The most inspirational gardens of the world are full of no-fuss plant varieties. Decades of trialling varieties suitable to the local area has resulted in survival of the toughest and the outcome is a low maintenance garden to world standard. We can take the lessons learnt from professional gardening teams and transform the average suburban garden into an exceptional one that will have friends, family and neighbours wondering how it’s done.

When selecting plant species for the garden it’s important to consider the life of the plant variety, because this is where many gardeners come unstuck. Garden centres are enticing places and instant gardens are the legacy of the modern family. Fast growing highly floriferous varieties will look stunning for the first year or two, then often decline and remain straggly for a couple of years requiring high maintenance to keep them looking acceptable. The slower growing varieties are ignored in favour of instant flowers. It’s these slower growing varieties we should all be planting. They take a little longer to become established, remain looking good for many years and definitely require minimal care to keep them in tip top shape.