What makes a low-maintenance plant?

A plant that suits the conditions and the site. It sounds simple enough, but putting a shade-loving plant in the sun or a plant that grows huge in a small space is going to create more work.

Something that will forgive a little neglect, especially a plant that can survive a dry spell. Most plants need a little help in their first year, but after that there are plenty that will thrive without additional water.

A plant that's slow growing or at least well behaved, so once it reaches a good size it doesn't start to take over the garden.

Something that looks good all year round so you can simply leave it alone.

What about a whole planting scheme, how can that be made low-maintenance?
Even plants that aren't necessarily low maintenance can be included if the way the planting is designed is smart.

If the soil is free of weeds it cuts down on the work and gives your plants the best start.

Go for a single type of plant and use lots of it, or (as in this garden) select just two or three different types of plants.

If you want a particular plant but can't find it, ask at a good nursery or garden centre and they may be able to get it for you, or at least suggest an alternative. The harder landscaping you have, the fewer plants, the lower the maintenance.

However many plants you choose, try to make sure they have the same requirements. For example, there are quite a few perennials that need cutting down at the same time in spring and you can do this very quickly with garden shears.

Make sure you have easy access to the plants, so if you have to do anything you're not fighting your way in.

Some people swear by covering the soil with black semi-permeable membrane before you do your planting. If weeds are a problem this can help, but the membrane tends to rise up at the edges and can look awful.

One of the ways to have low-maintenance plants is to have lots of structural evergreens and just a few spaces for the higher-maintenance, 'pretty' plants.

So what's high-maintenance planting?

Something that is, for example:

Tender - it keels over at the first sign of frost.

Thirsty - it needs watering once or twice a day in summer.

A plant that needs deadheading - as the flowers die, you have to remove them.

Only around for a short time - it needs replacing or cutting down at the end of its season.

Difficult to access.

This list pretty much sums up a hanging basket, the highest-maintenance few square inches of soil ever created by man. Hanging baskets and other containers are truly high maintenance, but because they're small, people feel in control and are happy to have them.

Which are the best plants for a dry garden?

If lack of water is a problem try these plants:

Lavenders

Rosemary

Artemisia

Sea hollies

Irises

Sedums

Grasses

Grasses

These are pretty low maintenance. Choose grasses that will keep standing through the winter and you only have to see to them once a year, when you cut them down to the ground in spring. Most common forms of Miscanthus, Stipa and Molinia will work here.

Bulbs

Once you've put a bulb in the ground your work is pretty much over. (I'd avoid daffodils; their leaves are too messy.) Scillas, Alliums, Camassias, snowdrops and cyclamens all look after themselves and come up looking good year after year.

Shrubs

Old fashioned but worth thinking about for low maintenance. Something like an Oregon grape will give winter colour and spring flowers. The strawberry tree is evergreen, slow growing with strawberry-like fruit in winter. Silver bush is an evergreen low-growing silver-leaved shrub with white summer flowers.

Lowest of the low

All of the following plants are evergreen and, given a good start and some nice soil, tend to look after themselves.

Black grass. This low-growing member of the lily family will slowly spread to cover an area.

Box. Slow growing, box will be happy in sun or shade. Its most common cause of death is lack of water.

Bamboo. Stick to Phyllostachys and you can pretty much leave the plant alone once it's settled.

Mind-your-own-business. It will try to spread but will neatly fill any gaps in the paving.

Olive. In sheltered sunny spots olive trees are perfect year-round performers. Slow growing, they can quite happily survive a summer drought.

Taken from 'Small Family Gardens: the step-by-step guide to creating stylish modern spaces' by Caroline Tilston (Wiley; Paperback Original; £14.99). Photos by Juliette Wade.