ZONES: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 LIGHT: Sun, Part Sun FLOWER COLOR: White, Pink, Red FOLIAGE COLOR: Chartreuse/Gold PLANT TYPE: Rose HEIGHT: 3 to 8 feet, 8 to 20 feet SEASON FEATURES: Winter Interest, Spring Bloom, Summer Bloom, Fall Bloom SPECIAL FEATURES: Good for Containers, Fragrance, Attracts Birds, Low Maintenance PROBLEM SOLVERS: Slope/Erosion Control, Deer Resistant If you favor a slightly wilder look in your garden, look to the ancestors of roses you grow and enjoy for many of the same admirable qualities. Most species roses offer small blooms, and they usually appear only once a season, but the landscaping benefits make them worthwhile to include in borders and background plantings. Most species roses can tolerate extreme weather conditions and because of their colorful hips (fruit), they are good choices for attracting birds and other wildlife to the garden. The canes are often vigorous and arching. Stems may be highly colored but are almost always thorny, making large species good candidates for privacy hedging and deer-frequented areas. Species Rose - Rosa_species
If you want a low-maintenance plant with year-round color, look no further than the beautyberry shrub. After months of green foliage speckled with lilac blooms in the spring and summer, the beautyberry's leaves fall away to reveal dazzling purple berries (a favorite snack for birds) for most of fall and winter. Virtually drought-tolerant and resistant to disease and pests, this is one garden variety that requires little to no effort on your part once you've planted it.
Creeping thyme is a favorite of home cooks and lazy landscapers alike. This fragrant—and edible—perennial ground cover needs little more than warm weather and the occasional watering. Its hardiness and drought-resistance recommends it as a lawn alternative, and its tiny white flowers lure butterflies to the yard. If an unseasonable freeze is in the forecast, cover your thyme with a tarp to protect it until temperatures rise
Few plants add so much drama with so little TLC as the canna lily. To grow, place the bulb in the ground after the threat of frost has passed, then water, cover with mulch, and wait for it to sprout. Once the tropical beauty blooms, you’ll need to keep it moist, although if you forget to water, the surprisingly drought-tolerant plant can survive a skipped sprinkler session.
Pick non-fussy flowers Add vibrant color to your yard without sweating in the garden. "I like to always have color, so I try to have plants that flower all season," says Chris. "When something's always blooming in the yard, there's a sense of added life." Black-eyed Susans are a good summer choice because they bloom throughout the season. In the autumn, consider Montauk daisies.
A rose by any other name probably isn’t as easy as the Knock Out®. These set-’em-and-forget-’em flowers are heat-resistant, pretty much prune-free, and “self-cleaning”—you don’t even have to deadhead them. Just use a good organic or chemical granular rose food in early spring, and follow up with foliar feedings (liquid fertilizer applied to the leaves) through the blooming season.
For interesting edges without the effort, try clumping monkey grass (Liriope muscari) along flower beds, borders, and walkways. This Asian native is hardy; stands up to dogs, deer, bugs, and weeds; and does well in a variety of soils and climates. Monkey grass can grow to about 15 inches, so trim it if you wish or go long.
Perennials are the gift that keeps on giving, season after season, unlike annuals, which you have to plant every year. Some perennials are more carefree than others, though. Forgetful gardeners will love drought-tolerant pasque or the delicate-looking but durable penstemon. For hot and dry climates, we like brilliant sedum, and, yes, yarrow (don’t dare call it a weed!).
Blackberry Lily - Iris Domestica ZONES: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 LIGHT: Part Sun, Sun FLOWER COLOR: Red, Orange, Yellow FOLIAGE COLOR: Blue/Green PLANT TYPE: Perennial HEIGHT: 1 to 3 feet SEASON FEATURES: Summer Bloom, Winter Interest SPECIAL FEATURES: Low Maintenance, Good for Containers, Cut Flowers PROBLEM SOLVERS: Drought Tolerant Surprisingly, blackberry lily (also known as leopard lily due to its spotted flowers) is not a lily at all. After research into its DNA sequencing, this plant was reclassified from Belamcanda chinensis to Iris domestica—despite the fact that its flowers look nothing like those of an iris. Instead, this plant features swordlike foliage combined with fiery-color flowers that resemble lilies.
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