They say that as the gardening population ages, we’re looking for ways to make our gardens less labor intensive. Sounds good to me. I love the process of gardening, but I also love having time to sit and enjoy the fruits of my labor. A natural compromise that allows us to still have awe inspiring gardens, but with less fuss, is to incorporate more trees and shrubs; large plants that don’t require constant watering, weeding and deadheading.

Luckily breeders have been working overtime to come up with shrubs that provide more disease resistance and longer interest in the form of leaf shape, color, fruits, flowers, scent, bark and overall structure. In short, you don’t have to give up anything but effort. Take a look at the Top 10 Shrubs chosen by the folks at Spring Meadow Nursery who provide the ColorChoice and Proven Winner plants to your local nurseries. Photo of My Monet™ Weigela Courtesy of Proven Winners - www.provenwinners.com.