By Lucille Bobiney Heinrich

Do you prefer to sit on your front porch watching clouds go rolling by rather than pulling weeds in your garden? When it comes to deadheading flowers, does reading an interesting novel take preference? Do you want to give neighbors and friends the impression that you care about your yard and gardens, but with minimal effort? Well, welcome to the world of lazy gardening! You are not alone in this respect so consider these following ten tips which, if followed, will definitely put you in the Lazy Gardener category:



1. Lawn care: If you can’t find a reliable lawn service company to perform this task or don’t have the cash to hire out the job, then by all means don’t water your lawn more than once a week during a drought period and none at all when it rains. The roots will be forced to grow deeper into the ground and will learn to withstand dry periods. Adopt the attitude that anything in your lawn that is green is good, including weeds.



2. Flowering plants: For heaven sakes, don’t plant annuals! They only have to be planted again and again. Stick to perennials or plants such as zinnias that will reseed themselves year after year.



3. Watering: Invest in a watering system, preferably on timers. If you can’t afford this, use soaker hoses. Soaker hoses will do the work more efficiently than you standing there in the hot sun with a hose in your hand or dragging around hoses and sprinklers.



4. Mulching: By all means mulch your plants, trees and shrubs! Mulch will keep your plants moist and keep down weeds.



5. Hanging planters: Don’t use them! They need daily watering and much care to keep looking good, so avoid them if you can. Of course, if that’s the only color you have in your garden, then, by all means, go for it.



6. Garden pieces: Garden statuary or fountains surrounded by a few flowering plants gives your garden an exclusive look causing people to think you spend hours and hours working in your garden to achieve this effect. Benches, lattice work, bird baths, bird houses, swings, gazebos, unusual planters such as wheel barrels and decorative fencing are just a few examples of what can give your garden personality with minimal effort.



7. Low maintenance plants: Native plants are always a good bet. Boxwoods, junipers and azaleas need little maintenance and will keep green all year. Sunflowers, impatiens, and knockout roses do not require deadheading. The latter two, however, like a lot of water.



8. Plant vines: Honeysuckle, Confederate jasmine, clematis and trumpet vines are good choices to cover fencing and other areas that are barren. Once they get established, just sit back and let them go with minimal pruning.



9. Go for the English Garden Look: Don’t try to get distance between your plants. Let them flow into each other to give that informal English garden look which borders just short of disorder. Remember, if you plant in threes: tall ones in the back, medium tall in the middle, and short on the outside, your garden will be blooming all season as well as helping to choke out weeds.



10. Plastic flowers: Sorry folks, but using plastic flowers in your garden is a big no-no. There is a limit to lazy gardening and this is it. There is a place for plastic flowers, but not in your garden. So no plastic flowers, please!



Remember: It’s better to be a Lazy Gardener than not a gardener at all!