Easy to Grow Eco Friendly Plants for Landscaping Your Yard

One of the secrets of organic gardening is to use eco friendly plants to take care of landscaping problems naturally. Carefully selected plants can discourage pests, conserve water, reduce storm water runoff, reduce weeds, and can even cool the air around your home which saves electricity. My yard is filled with eco friendly plants, resulting in a lush landscaped paradise that is easy to maintain organically. Interested in easy to grow eco friendly plants for your yard? Here’s a list of my favorites:

Weed choking plants

To control weeds naturally, eco friendly landscaping plants such as periwinkle, creeping Oregon Grape, lamb’s ear, and winter creeper do a fabulous job of keeping weeds at bay in areas of shade. These also work particularly well in shrub and tree beds where not much else will grow. In sunny areas, the eco friendly bearberry, snow-in-summer, and sun rose are also very effective in choking out weeds. Incorporating weed choking plants in your landscape plan saves a gardener work, they also prevent the need for herbicides, and help to retain ground moisture which means less watering. These ground covers also prevent soil erosion in the sloped sections of your yard.

Pest resistant plants

Some plants (such as roses) naturally attract pests that need to be dealt with severely and frequently. An eco friendly garden is pesticide free and limits landscape plant choices to those that require little human intervention. In my yard, the plants that seem to be completely pest resistant include catnip, yarrow, chives, sage, lavender, thyme, russian sage, blue beard, onions, ornamental succulents, and native grasses. Artemisia, dahlia, and garlic are also known to repeal insects as well and are recommended for planting in vegetable and flower gardens.

Low water plants

Drought tolerant and heat resistant plantings allow an eco friendly gardener to use a minimal amount of water to keep the landscaping looking lush and colorful. I planted low water beds around my sidewalks, curbs, and “hot spots” around the yard in order to conserve water. High Country Gardens is the premier garden supplier for native flowers that grow in minimal water conditions with every plant in their catalog an eco friendly gardening choice. My favorites include the colorful agastache, tickseed, and purple ice plant.

Disease resistant and low water shrubs

Shrubs provide habitat to small animals and birds, reduce soil erosion, slow down water evaporation, and can cool down a yard. My favorite garden shrubs that are both low water and disease resistant include the columnar Euonymous, lilacs, Oregon Grape, bayberry, syringa, and the Honeysuckle bush.

Edibles

Part of being eco friendly is self sustainability. Growing one’s own organic produce is one way to save the environment by eliminating the need for packaging, processing, and transportation. If if all you can manage in your landscaping plan is a sour plum tree, a blackberry vine, or a couple of tomato plants, you are promoting energy conservation while doing some thing good for yourself.