be the best time to find great deals on plants. I got some steals in September.
Both plants returned this year but only this one has blooms. But they really are big, beautiful blooms. I’m hoping that I’ll have blooms on both next year, because the white flowers are a beautiful contrast to the other plants. I may even bring another home for the other side of the porch.
Butterfly Bush
This plant has gone crazy! It started as a tiny clearance pot last fall and has already taken over this whole corner. (No complaints here.)
The goal of this plant was to cover some of the utilities and basement window well. I think that by next year, it will be a wonderful show stopper. And it also has cute little purple blooms that attract bees and butterflies right outside the living room window.
Multicolor coneflower
This was a random wildcard in the garden.
On a whim, I picked up this fun coneflower that blooms in several different colors last fall at Home Depot. It came up bigger and better than every this year. It bloomed earlier than the other coneflowers. And it even came up in all the various colors. (I wondered if it would come up all purple during the second year.)
If I spot more of this variety this year, you’d better believe they will be coming home with me.
Just like a home, I don’t think a yard has to be “perfect” or even “finished.” Home (and gardens) always seem to be a work in progress. We still have projects to complete around here that will pull everything together – like skirting around the porch and a walkway.
But, this garden has been able to bridge the gap until we have the time, energy and budget to complete projects on our list. It’s been such a joy to see this garden evolve and change all year long. We’ve enjoyed daffodils, allium, daylillies, daisies and more. And it’s even more of a joy since I didn’t have to do anything major this year to make it happen.
This fall, I hope to spend a little time moving a few plants around to better spots and adding some new plants in “holes” I’ve noticed throughout the year. I’d also like to spend some time on the left side of the porch, which needs some additional height to make it feel more intentional.
But until then, I think I’ll just grab a cup of coffee and enjoy what’s already here. And smile every time I come up the driveway.
It feels good to be home.
What are your favorite plants for late-summer?
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Rhonda ` says
I would recommend the wine and roses weigela bush. Beautiful pink/red blossoms covered arched branches (think cascading). The hummingbirds love the deep blossoms. And the Japanese beetles do not bother the bush. I’m so disappointed how they devour the blooms on my butterfly bush. If I don’t every other day or so sprinkle seven dust on them the blooms are just gone. Your plant choices are very good for the midwest prairie setting. Add some bushes which will provide cover for birds. They will appreciate you.
Sara says
I’m a hydrangea addict trying to branch out to other plants, so this is timely. We had our beds redone in our new house as part of regrading the yard to make it a better play area for my son. We planted a magic carpet spirea, a spit fire hydrangea, and three wine and roses weigela to break up the expanse on the back of our house/cover up some ugly things. , We also added a rhododendron in the place of a dead arborvitae to break up our privacy shield a bit with color. I’m having trouble with what smaller plants to fill in and where. Any suggestions on layout? I’m a bit paralyzed. I want to create depth and have plants bloom throughout the season. I also don’t want to be weeding all the time. Our yard is high maintenance enough.
Kim Woodward says
Sounds lovely! The more plants you have growing, the less weeding you’ll do. (Because often, they fill in and block out weeds.) At least, that’s my experience.
What about fillers like hosta and daylillies. They typically bloom earlier and look nice all summer. I’m a big fan of daylillies because they look nice without the blooms and fill in garden beds. I also like to add spring-blooming bulbs that will pop up before anything else will – they are good in the front and will be blooming around the same time (or before) as the azalea. As they die away, other things can take over. (I think daylillies are great to grow in as the bulbs die out.)
Gretchen@BoxyColonial says
ooh, it looks so good! We lost some of our bushes out front to drought last year and replaced them with more relatively boring things just to fill in the space in the spring….next step is to tuck in some colorful stuff in there, too….pinning this for when I finally get around to that!
Kim Woodward says
I feel like slow and steady wins the race. It’s nice to see how things fill in and then add new plants accordingly based on what you are missing.
Courtney says
Which way does your house face? I would love to plant some hydrangeas, but I don’t know if they will grow where I want to plant them!
XO
Courtney
Kim Woodward says
This is south facing, but gets some shade in the afternoon due to the house. Typically, they will thrive in full sun to part shade, but need well drained soil. I think the soil is way more important than anything. Good luck!
Amy Jones says
I can’t wait until your hydrangeas go bananas and you have lots of project material! The yard is beautiful and reminds me of the Midwest.
Kim Woodward says
I’m pretty excited for that, too. For now, can I live vicariously through your backyard?
daisy says
These all look spectacular in your garden. Of course, I’m also partial to daisies. We will be doing some landscaping at our new home and hope to use mostly natives. That’s the secret to low-maintenance.
Enjoy your blooms!
Kim Woodward says
You are 100 percent right about natives. We are in a prairie landscape so these are all pretty much natives. (With the exception of hydrangeas, which I’m not sure about.)
Sarah says
Great post! I now I have plant wishlist to keep an eye at the Lowe’s Garden center clearance! Any tips for keeping the weeds down? I’m so sick of every 2-3 weeks having to weed!
Kim Woodward says
Weeding is totally my nemesis. The ONLY thing I recommend is weed barrier. It’s a pain to put down, but it has been such a lifesaver in this garden bed. It would be totally overtaken with weeds if it weren’t for weed barrier. We didn’t put it around the barn and the whole area is just a giant weed patch. Never again.
You’ll still find a few weeds, but they aren’t as deep and are much less frequent.
Emily says
Perfect timing! I picked too many early summer blooms and now my front bed looks dead! Pinning!
Kim Woodward says
I’m totally debating bringing some of these flowers inside. They are just so pretty but I’m also enjoying seeing them outside.
Jaime Costiglio says
Kim thank you for this post. I’ve gone 5 years without sprinklers because I cringe at the water waste but I now have 2 areas where the grass doesn’t grow so great but perfect for perennial flower beds and I was planning out just now when your post came up, your timing is perfect!
Kim Woodward says
Good luck with your garden beds! This is a great time of year to be planning. I feel like we all go gung-ho in the spring, but fall seems to be a better time to get things established, at least in our experience.
Susan says
Looks good and fulfills my dreams of a practical, not fussy or demanding yet pretty flower garden ! What about something with a bit of height on the left side of the porch/house – perhaps a lilac bush or a spirea bush?
Kim Woodward says
I think that’s EXACTLY what the left side needs. Lilac may be the winner. I love lilac and it would be a nice look all year. Thanks for the idea!
Kim @ Kim Bocko says
I’m so glad you shared this! I am working on our garden (new homeowners, people never took care of the yard) and just bought hydrangeas. I think I’m going to add black eyed susans and maybe another variety – so glad to have the suggestions!
Kim Woodward says
Black eyed susans are so pretty this time of year – one of my very favorites. And even better – they seem to grow like (pretty) weeds. Good luck!
Cassie Bustamante says
those are all some of my faves and we have each i think! and finally the butterflies are floating about again on our butterfly bushes!
Kim Woodward says
We have been spotting butterflies all morning on the bush. I love having it right outside our window.