I’m a new gardener and I first thought I wanted low maintenance - til I discovered maintenance is fun! I like dead heading my wild flowers, changing and morphing my beds, growing ground cover, growing vines up trellises… this is fun! I think maybe people who want low maintenance are making assumptions about it that may not be true.

Many people new to landscaping, forget to figure in the mature size of plants & end up with huge plantings that require frequent trimming.

This is great. Lifelong desert dweller here and the most important thing I plant first at a new house are trees to block summer sun. Sometimes you have to live through the season to see where the sun comes up and sets in August. They need to be deciduous so they cool the house in summer and let the sun help warm in winter. My Grandpa gave me that advice 50 years ago. And I have watched it work well at every house. Next to water, shade is what we need to enjoy gardening in the desert.

Appropriate, calming, and considerate... very inviting.

Nice video! New Englander here. Our climate is totally different. Over nearly 30 years, I’ve learned how to have a beautiful low-medium maintenance half-acre lawn and yard here that’s the envy of the neighborhood (not that that matters). I’ve never had to water any part of it except when I’d planted something new and my container plants. The secret is to aerate and lime every year or so, overseed it after aerating, and never mow it shorter than 3 or 4 inches. Never watering forces the grass roots to grow deep to find water on its own, cutting ‘long’ shields most of the blade from scorching summer sun, aerating de-compacts the soil so roots can grow without resistance and what rain happens can percolate easily, and overseeding thickens the grass bed so weeds don’t have a chance to take over. I used to mow it myself with a reel mower, and loved making checkerboard patterns, until my young family and I got busier. I’ve got many mature native shrubs and trees (rhodos, mountain laurel, holly, pachysandra, euonymus, crabapple, more), and their beds are edged and mulched once in the spring. They’re all spectacular when in bloom. Now in my retirement, I do have a company handle the maintenance, but that leaves me time to focus on my container and trellis plants in my hardscaped areas. Come fall, 90% of the leaves in my yard come from my neighbors’ trees, but I don’t mind because we all like each other!

What a genius. Wonderful architecture. Looks very neat, green and absolutely low maintenance and more space.

Wow, gorgeous. I'm a more hardcore native plant person myself but I must say that these landscape designs are stunning. Liked and subscribing.

Have been gardening for decades. As I age, my time and energy has become more and more important. I am in the process of getting rid of anything that deer and rabbits tend to eat. These are beautiful plants, sometimes expensive, that require either spraying or covering to keep them safe. It has become too discouraging and expensive. I am first taking our my lilies. I am replacing some of them with alliums, and some with dwarf crape myrtles. I have too many to replace them all this year, but it is a start. I have also bought a dwarf butterfly bush for a sunny corner where. I had black eyed Susan’s that were devoured by deer. I love color in the garden and believe I can still have it and not continue to feed the wildlife.

Really love these plantings. The textures and color palette give a very soothing, relaxed vibe. Also shows how water-wise plantings can still feel lush if done right. Bravo.

I want a low maintenance garden but I can’t simply do that. I love adding annuals and love a lush lawn. Good thing I love gardening. You did such a great job with the textures of plants.

Thanks for going through all of these. It is nice to discover low maintenance landscaping ideas that stays low maintenance.

Finally! A KZfaq channel that has a pro telling the right way to landscape. You're right, if you have a plan with a good design it actually IMPROVES with age, without the need to keep removing and replacing plants, which is ridiculous and expensive. New subscriber here - keep up the good work! 😊

Your landscaping is absolutely breathtaking!!

This is what I am looking for!

Gave up on mulched front yard because after a hard rain the street would flood and wash the mulch away. Tried groundcover instead but couldnt keep up with keeping weeds and grass from taking over. A lot of commercial properties don't do groundcover anymore for maintenance reasons. Now going to just grass.

Beautiful Blessed Family. God's protection.

I love that yard. Nicely done.

I appreciate the homeowners requirement is being met and your explanation made all the difference. It is close to warm climate commercial in appearance. I have come to understand that I have never been a low maintenance gardener.

I love this video. I'm a new gardener who is trying to rescue and maintained a long neglected gorgeous garden on a beautiful large group home property... I am having the time of my life

When I walk our garden in PA I look for caterpillars, butterflies, bees, birds and ripening fruit both for us and the birds. Your landscape is pleasing to the eye but seems a bit of an ecological desert. Do you get to pick loquat fruit? Any birds? Interesting video.

Gold. Very useful insight, and thank you for showing such a beautiful example as you talked.

I love your informative videos! I didn't know about the dwarf agave, they are lovely. I especially like the olive trees at the front door because they symbolize peace and tranquility. Too bad the front door entrance is hidden behind the bulk of the tree. If the homeowner truly wanted to cut back on less water usage in California, perhaps they might consider placing the fountain in another spot where the spillage can help other plants/herbs/flowers. We planted herbs and veggies all around our fountain because the wind and fountain pump kept splashing the water on the ground. We're in hot Northern California zone 9 and have lived with the never ending drought situation.

Very beautiful, delightfully conceptualized and yes, very manageable.

So beautiful & practical.

I love what you’ve done. I like the texturing plant choice and positioning. Lovely.

Well done.........takes planning

Hi, I love your videos and your patio dinner table in this video. Please give us info on it. LOVE ITTT

Tremendous work! Simple, effective, well thought out, sustainable, what's not to love :)

Very very nice! My parents’ small front lawn turned out to have below soil red ant colony. We, the kids, ran around and fell. I did too, and ended up with 20 itchy welts. Eventually they dug and paved. Plant boxes were made and low shrubs grew there. Because of childhood experience my own place does not have a grass lawn, and never will.

Good choices but I do love Crepe Myrtle Trees. I also like Yesterday Today and Tomorrow shrubs, drought resistance and I rarely have to prune it. It takes the heat.

John, you explain gardening so clearly and give so much information. Love seeing Chip, too. How is your house and garden coming along?

It's all so beautiful!

We’re in the Midwest, and we’re doing the prairie version of this. No grass! Small plant/flower beds, small trees, hardscaping and raised vegetable beds. I don’t like yard work.

I just discovered your channel and have been watching some of your videos. It appears you are in Fresno. I am in Bakersfield, which is almost like Fresno except we get half as much rain per year and are about 4 degrees otter in the summer. Your gardening tips are spot on for my location. I just watched the video of the back yard with 12 different kinds of fruit trees. Wow!

Lovely!

The people who bought our house cut down a columnar sweet gum, a weeping cherry and a trI-color beech…I don’t get it! It made me cry when I found out …. Especially the weeping cherry because it was gorgeous and had been planted as a memorial for our dog Sam …that tree was amazing. What could possess someone to cut down well planted and maintained trees like that?!

Nicely done, sort of a formal "Italian Terrace" feel to it. Very low key and calming. A change of species and you could be awash in flowers for much of the year if that's what you want.

thank you! looking forward to trimming my out of control Japanese maple. cheers

Beautiful garden, simple and aesthetic

Love your minimalis garden❤

Beautiful garden!

Many thankjs for a very useful video!

Beautiful low naintenance yards!

💁 ~Love your videos (& cute puppy doodle!) 🏡

I have a low maintenance evergreen only garden Leafy and shrub evergreens It’s lovely Only maintenance is occasional watering and pruning/shaping

This is an amazing video of what not too do.

Good advice and a lovely yard. not sure why you want to hide your front door but still a very nice garden.

Chip is adorable! 🐶

Lot of HOAs in the East Coast don't allow you to remove lawn and replace it with other plants.

Weeds seems to be a 24/7 365 day year to year for me . I didn’t plant them , they just showed up ! Lol They will never be low maintenance and always seem to do better that the shrubs I planted ! 😂 Nice patio, looks comfy with no grass ! 👍👍

Beautiful sir ❤

I’m dealing with firescaping so can’t use mulch that burns or any evergreens especially juniper. Would appreciate any videos that address that.

You will pulling weeds, unless the garden is quite a distance from other gardens or naturalized areas, since mulch decompose, turn soil and weed's seeds brought by wind, birds and other animals will germinate on top. Concrete may crack (because earth is alive) and weeds will grow in the cracks as well. There is no "zero maintenance" garden, except leave anything naturalized and humans learn to live with nature, animal life, pests and deceases. May be choosing wild varieties of weeds that bloom and still are interesting but consider that many can be very poisonus) Humans enjoy nature but cannot control nature so far, they are having trouble landing again in the moon

Nice work!

Great video

I like the landscaping very much, but I personally think the front door needs to be more open to the street so the architecture isn’t sacrificed.

I love your fruitless olive trees!They are gorgeous! Would you please tell me the variety of your fruitless olive tree? Thank you!

Olive can crack sidewalk… but it takes a long time… I have a client with one cracking the patio pavers… it’s probably 30 or 40 years old… I’ve heard this can be prevented with deep watering but as a designer I don’t expect that to happen in the future

This is really pretty. I have a backyard full of flowers, plants, garden containers. But If I were to plant a bunch of plants and cactuses and not have a lawn, then I'm going to have weeds coming up everywhere and I have to pull weeds constantly (which I call maintenance). I think I'd rather mow. If you don't have a lawn, where do the dogs go poop? Just wondering... Chip is so cute. I have four dogs. I think yard work is therapeutic. I bought this house with a big backyard and a pool for my dogs to play in. So where does Chip go poop? 🤔

Hello There, would you happen to have a video on how to save an oak tree. Weed kill was sprayed to close to the roots & now it has no leaves but just a couple of branches has leaves. I have been watering the trunks over night. It is showing leaf growth but not progressing very good. Any advice would be great. I did place tree spikes on the outer part of trunk. I have 4 trees in a row that we’re affected they are about 15 years old Thank you.

Low maintenance, yes. I don’t feel charmed by it though. I long for flowers, bees and chirping birds.

Love these plants. Where can I find the layout and planting guide for this garden?

Lovely except I wouldn't have blocked the front door with that tree

Your video's are so informative, really enjoy listening to you. I am in Scottsdale AZ. Originally from the Bay Area in CA. So of course I want color in my yard. We have been at our current house 14 years now. I love to garden in the months that allow us ( Oct-May) What can I use to 'enrich' my soil here? Would there happen to be anything at our local 'box' store that may work? Thank you again, and looking forward to more content.

Olives grow suckers at the base, can become very high maintenance over time.

How much for the doggie? Hahaha! He's adorable!!

I’m needing a more low maintenance garden now, you’ve given me some good ideas. Can I ask what state your in, I’m in CA. Warm and dry climate

Concrete = runoff. No chance for water to soak in & recharge soil or ground water. Goes right into the street & sewer system. In my area the amount of hard surface reflects on the runoff section of my water bill. Cost more than the water usage.

You take the energy of the Japanese maple to grow if you trim it twice a year or outside when it’s waking up, around march

People planted pine trees in each corner of our fenced yard and they already look ridiculous … they are crooked and too close to the fence

I had found that trees and flower beds are high maintenance. I currently have no trees and limited flower beds. I have an average sized grass lawn in front and back, that I pay to get mowed every two weeks.

No flowers for the summer?

The olives on the front are completely hiding the front door, and there is a tree on the back, which is right in front of a window. What is the logic behind these decisions?

How do you keep your fountain so clean? Any tips for a novice would be much appreciated?

Where are you located? I was just wondering if you are in Arizona or Nevada. Just found your channel today and I subscribed. Your dog is adorable. 😊🐶

I love the look of those big containers in the driveway they remind me the smell of trash but the appeal is how the greens blend in with the bushes behind them

Is your dog leash actually a tow strap?

Nice !!! Now paint the house in a light beige o creamy white.

I just wonder about the concrete/garden ratio. Putting concrete everywhere likely raises the temperature around the house which some people may want to compensate by running an aircon, thus costly. Also, it would accelerate moisture evaporation. Though i notice you did cover the earth with woodchips, likely slowing that process. Anyways.... Could it be done without all that paving?

This villa looks so good! Where is this?

Any bottlebrush we know of is covered in bees. Isn't that a bad choice for walkways?

your bushes need water too, but they are better for environment. A fence is necessary to hold dogs out and feel more save.

When you're young maintenance is no trouble. No one's getting any younger. Plant with the coming years of aging in mind. Non mess shedding evergreens first, no care perennials next and then annuals you can change up yearly. Remember that some annuals self seed!

In this case, inhabiting a house on a small lot was the major factor. Probably, if one were to walk down the street, all of the houses would have low-maintenance lawns.

It has matured nicely, was Chip a baby when this was first landscaped?

Not such an issue in the desert, but in cooler climates, concrete+water+debris from trees/plants=moss/mold on concrete. Concrete covered in moss/mold when wet can be very slippery. If you are going to have concrete+water+debris from trees/plants, make sure the sun can get to most of it at some point of the day.

I wonder how this landscape will survive a Chicago winter...!!!!

John, which of your products do you recommend for Italian cypress trees and for a hedge of boxwoods?

What about mosquitoes and insects with the plants so close to the people places?

Be I g So open to the street; Don't you find a lot of rubbish blows in?

Does it work in a very rainy city?

Those olives will grow to be 30 feet tall and wide, though, right?

How do you cover the front entrance from view? It’s awful!

How is the house build going, is that why you haven't been posting videos, way too busy?

Also is bird nesting a problem?

Architecturally, the focus of the front of the house is the front door. In this case, the front door is hidden, making the landscaping look overgrown. Love all the plants, though.

What state are you un, please

You've done a great job!! -- For potential burglars... Is your homeowners insurance paid up?? Having plants/trees that block the sight of windows and entryways, can conceal anyone who is hiding-in-wait for your return... SURPRISE!! You've just set up a criminal to kidnap you, force you inside so they can rob you of your stuff that's INSIDE!!!... You've done an exemplary job of concealment for burglars with those "low maintenance trees," yes Sir!! Congratulations on not having to PRUNE ANYTHING, saving all that time and money!! Did you know, criminals "case" potential vuctim's homes? You should be proud, as your place will be in their TOP THREE!!! They love it when no one can see them while they break into your front door or windows... At least you'll save money on water and all that maintenance time... ~ retired LEO (military and civilian)

Most of this garden is concete. It doesn’t look like concrete but it is. It is extremely low maintenance but doesn’t allow for the water cycle so we will have less water in general in the future. All easy but unsustainable for those who will need water to cook, bathe and eat later.

Instead of mulch what’s your recommendation on rocks? I live in Texas., JENNIFER from Colleyville, Texas