Keith Hansen

If you want to grab the attention of any gardener, just say "low maintenance."

Although gardening is one of America's favorite pastimes, we always are looking for ways to save time and reduce landscape maintenance chores so we can have more time to relax and enjoy the fruit of our gardening labors.

Of course, the term "low maintenance" may mean something entirely different to you than to your neighbor. You may view lawn care as a relaxing and enjoyable activity, while your neighbor thinks mowing the grass is one step short of torture.

You may have little interest in maintaining a vegetable garden while your neighbor's greatest joy may come from keeping a vegetable patch picture perfect and producing a bountiful, year-round crop.

Every landscape requires some degree of regular maintenance to keep it attractive and healthy. But unless you just really enjoy yard work, there's no reason to plant and maintain a yard that requires attention 24/7.

A key factor to lower maintenance is planning. It's also doing things at the proper time, and not being afraid to change situations that become awkward or require high maintenance. Regardless of the age of your landscape, there are many labor-saving shortcuts. Here are a few to consider:

The Urban Landscape Guide is an online database that lets you search for plants adapted for our area. The Guide ranks plants for their resource efficiency, listing first those with the best heat and pest tolerance, lowest water and fertilizer requirements, etc. You can find it at http://urbanlandscape-guide.tamu.edu and go to "Plant Selector.''

An excellent way to get more landscaping ideas for your own yard is to visit public gardens. The IDEA Garden, located in the southeastern corner of the Tyler Rose Garden, is a demonstration garden created by Smith County Master Gardeners. Besides having 12 months of beauty, it is a place where you can learn about new plants and ways of landscaping you might not have thought about.

And in the southwest corner of the Rose Garden is the Heritage Rose Garden, where a colorful and diverse display of old garden roses is complemented with a riot of color from perennials and annuals. This garden is also maintained by Smith County Master Gardeners.

Another great opportunity to learn about landscaping is by attending the Spring Home Garden Tour Saturday, May 3, sponsored by Smith County Master Gardeners and Texas AgriLife Extension.

Five home gardens, each unique and special, are on the tour this year. Don't miss this opportunity to see private gardens that are real gems and not normally open to the public.

Master Gardeners will be on hand at each garden to answer questions, rain or shine from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Tickets are on sale for $8 prior to the date of the tour at Brookshire's, 100 Rice Road, Tyler; The Potpourri House, 3320 Troup Highway, Tyler; Al H. Horaney's, Inc., 5520 Old Jacksonville Hwy, Tyler; and Blue Moon Nursery, 13062 FM 279, Edom.

Tickets also will be available $10 at each of the homes on the day of the Tour next Saturday. Detailed tour information is available at Smith County Master Gardener Web site (scmg.tamu.edu) in the "Home Garden Tour" section.

BEAUTIFUL SPOT: The colors are especially brilliant this time of the year in the IDEA Garden, located in the southeastern corner of the Tyler Rose Garden.
(Courtesy Photo/Keith Hansen)