How can we create an “ageless” garden to stand the test of time through our entire gardening lifetime? Here are a few quick ideas to consider incorporating into your garden’s overall design.
- Choose wide paths (4-6 feet wide).
- Choose smooth or compact permeable path materials such as flagstone, permeable concrete, and small crushed rock called fines.
- Choose raised bed construction (wood, rock, cobbles).
- Choose low maintenance plants — easy-care perennials rather than annuals, small to diminutive varieties of favorite shrubs rather than full-scale varieties needing annual pruning, and low-growing plants.
Locate water sources close to plantings or install drip irrigation where possible.- Avoid steep slopes.
- Think compact, easy access and easy maintenance.
- Use mulches for weed reduction, easy weed removal and moisture retention.
- Think container plantings made with lightweight materials or more permanent ceramic or stoneware container plantings that can be accessed from all sides.
- Locate benches or seating areas throughout the garden for resting spots.
- Allow for an easily accessed garden or patio area to continue growing your favorite plants, whether it’s a miniature fruit tree, an array of vegetables or maybe even containers full of your favorite annuals like geraniums, petunias or tender summer-blooming bulbs.
- Remember to allow for a variety of sensory stimulation — scented plants, textural plants, colorful plants, striking plants.
- Include easy-care herbs: rosemary, lemon balm, chives, lavender, mint (in containers).
- Locate a soothing water feature close by, even if it’s only a small bubbling fountain.
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