Want a low maintenance, easy care garden? Make sure you follow these three steps when choosing plants:
Decide how much open lawn area you need for children, pets, and recreation. Where possible, use low-maintenance groundcovers, shrubs, mulch, or other porous surfaces that allow water to infiltrate.
Design and maintain a yard that thrives predominantly on rainfall once plants are established.
Reduce the need for water, fertilizer, and pesticides by choosing plants suited to the site conditions in your yard.
Group plants according to their maintenance needs. Assess the amount of sun and shade, kind of soil and drainage, and select plants that will thrive in that location
Reduce yard waste by choosing plants that will not require frequent pruning when they reach maturity.
Following spacing guidelines when planting will give your plants room to grow and help reduce the need for pruning when they reach maturity.
Decrease soil erosion by planting groundcovers where lawn will not grow well, such as under trees or on steep slopes.
Save energy by using trees and shrubs to shade the eastern and western walls of your home.
Use deciduous trees or shrubs on southern exposures to allow sun to passively heat your home in winter.
Protect native plants and trees in your yard.
Natives are plants that were growing in the region prior to European settlement and can live and reproduce on their own.
Choose native plants and trees for your yard.
South Carolina Wildlife Foundation List of Native Plants
Avoid heavy traffic or storing equipment under mature trees and shrubs to help preserve established plant communities and prevent soil loss.
Protect as much mature native vegetation as possible when doing construction activities in your yard.
Protect your native shoreline plants. Never prune or remove vegetation at the water’s edge without first seeking proper guidelines.
If possible, install a buffer of native plants along your shoreline that is at least 2’ wide.
Invasive exotic plants are ones that are not native to our area and may displace native species and alter natural systems.
Learn to recognize invasive exotic plants - Click here for a list of exotic invasive plants.
Help stop the spread of invasive exotic plants by removing them from your yard.
Remove invasive exotic aquatic plants using proper guidelines. When using herbicides, remember the label is the law.
Right Plant, Right Place, Planting Natives, and Removing Invasives are three of the twelve principles for creating a Carolina Yard. Click here for more steps in creating a healthy landscape: Maintaining Healthy Soil and Recycling Your Yard Waste