Are you looking to make your gardens easier to maintain without losing out on the enjoyment of beautiful blooms?
One of my biggest and best downsizing strategies is to replace sweeps of mixed perennial gardens with flowering shrubs and conifers. Dig, dig, swap, swap... Oh what a relief it is! You really don't appreciate how much more work perennials are, compared to shrubs, until you make the switch.
Don't misunderstand, I still love perennials and will always have these in my garden, just a lot less of them. Most "woodies" simply don't require the same amount of water, fertilizer and routine care. And I can get every bit, if not more, color from shrubs and trees, especially given the explosion of new cultivars with dazzling foliage, berries, bark and/or form.
Follow these tips to start maximizing flowering shrubs in your garden...