5 Important Things to Have a Worry-Free Yard

What’s your biggest worry right now? If you don’t want to say it out loud, write it down on a piece of paper. 

If you wrote down “I’m wanted by the CIA,” sorry, we can’t help you. And maybe you shouldn’t be using your precious time reading landscaping blogs. 

If you jotted down “I’m spending way too much time working on my yard,” you’re in luck. 

Your yard should be a tranquil, welcoming place to escape your worries — not a space that causes you worries.

What elements do you need for low- maintenance landscape design?

Take a look. (And if the CIA calls, we never saw you.)

1. Trust Your Irrigation to Pros

This is number one for a reason. Without water, everything dies.

Sure, you can turn your sprinklers on and off. But here in Sarasota, watering is more complicated than that, with our on and off rainy periods and sometimes wacky temperature changes.
 
Your irrigation system’s controller needs adjusting 6-8 times a year to allow for all that. Sometimes, three times in one month. 

Do you really want to keep track of all that? 

And there’s more. Stuff happens out there. 
Neglect your irrigation system, and entire zones might fail. Valves break. Heads get clogged. Worries multiply.

Regular irrigation system inspections means worry-free peace of mind for you. It’s a crucial part of a low-maintenance landscape. 

You’ll know irrigation pros are keeping an eye on things, noticing small signs of potential problems before your precious landscaping suffers. 

Regular irrigation maintenance keeps the water flowing for healthy, thriving landscaping. 

2. Did Somebody Say Artificial Turf?

As local watering restrictions get stricter, artificial turf looks more and more appealing.

It’s the ultimate front yard low-maintenance landscape. 

We’re talking about a green expanse of beautiful lawn that never needs mowing, fertilizing, or watering. 

Bye, pests and lawn disease. So long, chemical fertilizers. See ya, worrisome watering and maintenance. 

Hello, perfect private putting green.

If you’re wrinkling your nose right now, remembering your grandma’s weird astro turf, this isn’t your grandma’s fake lawn.

Today’s artificial turf is fuller, softer to the touch and more closely resembles real grass.

Sound too good to be true? It’s pretty good. But not perfect. 

Artificial grass is installed over a base of crushed, compacted stone. That means it can get hot  — especially in steamy Sarasota summers. 

So you might end up watering your fake grass to keep it cool. So not exactly no-maintenance landscaping. But hey — no mowing. 

3. Low-Maintenance Landscaping Plants

Some plants, if they could talk, would soothingly reassure you that everything’s fine.

“No worries, dude — we’re good!”

They don’t need much water. They’re sturdy. They look great without a ton of tending. 

Who are these magical low-maintenance landscape plants?
Meet four new friends:

African Iris

Hey, there, Iris, thanks for being so cool.

First off, she’s pretty, boasting a six-petal white flower with a smaller four-petal blue-purple flower that emerges in its center. Add bright yellow accents running down the center of the white petals and you have a low-maintenance landscape beauty that actually looks high maintenance. 

But there’s more — a long season of bloom, vigorous growth habit, and relatively low maintenance. Plan on many years of worry-free blooms and — bonus — you can divide it and share with your pals, making you even more popular than you already undoubtedly are.

Sago Palm

This guy is kind of tricky — it’s not technically a palm.

These palm lookalikes with long green fronds are actually cycads, a group of ancient tropical and subtropical plants.

But that doesn’t matter here. What matters is that they’re no-worry additions to your low-maintenance landscape design.

They’re extremely slow-growing, gaining only a few inches each year. After several years, they may reach 2 to 3 feet. 

Give it bright light and occasional fertilizer, and that’s about it. It even naturally sheds its lower leaves as it grows.

Coontie

Don’t hold its weird name against it. 

This cool native Florida plant looks like a small fern, about one to three feet tall. It has stiff, glossy, featherlike leaves attached to a thick, short, underground stem.

It’s drought tolerant and offers a fun bonus — it’s the favorite food of the larvae of the rare Atala butterfly. This rare butterfly, once thought to be extinct, is making a comeback thanks to the popularity of Coontie in Florida landscaping. 

Ixora

If you feel like you’ve seen this beauty mentioned here before, you’re right. We love Ixora. And thanks for paying attention. 

This sun-loving shrub offers clusters of tubular flowers in bright red, orange, yellow, pink, or white.

Ixora flowers throughout the year, and each flower cluster can last between six and eight weeks, giving your landscape long-lasting color. And it doesn’t even need pruning — perfect for your low-maintenance landscape design.

4. Get a Great Residential Landscape Maintenance Program

Let’s face it, lawn is high maintenance. Tackle all the tasks yourself, and you don’t exactly have a worry-free yard. 

But, hand over the pesky chores to a great landscaping company that specializes in high-end turf care and all the other elements of a healthy and well-tended yard, and you can rest easy. 

You want a tailored lawn care program with perfectly timed fertilizer and weed control. Add shrub trimming and plant health care for a worry-free low-maintenance landscape. (Well, low maintenance for you. We’ll be working our butts off.)

5.  Add More Hardscape

We’re not suggesting you cover your yard in concrete. That’s called a parking lot, and you don’t need a bunch of weirdos parking in your yard.

But expertly designed hardscape can cut down on yard maintenance while magically creating outdoor space that you’ll use and love. It actually makes your yard much more people-friendly. 

We’re working on a low-maintenance landscape design right now that incorporates three pretty paver patios, each designed for a different use and connected by walkways. Areas of artificial turf add a lush green counterpart for softness. 

One patio for lounging includes a charming pergola and a seating area with an L- shaped couch. 

The second patio is right outside the kitchen, perfect for a dining table for outdoor meals and entertaining. 

The third patio is circular and features a fire pit and a cluster of inviting Adirondack chairs. 

Another circular stone area boasts a relaxing hammock strung between two pretty palms. 

Ultimately, the yard will be half hardscape, creating a perfect low-maintenance landscape design.

Ready for Low-Maintenance Landscape Design? Talk to Us 

A great-looking yard takes a lot of work. If you do it all, you won’t have time to enjoy it. Makes no sense, right? 

Our landscape design and build teams can create the backyard tropical paradise you crave. Then, our residential maintenance team can keep it healthy and thriving. 

Let’s get started. We’ll help you figure it all out. 

Give us a call or fill out our form today! Our team of Sarasota designers can’t wait to design the perfect outdoor haven for your backyard or vacation rental property.