Friday, May 14, 2010

Garden maintenance, containers, and other thoughts

A program today had me thinking about garden 'maintenance' and the 'effort' involved to keep different sorts of gardens going.

A push for 'color' along a well-traveled pathway means annuals with water needs--even if they're drought-tolerant, it means supplemental water. Ditto for 'color' near the Nature Learning Center (at the Garden where I work).

I'm all about tough, drought-tolerant perennials in my own garden. I DON'T have time to be fussing with extra water, and it's not a sustainable practice to be adding gobs of supplemental water to non-food plants, in any case.

Wherever we live in the world, there are plants that are adapted to grow well, in the conditions that are presented. Not all are 'garden-worthy,' but there are always many wonderful plants to choose from.

Why not choose plants that do well without extra 'care'?