desiGn and its relationshiP to Maintenance 23
Maintenance factors
A number of variables determine what level of maintenance a perennial will
require. Regional differences in climate and soil conditions dramatically affect a
plant’s performance. For example, ‘Moonshine’ yarrow (Achillea ‘Moonshine’) may
do beautifully in a northern garden but is considered high maintenance in a
southern garden, where it will melt out from the humidity. A perennial can be high
maintenance in one area because it grows like a weed, while in another region it
can be low maintenance because it grows at a modest pace. Then there are those
plants that are high or low maintenance no matter where they are grown. So the
“higher” and “lower” maintenance designations listed in the Perennials by Mainte-
nance Needs section should be considered general guidelines only.
To my dismay, the first perennials that a beginning gardener usually wants in
his or her border, often because of gorgeous pictures seen in English perennial
books, are high-maintenance traditional perennials, such as the Pacific Giant
This small (14 ft. × 17 ft.) garden,
located right next to a highly
traveled sidewalk, requires close
maintenance attention to keep
plants reblooming and
aesthetically pleasing all season
for the many passersby.