amount of work versus enjoyment

which plants/flowers/shrubs in the garden gives you the most satisfaction in spite of little care given, and which the other way round..in spite of you spending hours sweeping petals, pruning, spraying pesticides the enjoyment you get from them is little.

The Eschscholzia californica has my vote, together with roses, fuchsias and amarantus...

 

My Rhododendrons are very low maintenance (except for when I have to deadhead them after flowering). The rest of the time they are trouble free and give me beautiful blooms

My dwarf Lilac is low maintenance too - again, I just deadhead it once a year.

 

The Budleiha Just sits there covered in blossom, Butterflies and Bees

Jack McH

 

Think it's got to be tomato plants for me....they're not any trouble really..just getting the 'robbers' off is only like dead heading...and for all i adore all our plant life there's nothing (to me) beats that first ripe tomatoes ,warm from the GH with some bread and butter...pure bliss

 

all my weeds
and clary sage (grows in drought and wet, the bracts smells nice of grapefruit, its good for the bees...) and all my herbs (they usually look after themselves too and nothing is nicer than getting out in the garden and its all there: salvia leaves for a tea or some chives for a salad, curly parsley for a soup, some rucola for a nibble..)

 

For me it's my pots of violas - whenever I go into the garden they always look like happy little faces and I end up smiling back at them until I remember I've gone outside to mow the lawn or another task!

 

Had to give this a bit of thought!

Polygala myrtifolia................



...............and Sollya heterophyla................



.............will both bloom non stop from late April until the first frosts.

Despite all my care (and kind words) my Passiflora alata has only produced one flower this year.................