Home » Home » How to Simplify or Downsize Your Gardens

How to Simplify or Downsize Your Gardens

Do you have a large flower garden that’s becoming too overwhelming to maintain? We’re all about flower gardening here at Gingham Gardens – it’s our jam, and it’s what we do! That being said, if you’re feeling stressed and gardening is becoming too much of a chore, it may be time for you to start thinking about taking the steps to simply or downsize your gardens.

Reasons to Simply or Downsize Your Gardens

There are many different reasons why you may need to simplify or downsize your gardens:

  • Over the years you’ve been overzealous with adding new garden beds to your property.
  • Perhaps you are in a new house that has lots of gardens and more than you can handle.
  • Maybe you’re in a season of life where you need to simplify. 
  • Perhaps you’re not quite ready to give up gardening altogether but are starting to feel stressed with what you have.
  • Years ago you decided to reduce your lawn size and turn it into garden and now you’re regretting that choice.

If any of those statements describe your situation, read on for some practical solutions and tips on how to downsize or simplify your gardens. As an added bonus, we’ll also discuss downsizing and simplifying vegetable gardens and container gardens.

Confession… or disclosure: The images in this article are of high-maintenance gardens that need to be simplified or downsized. Hopefully someday, we will be able to share simplified or downsized gardens.

This post contains affiliate links. If you click on
one of the links and make a purchase,

I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.
See full disclosure here.

A large flower garden in how to simplify or downsize a large garden.
Large perennial bed at Gingham Gardens in need of downsizing.

Making Preparations to Downsize a Large Flower Garden

The first thing that needs to be done is to assess the different areas of your yard and gardens. So grab a pad of paper, a clipboard and a pencil. We’re going to head outdoors and take a look around your garden(s) and access it.

Plants to Keep

Take a good look at your garden and identify which plants you want to keep. If it helps you, go ahead and make a list of all the plants you have in the garden you assessing.

Perennial plants you want to keep will include easy-care perennials that bloom for more than 4 weeks but don’t require much maintenance, like pruning or deadheading. Start making a list of perennials you want to keep.

Do you have favorites that don’t fit the parameters above, but that you just really want to keep? Add those to your list.

What about Plant Collections?

Consider downsizing plant collections. For me this is daylilies. I have well over 100 different varieties of daylilies and I love them. But, do I really need over 100 varieties? No! (Ouch, that hurt!) And, deadheading daylilies is a daily chore. Rather than have so many varieties, why not select the ones I love and eliminate the ones I don’t. Do you have a plant collection of a certain perennial that you can reduce to a manageable collection?

Plants to Remove

Now, in the same manner, go through and make a list of plants you want to remove. Are there overgrown plants that need to be divided, or removed altogether? Add those to your list. If it helps, make a separate list of the plants that need dividing.

When I started making over all the overgrown flower beds at our fixer-upper home, I wasn’t sure what would grow and I tend to be a plant-oholic, so I didn’t make the best plant choices. Oftentimes, I would purchase one plant just to try it out.

If you find yourself in that situation too, it might be a good idea to eliminate some of those single plants. If some of those experiments turned out to be good ones, go ahead and add more of that plant variety for a group or mass planting. Large groupings of the same type of flower can add a more cohesive look to a flower garden and make maintenance easier.

Are there perennials that are overly aggressive and invasive, and too much work to stay on top of? Add those to your list of plants to remove. I suggest disposing of these plants and not giving them away. You don’t want to give your problem plants to another gardener.

A large flower garden in how to simplify or downsize a large garden.
Add a low maintenance path to breakup a large flower garden.

How to Lower the Maintenance of Large Perennial Beds

Now, think about the maintenance of your flower garden. Is it more than you can handle?

Think about an irrigation plan that will fit your budget. If you have the budget, consider having a sprinkler system installed for your flower gardens. If a sprinkler system is not in your budget, consider adding drip irrigation or soaker hoses yourself. As a last resort, set up a sprinkler that will water your entire garden and put it on a timer.

Do you have a weed problem that you can’t keep up with? First of all, if you keep on top of weeds, they aren’t a problem, but if you’re coming here for help, that’s not a good answer. Mulch goes a long way to help keep weeds at bay in a garden. Check out How to Deal With Weeds in Your Garden for more helpful tips.

Consider the shape and size of your flower bed. Is it feasible to make the bed smaller or scale it back?

This is also a good time to assess if you have the right kinds of plants in the right place. For instance, do you have plants that prefer shade in a full sun spot? Or plants that prefer more sun in a shady place?

Do you plant lots and lots of annual flowers every year? Think about replacing your favorite annual flowers with perennials. Not only does this eliminate the need to plant all those annuals every year, but you may find that the overall maintenance is less too.

This post has some excellent tips for creating a lower maintenance flower garden. Stop by and read it when you finish up here.

A large flower garden in how to simplify or downsize a large garden.

Make a Garden Plan to Simplify or Downsize Your Garden

Now that you’ve assessed your garden and made a list of the plants you want to keep and a list of the plants you want to remove, it’s time to devise a plan. Take some time to sit down and put your plan to paper. If you have the budget, consider hiring a landscape designer or garden designer to come up with a new plan for you.

Local garden centers will often have garden experts available that will draw up a plan for you and help you select plants. The fees at local nurseries are sometimes cheaper if you purchase any new plants from them.

This is a good time to decide if you want to completely start over with a new flower bed or perennial bed that is low maintenance. Would you rather just start over with a clean slate and choose the right plants this time around? If you are dealing with an overgrown flower bed, this might be easier. I’ve made over many flower beds and sometimes this is easier. This is a good read for tips on making over flower beds.

Save this pin to your favorite gardening board on Pinterest:

Images of large vegetable garden and flower garden with text overlay - Practical Solutions & Tips to Downsize or Simplify a Large Garden

Practical Steps to Downsize a Home Garden

Depending on the size of your space, use large-scale perennials, small shrubs, evergreens or small trees. A large perennial or shrub can be the perfect choice to take the place of several smaller perennials and thereby reduce your maintenance.

Be sure to pop over and check out Adding Shrubs to Your Flower Garden.

Add in perennials that are mainly grown for their foliage. Many of these require less maintenance and don’t need to be deadheaded. If you like them, add some ornamental grasses.

This may be the time to consider adding in some native plants. Not only are they low-maintenance, but they support local wildlife too.

In many cases, there are new varieties of your favorite perennials that are long blooming and well-behaved that you may want to consider to replace some of the unruly ones.

Create low-maintenance paths throughout your garden to reduce the planted area. Add a cozy outdoor space or garden room with a garden bench or seating area.

Add in some large field stones grouped together to take up space in large gardens.

More Tips for Simplifying A Garden

If you have multiple flower beds, consider consolidating them into one and turn the others back into lawn. Yes, it’s okay to convert flower beds back to lawns. I’m giving you permission! Lol!

Simplify Container Gardens

Reduce container gardens! There I said it! I have a flower addiction and that addiction overflows from my huge flower beds into too many container gardens. Container gardens are not low maintenance. Although they offer the perfect solution for those without much space. For those of us that have gone big with our gardens, they are just too much additional work.

I’m not saying that you have to give up container gardening but consider reducing the number of container gardens you have. Another good budget-friendly reason to reduce the number of containers you have is that annual flowers are expensive.

A large vegetable garden in how to simplify or downsize a large garden.

Downsizing a Large Vegetable Garden

This is a hard one because we can actually eat vegetables and provide our friends and family with fresh, healthy food. That being said, we gardeners can get carried away growing veggies and before you know it, we are growing more than we can take care of. Downsize your vegetable gardens to a few raised beds. Or, just stop growing veggies altogether. You can always buy fresh veggies at local farmers’ markets or join a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).

Switch your in-ground vegetable gardens to taller raised bed gardens. Raised beds are so much easier on the back and easier to maintain than traditional gardens. Flowers grow well in raised garden beds too.

I don’t believe you can just simplify or downsize a large garden or flower beds in one growing season. The best time of year to start this process is spring or fall. What you can do right now, is start the process with a plan. Put your ideas and plans on paper. Once you have a plan, you can start working towards your goal over the next few growing seasons.

Having just a small garden or perennial border may be just the thing you need to reduce stress and help you enjoy gardening again. What do you think? Are you ready to simplify your garden? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section below.

Happy gardening,
Joanna

More Great Things on Gingham Gardens

Sign up to receive our weekly newsletters full of gardening tips. You’ll also get access to our Gardening Resources Library and all our helpful gardening printables.

More places to find Gingham Gardens:

Save a pin to your gardening board on Pinterest, so you can remember this post later:

Colorful flower garden with text overlay - How to Downsize a Large Garden lots of practical tips and solutions