Garden Design Maine | Perennial Garden Designer in Limerick ME

Easy-to-Maintain Landscaping for New House

Easy-to-Maintain Landscaping for New Home in Saco

This landscaping project for a newly constructed home in Saco focused on softening recently installed hardscaping while creating a cohesive, low-maintenance planting design. The homeowner partnered with Garden Design Maine to develop a simple, spacious landscape that would complement the architecture of the home and require minimal ongoing care.

An additional priority for this project was incorporating plants that are, where possible, deer resistant—an important consideration for many Maine landscapes.

Three distinct garden areas were designed: the left front of the house, a courtyard garden at the front porch, and a planting bed along the side of the attached garage.

Garden Design Goals

The design for this new home landscape centered on balancing simplicity, structure, and durability. Key goals included:

Soften and complement newly installed hardscaping
Create a clean, spacious planting design with room for plants to mature
Select low-maintenance, easy-care perennials and grasses
Incorporate deer-resistant plants where possible
Ensure visual cohesion across multiple garden areas

Before the Garden Installation

As a newly built property, the landscape began as a blank slate with minimal planting to offset the hardscaped elements. While the hardscaping provided structure, the space lacked softness, texture, and seasonal interest.

The design challenge was to introduce plantings that would enhance the home’s exterior without overwhelming the space, while also ensuring the gardens would remain manageable and visually balanced over time.

Garden Design Concept

The overall planting design emphasizes simplicity, repetition, and thoughtful spacing. Each garden area is connected through a consistent palette of perennials and ornamental grasses, creating a unified look across the property.

Plants were selected for their durability, long bloom periods, and complementary foliage textures. The design allows for generous spacing between plantings, giving each element room to grow while maintaining a clean, uncluttered appearance.

Garden Areas and Planting Highlights

Each section of the landscape was designed to complement the home while serving a distinct visual role:

Front Left Garden Bed
This planting is anchored by a tall ornamental grass, creating height and movement. Dark-leafed hardy hibiscus (mallow) shrubs serve as bold focal points, surrounded by softer, airy plantings including ornamental oregano, gaura, and artemisia.

Courtyard Garden
With a “less is more” approach, this space features a restrained palette of pennisetum, coneflower, lavender, geranium, phlox, and chartreuse-leafed catmint. Generous spacing between plants enhances the sense of openness and allows each selection to stand out.

Garage-Side Planting
This area continues the design language of the courtyard, incorporating repeating elements such as creeping phlox, geranium, tall phlox, and coneflower. Reed grass is positioned beneath each window to create vertical accents, while artemisia softens the planting with its silvery foliage.

Plants Featured in This Low-Maintenance Landscape Design

The following perennials and ornamental grasses were selected for their durability, seasonal interest, and ability to thrive in Maine landscapes, while supporting a cohesive, low-maintenance and deer-aware planting design.