The term’ low-maintenance garden‘ usually conjures an image of monotonous, regimented evergreens and shrubs.

Writer Anne Wareham and photographer Charles Hawes have created Veddw, a garden bursting with personality and colour.

Anne, the author of The Deckchair Gardener, is well known for her straightforward approach to what she considers unnecessary gardening chores.

Veddw, with its two acres, is a large and beautiful garden. However, the tips for low-maintenance gardening also apply to smaller gardens.

Veddw was created by Charles Hawes and Anne Wareham over 38 years ago. Professionals cut the hedges, but they manage the two acres using Anne’s practical approach to gardening. This garden shows that low-maintenance gardens can be stylish and colourful.

If you don’t love it, give up growing vegetables.

Vegetable gardening requires almost daily attention. Watering and fertilizer are needed more often because they grow quickly. They’re also susceptible to pests and need protection.

It can be incredibly rewarding to grow your own. It is not suitable for a low-maintenance garden.

Let it go if you do not love to grow food. Concentrate on trees, flowers and shrubs. If you want to grow your produce, add a fruit orchard.

Plant Thugs (Vigorous Plants) to Reduce Weeding

Anne uses large drifts of vigorous plants to cover the borders. She calls them thugs. She also believes that they work best for design: “I don’t want plants scattered in small groups.”

Strong-growing plants cover the soil quickly and crowd out weeds. You will need to weed much less frequently, and sometimes not at all.

You’ll also get more flowers with vigorous plants. It can also save you money.

Anne recommends Geranium ‘Rozanne’, Persicaria, or ferns. These plants are best in humid or mild climates.

The plants that I consider ‘vigorous’ in my climate are Nepeta, Euphorbia (catmint), Phlomis rupeliana, and Globe Thistle (Echinops Ritro).

I received a few scraps from a good friend. One border that was difficult and dry is now completely covered in phlomis. It spread without me having to do anything.

You’ll have to research what plants will grow well in your soil and climate. You’ll find a few good options in Plants That Spread.

Self-seeding plants can also produce flower colour without any effort. Self-seeders also grow well because they can choose where to grow. Check out 25 of the best self-seeding plants.

Veddw is home to a variety of Geraniums, including ‘Rozanne’, ‘Johnson’s Blue’, and others. Geraniums are a great way to cover the ground and compete with weeds.

Both self-seeders and plants that spread can be invasive if they are planted in the wrong location. A thug is a plant that grows well but does not endanger the countryside if it escapes.

The same plant may be difficult to grow in one location but vigorous in another.

Invasive plants can be harmful to wildlife by preventing them from finding food and shelter. They can also be costly to remove. Know which plants can be invasive in your area.

Anne says, “Now we are all more tolerant to weeds.” She lets the ground elder flower, and also has variegated ground Elder (see above). She says that she does not weed much after mid-summer because the plants are so tightly packed together.

Planting ‘thugs,’ has the advantage that they do not need to be cosseted. They can usually survive rainy and dry spells without needing to be watered. Here are some Garden Watering strategies – How To Save Time, Effort & Money When Watering Your Garden.

Bold Hedges Add Structure

Anne and Charles’ relaxed planting is so successful because it is combined with strong structure.

Veddw’s garden is divided by chunky hedges. The pattern of the hedges is visible as they descend the hill.

Anne and Charles maximized the impact on the hill by creating a reflecting pool that mirrors the hedges.

Hedges require little maintenance, as they only need to be trimmed once or twice per year.

Try beech or yew. Once or twice a season, they’re easily trimmed. Avoid planting yews in soggy soil. They don’t like to sit in water.

The hedges only need to be trimmed once or twice per year. In between, they will require no maintenance. The sharp shapes contrast brilliantly with the wider areas of the garden.  Anne and Charles made the bench. The seat and back are made of timber, while the legs and back are made from breeze blocks.

Balance Wildness With Structure 2: Benches, Paths & Ornaments

Paths, benches and sculptures also create structure.

The path, bench, and sculptures at Veddw provide the structure for the meadow. Anne and Charles created the sculptures using globes from an old water feature. They then attached them to wood taken from trees they’d had to cut down.

Anne and Charles made their paths using ‘gravel into dust’, which they obtained from a local quarry. It is also known as ’20mm dust’, “crush and run” and other names. This is the smallest gravel size, and some of it is just dust.

Dust from their local quarry is mixed with the clay soil. After a few months, rain and footfall harden the path.

Also, they designed their benches. In almost all ‘garden rooms’, there is a central bench. The benches range from simple wooden benches on the meadow to dramatic orange benches that are made out of breeze blocks and wood.

A geometric pergola painted black and wild plants – this combination of structure and wildness works.

Steps, hedges and wild plants create the structure here. The Autumn or Early Spring Clean-up

Anne does not see the benefit of dragging cut materials to a compost pile in the fall. She says that once the material has rotted, it can be spread along the border.

She chops and drops instead.

In the autumn or early spring, trim away faded growth using shears or a strimmer. You can cut it into several lengths.

Leave it as mulch. It will nourish the soil and reduce irrigation.

Charles and Anne will then cut them off and leave the dying leaves on the border. The mulch will decompose and feed the soil. There’s no need to transport detritus, turn the compost or bring it back when it is decomposed. This is a very low-maintenance garden strategy.

Say No to Garden Edging

Anne does not edge her lawns. She says that it’s not only the effort involved in cutting a neat border or lawn edge. I like my plants to flow together, and not be separated by sharp lines.

Resilient plants, such as alchemilla, are planted on the borders of their gardens. You can mow right up to them.

Anne prefers that plants flow together and not be separated by sharp edges. They mow up to the border – vigorous plants, like alchemilla, do not mind being clipped occasionally.

Mowing made easy

Charles doesn’t move the table and chairs when he mows his lawn. He mows around them.

It’s charming. Because the flowers are weeds, you don’t have to worry about trampling on them to get to the table.

Instead of moving the furniture, move around it. Buttercups and long grass look lovely and don’t mind getting mowed down when you want to eat around the table.

Let Ivy Grow on Walls

Ivy does not damage walls when managed properly. It will keep your home warmer and give your garden an old-fashioned, romantic feel.

Trim it like a hedge regularly and leave it to be.

The Royal Horticultural Society states that ivy does not usually damage buildings and fences. It can also be kept at a manageable and modest size to increase the biodiversity of your gardens.

The roots of ivy can get through cracked walls, but it won’t harm walls in good condition. If you allow it to wrap around your guttering, it may be blown down by a strong wind. Anne trims her ivy every year to enjoy the benefits of insulation and wildlife.

She says, “The roots are underground.” The ivy leaves leave marks on the wall when it is pulled off. Once you start growing ivy on your walls, continue to do so.

Veddw’s walls are covered in ivy. To keep it in shape and under control, it only needs an annual trim. In the United States, English ivy is very invasive. Check if it’s invasive before you decide to grow it.

Create your low-maintenance garden style.

A garden evolves. Notice what combinations seem to work in your garden and which tasks don’t appear to be needed.

Every June, for example, I would see aphids crawling on my roses. Sometimes I forgot to wash them off. They’d be gone when I realized.

When I interviewed Neil Miller, the head gardener of Hever Castle, on Growing Roses, it made perfect sense. He said that they do not spray their 4,000 bushes of roses to kill aphids. The birds will do it for you in the summer.

The same thing happened if I let aphids live on my dahlias. (See How to Keep Dahlias Free from Earwigs and Snails without Chemicals.

Discovering what works in the garden and what does not can increase your enjoyment without increasing the amount of work.

Observe your garden. Enjoy it.