Verbena. PHOTO PROVIDED BY UF/IFAS

If you’ve ever toiled in the garden in our Southwest Florida heat as I have, you’ve probably dreamed of plants that require less maintenance! It sometimes feels like plants here grow 24/7, requiring lots of attention and pampering to keep them in top form. But it is possible to have a low-maintenance garden and my goal is to provide you with some guidance for selecting undemanding plants that are suited for the conditions of your Southwest Florida landscape.

Low-maintenance plants by definition should require little irrigation, pruning, fertilization, or pest and disease control to remain healthy and attractive, and they should also not be categorized as invasive. Even though this might sound like a fantasy plant situation, the Miami-Dade County Extension Service has developed a list of more than 350 plants in 11 categories that meet these criteria. The list includes an illustrated database of individual plants with detailed information on sun, water and soil requirements, and growth characteristics, and can be found here: https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/miami-dade/landscapes–gardening/low-maintenance-landscape-plants-for-south-florida/

Here is a brief overview of the eleven categories which include many familiar plants; I have used common plant names rather than botanical names:

1. Perennials: Defined as plants that live three or more years, low-maintenance perennials include milkweed, ginger, verbena, porterweed, and several kinds of lilies.

2. Annuals: An annual is a plant that typically lives for one year or less; in South Florida most annuals are cool-season plants which are best suited to our winter months with lower temperatures and less rainfall. Recommended annuals include cosmos, sunflower, portulaca, black-eyed Susan, and ornamental sages (salvia).

3. Shrubs and Hedges: Shrubs are typically woody plants with multiple stems, and hedges are a row of closely planted shrubs; hedges may, however, require some pruning to maintain their form. Examples include sea grape, croton, buttonwood, jasmine, wax myrtle and firespike.

4. Flowering and Shade Trees: Recommended low-maintenance trees include gumbo limbo, red cassia, floss silk tree, jacaranda, slash pine and plumeria.

5. Fruit Trees: These trees are typically grown for their edible fruit and may require fertilizer and water during their fruiting periods. Easy-care fruit trees include jackfruit, longan, lychee, mango, avocado and tamarind.

6. Palms, Cycads and Palm-like Plants: This plant group is both tropical in appearance and low-maintenance, and includes Bismarck palm, cat palm, screw ‘pine’, pygmy date palm, and saw palmetto.

7. Ornamental Grasses: Ornamental grasses typically grow in clumps and flower annually on tall stalks. Examples include pampas grass, pink muhly grass, lemongrass, and mondo grass.

8. Groundcovers: These plants are commonly used to cover areas where grass will not grow, or to stabilize the soil. Groundcovers can be vines, annuals, perennials, or grasses, and include bromeliads, perennial peanut, railroad vine, Chinese juniper, and lilyturf.

9. Vines: Vines are plants that derive their support from climbing, creeping, or twining along a surface; vines can grow vertically as well as horizontally (as a groundcover). Recommended vining plants include bougainvillea, downy jasmine, passionflowers, cape honeysuckle, and allamanda.

10. Epiphytes: Epiphytes are plants that require support and grow on other plants or surfaces such as rocks. Epiphytes are not parasitic, but gather water and nutrients from the air, not the host plant. Epiphytes include orchids, staghorn ferns, night blooming cereus, Spanish moss, and air plants.

11. Herbs and Vegetables: While these food plants are not usually thought of as landscape plants, many have ornamental value. These plants include dill, rosemary, Mexican tarragon, and caper bush.

As you read through the list of eleven categories, I imagine that you were surprised at the variety of plants that are considered low-maintenance, and by your familiarity with many of these plants. Most of these low-maintenance plants are readily available in local garden centers and are not rare or expensive. If one of your resolutions for the New Year is to spend less time in the garden, consider incorporating some of these low-maintenance plants in your landscape!

Cathy Dunn is a Lee County Master Gardener Volunteer and a member of the Garden Club of Cape Coral. Visit us at www.gardenclubofcapecoral.com.