You won’t find a better low-maintenance annual for your beds, borders, or containers than euphorbia. This tough plant offers outstanding heat and drought resistance. Instead of showy flower petals, euphorbia has modified leaves, called bracts. It’s a vigorous grower so it can quickly fill a garden space.
Creeping fig is an eager climber and can withstand aggressive trimming much more than finicky varietals like English ivy. It’s best planted in fall and will grow slowly at first, picking up pace as it matures. It can eventually reach lengths of up to 15 feet in length.
Echinacea are also known as ‘cone flowers’. They grow well in the home garden, when provided with the right conditions. Echinacea are great in any garden bed. You get to enjoy the gorgeous flowers, as well as the colorful wildlife they attract.
Asclepias is also known as ‘Milk Weed’. It is the main food source for the beloved monarch butterfly caterpillar. This tough perennial helps out monarchs, and the flowers are a great nectar source for many other pollinators. Milk weed is great for any butterfly garden and other areas that need to attract pollinators.
Bidens typically have blooms in yellow or orange, but newer varieties include pink, gold, and white blossoms. In warmer climates where winter temperatures stay above 40 degrees Fahrenheit, Bidens are a perennial plant. Though they lose their blooms in late fall and winter, the beautiful foliage of this plant stays green all year long. In
Used often as a groundcover or an edging plant, liriope is popular for good reason. It stays green year-round in many climates, produces pretty blue or white flowers, and is about as tough a plant as you’ll hope to meet. Its dense tufts of almost-evergreen, broadly grassy leaves are often striped. Stiff stems bear tight
Also called fan flower, the abundant blooms of Scaevola are borne along fleshy deep green stems. This Australian native is heat- and drought-tolerant so it’s a good plant to endure in the heat of the summer. The trailing and cascading habit makes them a natural choice for mixed containers and hanging baskets.
Zonal geraniums get their name from the “zone” striping through the middle of their leaves. The colors are red, coral, white, and pink. This physical attribute is a helpful way to distinguish a zonal geranium from other types of Geranium. Zonal geraniums can live up to 3 years. However, you can make it to live
The dianthus plant is the quintessential cottage flower. Dianthus is treasured for its grasslike, blue-green foliage and abundant starry flowers, which are often spicily fragrant. Dianthus plants range from tiny creeping groundcovers to 30-inch-tall cut flowers, which are a favorite with florists. Plants are often pink in color, and the petals have a fringed look
Campanula are such easy-to-grow plants and are perfect for a low-maintenance cottage garden. The blossoms are generally composed of five petals fused at the base, creating the trademark bell shape. Depending on the variety, sometimes these bells face upward on little mats of foliage, or they may dangle in the breeze, suspended in pendulous clusters.