Low maintenance plant ideas for a small back yard with planters

[Jasmin82]

I don't have a garden, per se, rather a back yard that my late mother had my father remove the flag stones from a corner of many years ago because she wanted rose bushes. Over the years it's gotten a wee bit over grown. In a few weeks, I have a company coming out to remove all the offending plants that have taken over. I kind of have a very rough idea of what I want to do with the space that involves the former rose area being used for wild flowers with planters along the walls with other plants. I remember looking after my grandmother's lavender plants when I was younger and like the idea of lavender. Are there any other plants that are relatively low maintenance I could also go for? Also, would there be any issues I should be aware of with having wild flowers in there?

Do you want wild flowers because you think they will be low maintenance? If that's the case keeping the roses will be much better, they are very low maintenance (prune back late winter, feed and deadhead, that's it) and will flower all summer (depending on variety).

Thing is, wild flowers grow where they want to and that may not coincide with where you want them. The seed mixes can take a while to start showing and it can take years to establish a self sustaining patch.

You'd be better off buying a reliable hardy self seeder, like Nigella, cornflower and calendula. Pollinators are just as happy with those

OK. I think when I was doing initial planning, it probably got recommended so much when I was searching for ideas that it may have wormed it's way in my brain. I know I struggled to keep miniature roses surviving more than a year so I think that made me wary of having roses again. It could just be that I'm inept when it comes to looking after roses.

I think it's the word 'wild' that tricks people into thinking it's no fuss, but as I say there are plenty of pretty, easy to grow plants you can sow.

Did you keep your miniature roses indoors? That's the main reason they fail, they really need lots of sun and light and do much better outside. If they are in pots they also dry out much quicker.

The roses were kept indoors as the yard is north facing and the room at the front of the house gets plenty of light. If I remember rightly, the garden centre I bought them from sells them specifically as indoor roses which probably doesn't help.

How much sun does the area get and how much maintainence would you like to do and how do you use the space?

People say 'wild flowers' when what they're thinking of are the colourful annuals. These usually need resowing every year and in any case they won't thrive in a north facing spot. Is it a courtyard? How big? Hydrangeas don't mind north facing. Ferns. Hardy geraniums .. lavender also likes sun . Need a pic.

You can't plant roses back in the same soil where roses were previously growing. The soil becomes 'rose sick' and they don't do well. Are the original rose bushes still there? If so, they could probably be rejuvenated.

Wild flowers look great for a few weeks... and entirely shit for the rest of the year.

Planters are not low maintenance. Unless the pots are massive, they will likely need watering daily in summer, even if it isn't particularly hot & sunny.

@begonefoulclutter I'm not sure if the original roses are still there as it's so overgrown. I have a feeling that the bushier of the 2 is still there (I've certainly seen thorns in that area). However, I seem to remember the other one being much smaller and so it may not have survived. Mum said it was a tea rose, however, from what I'm seeing on google, I don't think she actually knew what tea roses are. I will ask the company that does the work if they can try and salvage the rose bushes if possible. I don't mind watering daily, I'm just not looking for anything that needs me to be constantly doing work.

@Geneticsbunny it's an enclosed yard in an inner city area. The bare earth is probably not much more than a couple of metres on each side if that. My mum wanted a garden. My dad said to use plants in pots. They compromised and my dad dug up the flag stones to make a garden and did all the other work (I remember pot ash being mentioned).

@KnittingOnEmpty It's a terraced back yard. Total length of land is about 4-5 metres give or take on eyeballing the space. No more than a rough square of 2x2 metres in bare earth. It does get a nice bit of light in the summer afternoons and evenings, just not so much in the mornings. That said, the plants that have taken it over seem happy, so maybe it gets more light than I think. I remember having lavender in a pot (because my mum wouldn't let me plant it in her garden) that did quite well in the yard. I think she gave it away to someone for their garden when she decided it was too big. For all I know, she could have decided to bin it and just tell me she gave it away. I seem to remember my fuschia that was thriving in the bathroom was "accidentally" knocked onto the ground when my mum "took it outside for some proper sunlight" while I was away with school. I was told it had perished. Thankfully, I don't have my mother to contend with this time around. I'm starting to think my mother didn't like that my fuschia and lavender thrived while she couldn't get crocuses to take.

I'll keep all the plant ideas in mind.

For low maintenance you could consider planting an evergreen shrub or climbing plant that will also flower. You can get evergreen clematis that you could train against the wall or a larger shrub like Viburnum tinus that is evergreen, flowers but is also easy to cut back to keep under control.

For planters I think the easiest things are herbs.... I have a large planter with lavender, thyme, sage and oregano. They're very easy to trim to shape, useful for the kitchen and don't mind if I forget to water them and they dry out a bit.

If you are only getting afternoon light, i would aim for stuff for shady conditions. An acer would like those condiitons or ferns, hostas, maybe a camelia? On the crocus webite you can biy a predesigned border for a shady area and rhey guarantee all the plants for a year.

Fuschia is a great low maintenance plant that flowers all summer. Get one called “hardy fuschia” so it lasts.

also ferns and Daphne and camellia. All low maintenance and good for shady spaces.

Perhaps post a pic of what is taking over so we can identify and give suggestions based on that. How is the soil? Clay?

I have found hostas very good in pots in our yard and the different coloured leaves give variety. Apart from tidying the leaves when they did back no effort at all