Thursday 6 July 2000
The
Lazy Gardener
The smartest gardener around is Mother Nature. By following in her footsteps, lazy gardeners can cultivate bountiful settings that look as if the soil has been worked from dawn to dusk.
COURTESY OF SANDRA BARONE / In a tropical garden setting: plants with leaves as large as umbrellas and flowers that grow 3-metres tall.
MAGDA LASZKIEWICZ, GAZETTE / Landscape architect Sandra Barone created a rain-forest effect with giant petasites leaves, a boon for laissez-faire gardeners who shun weeding.
An ornamental-grass setting might not be so beautiful in the spring or summer, but will blossom beautifully in the fall and winter.
Flowers and plants in an extravaganza of colour and heights thrive in shaded areas.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF SANDRA BARONE / An exuberant setting that looks as if it has to be pampered to grow but takes less time to maintain than a mundane stretch of grass.
"There isn't any such thing as a 100-per-cent work-free garden, but by not going against nature, you can come very close to it," said Sandra Barone.
Nature's garden never requires weeding, fertilizing, chemical herbicides, staking, pruning, a fall clean-up or constant watering, and the Montreal landscape architect believes that the same can be accomplished by the mortal gardener.
"All plantings should be placed in an environment where they were meant to be because forcing them to grow in an unfriendly place requires a lot of work," she said. For example, roses are not at home in soggy soil; putting them there requires constant maintenance, which lazy gardeners will not provide.
Don't be tricked into believing that sparse growth means little care. A nondescript stretch of green grass or a lawn tiled with flagstones or concrete blocks only appears as if it can get along with little management. The reality is that it is more labour intensive than lush settings filled with irises, geraniums, lavender, hostas and ornamental grasses.
A plain grass garden, Barone contends, needs constant manicuring and has to be pampered with mowing, weeding, spraying and watering. Covering a lawn with any type of stone only simplifies work for a short time.
"Eventually weeds will force themselves through the seams of the blocks and then the surface has to be cleared of unwanted growth," she said.
Working with nature means grouping plants that have the same requirements of light, shade, water and nourishment. This cluster effect will reduce maintenance as well as produce healthier results, because everything will develop as nature intended.
Vital for lazy gardeners is a knowledge of weed control. Plants known as ground covers are a good solution for reducing the need for constant weeding, but be sure to choose plants that grow higher than the weeds.
"By not getting the sun, (the weeds) will die a natural death without you spending time pulling them out of the ground," she said. Tall ground covers are slender and dramatic and create a dynamic garden that changes with the seasons.
Another weed-control tactic is applying a 3-inch layer of mulch (crushed branches of cedar or pine bark) to the planting area that will keep the weeds from poking through the soil.
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Once you have determined the type of soil you have - wet, dry or stoney - and have noted whether it is in a shady or sunny area, you are ready to make plant selections that are compatible with these conditions.
Barone takes the natural approach, and the gardens she has produced are lush and as extravagant as tropical forests. Here are her plant suggestions for specific conditions:
n Shaded area with rich, humid soil: conditions are almost tropical here and it's a perfect setting for a giant-plant garden using petasites, a plant whose leaves can reach 3 feet (1 m) across, and heracleum, which grows up to 10 feet (3 m) high and has a thick bamboo-like stem. Heracleum is self-perpetuating: the seeds drop off and sprout the following year.
- Sunny area with dry soil: for this exuberant setting, use a ground cover of yellow-flowered coreopsis, hardy blue and pink geraniums, blue oat grass, lavender, bearded iris and large-leafed hostas.
- Shady area with humid soil: create an extravaganza of colour and heights using red astilbes, yellow ragwort, and black snake root in white.
- Sunny area with dry soil: this garden is not so beautiful in the spring, acceptable in the summer, but glorious in the fall and winter. Mulch is needed here to keep the soil humid for these suggested plants: blue oat grass, variegated moor grass, large blue fescue, variegated feather reed grass.
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The lazy gardener also needs efficient tools to simplify tasks. Barone said she would never be without a long-handled oscillating hoe that is a back-saver. It is used with a push-pull motion, which permits the edges of the sharp blade to cut weeds off at the crown and eliminates the need for a strenuous chopping action.
Her next piece of advice is just what the lazy gardener wants to hear. Forget about cleaning the garden in the fall - save it for the spring. Allow the falling snow to form a protective winter blanket over the plantings, which will be transformed into white sculptural forms that are themselves as pretty as the plants buried underneath.
That's what Mother Nature does.
-Sandra Barone is a landscape architect in Montreal. She can be reached at (514) 739-9257.