Wild about wildflower gardens

Grow an eco-lawn
Add a section of easy-to-care-for eco-lawn to your yard if you're currently all paved over, or dread replenishing your existing brown patch of high-maintenance grass. Eco-lawns of lush fescue grasses need minimal watering, no fertilizer, and can either be left unmown (the 9-inch blades of grass will simply flop over for a lush roughly four-inch-high carpet of soft grass) or, if you prefer the mown look, can be cut just once a month. Lawns help reduce water runoff from rain and absorb summer heat, as well as providing a soft play area for kids.

Buy a rake … and a cushy lounger
Say buh-bye to constant gardening, says Paul Jenkins, "Once mature, the only maintenance required is to cut the previous year's growth to the ground in early spring and rake off the debris." Other than that, you'll want to snip bouquets for your home throughout the blooming season, then kick back and enjoy your stress-free garden while you read a good book.

Catch the trend
Don't let the low-maintenance thing fool you: these gardens are beautiful and trendy, not just easy to care for and environmentally responsible. The hot flora that will catch passerby's eyes include:

• Butterfly weed, purple and yellow coneflower, ox-eye sunflowers, prairie smoke, meadow blazing star, bergamot, smooth penstemon, black-eyed Susan, wood poppy, trilliums.

• Native grasses like little bluestem and prairie dropseed

Get ready to save money on plants!
A wildflower garden of long-living perennials will self-seed, meaning good-bye seasonal wallet-busting lawn center trips, and hello . . . spa allowance/patio furniture upgrades/swanky dinners/fill in the blank.

Chat about gardening tips with other readers in our forums.

Read more in Homes and Gardens