6 Cheapest Plants for Lazy and Inexperienced Gardeners

Yes, it is possible – provided you choose the right plants.

Many beginners impulsively buy everything colourful at the garden centre, then wonder why only brown stems remain a few weeks later. The wrong position, an overlooked watering can or poor soil need not spell the end of every gardening ambition. By choosing a few exceptionally dependable, inexpensive varieties, you can create a bed that largely looks after itself while flowering for many months.

Create a long-flowering bed with little effort

The key is to use hardy perennial plants that return each year, spread and forgive minor care mistakes. Rather than trying ten different divas from the garden centre, beginners need only a handful of proven reliable performers.

A selection of just a few inexpensive perennials can keep a bed colourful for almost the entire year – without replanting every spring.

The effect of a so-called flowering relay is particularly appealing: different plants take over as each other's flowering period ends. As one variety fades, the next is already beginning. This leaves scarcely any gaps in the bed, even if you are not constantly planting new flowers.

The 6 cheapest helpers for lazy and inexperienced gardeners

For a first bed that is low-maintenance and affordable, six plants stand out as particularly worthwhile choices:

• Hardy geranium (Geranium, perennial)
• Crocus
• Hellebore (Christmas rose/Lenten rose)
• Coral bells (Heuchera)
• Bugleweed
• Common ivy

All six are available from DIY shops and garden centres as small pots or bulbs, and generally cost far less than unusual rarities. Many can later be divided or propagated from offshoots at no cost.

1. Hardy geranium: a flowering carpet from May into autumn

Perennial Geranium varieties rank among the most reliable perennials available. They form bushy growth, cover the ground and, depending on the variety, continually produce fresh flowers from May to October.

• suitable for sun to light partial shade
• tolerates the occasional dry spell
• suppresses weeds with its dense foliage

Cutting the plants back in summer after their first flowering often encourages a second flush. Dividing the clumps after a few years gives you free new plants for other beds or the front garden.

2. Crocuses: colour when everything else is still grey

Crocuses are among the year's earliest bursts of colour. From February, they push through the cold soil, bringing yellow, white or purple to the still-bare garden.

They grow from small corms planted in autumn, making them ideal for beginners who would like a surprise in spring. Once established, they reappear year after year, often in greater numbers as the corms divide over time.

3. Hellebore: winter flowers with frost resistance

Christmas roses and Lenten roses, both hellebore types, bring life to a bed in the middle of winter. According to the variety, they flower from December to March – precisely when most gardens appear to be in hibernation.

They prefer partially shaded positions, such as beneath deciduous shrubs. Their special quality is that, while frost still lingers above ground, they keep their flowers bravely open. Once settled in, they remain in the same spot for many years.

4. Coral bells: leaf colour rather than masses of flowers

Heuchera varieties are valued less for showy flowers than for their foliage. Varieties are available in deep purple, lime green and almost copper-red. This provides colour throughout the year, even when no flowers are visible.

Coral bells are especially suited to partially shaded corners where other flowers quickly give up. A few years after planting, the clumps can be divided and distributed across several places in the garden.

5. Bugleweed: ground cover to keep weeds at bay

Bugleweed spreads across an area with runners, filling bare patches in the bed. Its blue-purple flower spikes in spring attract bees, while its close foliage stops unwanted weeds from gaining a foothold.

To keep it under control, simply cut away surplus runners with a hand trowel. These rooted pieces can be replanted straight away elsewhere – giving you free plants as well.

6. Common ivy: a green saviour for difficult spots

Common ivy is remarkably tough: it copes with shade, dry corners and even troublesome places by walls or beneath old trees. Used as ground cover, it creates a permanently green display; as a climber, it can conceal unattractive walls.

A clear boundary stops it from taking over everything: cutting it back with shears once a year is usually enough. Cut runners that have already rooted can easily be planted again.

How these plants create a year-round bed

The real strength of this combination is its sequence through the seasons:

Plant	Main flowering period	Particular strength
Hellebore	December–March	Flowers in deep winter, frost-hardy
Crocus	February–March	Early splash of colour, inexpensive bulbs
Geranium (perennial)	May–October	Long flowering period, dense carpet
Coral bells	May–July (depending on variety)	Ornamental foliage, colourful leaves
Bugleweed	April–June	Ground cover, good for insects
Ivy	inconspicuous, partly autumn	evergreen, suited to shady positions

This creates a chain of highlights: hellebores in winter, followed immediately by crocuses, then bugleweed and coral bells, before hardy geranium takes over from May, accompanied by evergreen ivy.

Anyone who combines these six plants cleverly will enjoy fresh accents of colour again and again from winter into autumn – with a minimal number of plants.

More garden for less money: how to save when buying plants

To prevent the budget from getting out of hand, it pays to think carefully about how you shop:

• Choose small pots over large containers: Young plants in 9 cm pots are significantly cheaper and soon catch up with larger specimens.
• Favour perennial plants: Buy once and benefit for years – especially with Geranium, Heuchera, hellebore and ivy.
• Buy bulbs in nets: Crocuses are often sold in autumn as mixed-value packs.
• Divide rather than buy again: Lift older perennials after 3–4 years, split them and replant the sections.

Dividing is particularly rewarding with hardy geranium and coral bells. In time, one plant can become five or more, without another visit to the garden centre.

How to protect your budget bed from cats and birds

Few things are more frustrating than cats digging in a newly planted bed or blackbirds pulling young plants from the soil. Taking a few preventive steps can save you from having to replace plants later.

Garden experts recommend, among other things, a simple kitchen trick: scatter a little cayenne pepper around vulnerable areas. Its pungent smell keeps many animals at a distance without harming the plants. The effect relies on deterrence rather than poison – a purely mechanical, natural method.

Other straightforward measures can help too:

• place small twigs around newly planted perennials
• loosely lay mesh over bulb plantings until they emerge
• avoid leaving freshly dug soil exposed; mulch it straight away

Practical tips for beginners with little time

Anyone who genuinely spends very little time outdoors should plan the bed accordingly from the outset. A few basic rules make all the difference:

• Fewer varieties, more plants of each: It is better to plant several of each of the six recommended plants than ten different single specimens.
• Allow generous spacing: Ground covers such as bugleweed and ivy will grow into the gaps; empty spaces look normal at first.
• Water only while plants establish: Water regularly in the first few weeks, then mainly during heatwaves.
• Tidy up once a year: Cut back old growth in spring, and that is it.

The term “perennial” often confuses beginners: it refers to plants that do not disappear after one season but grow again for years. Almost all the plants listed here are exactly this kind of long-term resident – a clear advantage over short-lived seasonal bedding plants.

If you later want to do more, this robust framework is easy to expand: add a few ornamental grasses, tuck some tulip bulbs among the crocuses, perhaps include lavender in sunny corners, and gradually create an individual garden that impresses even with a modest budget and little spare time.