I have come to hear in my requests from customers that they want a “maintenance free” garden.   They talk about their jobs and schedule and say they have no time for gardening, but want things that flower and smell nice and look pretty all the time.

My reaction used to be, “Oh sure! No problem. We can work out a plan.”  Then I would go down the mental list of plants that needed no care and couldn’t think of one.

So now I pose the question. How did Americans come to use this term so widely and freely?  What does it mean…?” Maintenance free. “Does it mean you have the plants and let someone else water, mulch and clean up? Does it mean you have no plants at all, or plastic plants? Or does it mean you ignore the plants and declare them maintenance free.

I remember reading a management book once when they were discussing the best way to fire an employee .  It was not by giving them tough assignments.  It was not by constantly berating them.  It was by ignoring them completely.  So how does the maintenance free garden flourish? It’s going to have to have something to do with me.

Christie lives in Manakin Sabot , Virginia where she manages a 3 acre garden. Her blogs are written from her 35 years as a personal and professional gardener.