plants for a rental

Recently my parents bought a small house. They are planning to rent it out. The garden is quite aged, with overgrown plants. It had me thinking: how do you design a garden for a rental property? Clearly, the biggest issue is maintenance. You can’t expect those renting the property to maintain the garden. And you don’t want to be there every weekend monitoring watering systems, dead-heading flowers, pruning, dividing, transplanting, edging, or otherwise invading the private space of the renters.

That leaves (pun intended) plants that don’t bloom much or require much in the way of attention to irrigation - they'll have to survive wet or dry unless you have reliable water sensors. Growth rate is a two-edged sword. Slow growth requires less maintenance, but fast growers recover from damage more quickly, and make the landscape look established more quickly. A plant that grows quickly is also more likely to grow too large and need maintenance. It is also more likely to have brittle stems. Likewise, a slower growing plant may have tougher stems, but slower to outgrow damage.

Just as in any other planting design, there is not likely to be any one plant that embodies all of the perfect qualities desired for every situation. Faster growing plants would be useful in highly trafficked areas, such as parking lots and walkways, where damage is more likely to occur. You’ll want plants that recover well from the errant foot, pet damage, or the accidental dropping of a sofa, since people will be moving in and out with relative frequency. Slower growing and lower maintenance plants can be used where a car is less likely to run over it, yet be attractive over a long season with little attention.

Since rental properties are a money making venture rather than a pastime or passion, cost is the main issue. Cost is limited by using as few numbers of plant material as possible. This limits not only cost in plant stock, but also irrigation and maintenance such as pruning. The plants themselves should not cost very much, since replacement of some of the plants will be possible with every change of renters, either due to neglect, a faulty irrigation system, accidents, pet damage, or intent. Also, you’ll want something to cover ground, so that there will be less weed growth, either that or a mulch that is easy to maintain, and that doesn’t allow plants to seed in. Here in Albuquerque that leaves out gravel, which in this climate is the ideal seed bed for many plants such as chamisa, apache plume, and weeds.

When I see rental properties around town, it seems like the same plants are used everywhere. These plants are easily available, durable, relatively inexpensive, and tend to grow fairly quickly. These plant choices are not necessarily a bad thing. It is just that plant choices tend to be unimaginative and limited. It is more often that I see poor design.

Design is a big issue, since, as I look at and think about rental property garden design, it isn’t just the kinds of plants that are used, but how the plants are used. In large apartment complexes, there is usually very little space designated for plantings - intentionally. It’s a lot easier to maintain an asphalt road than a perennial garden, since the goal is to get as many apartments and parking spaces in each piece of land as you can in order to make as much money on that property as you can. This leaves little space for landscape. Houses that are rented out have default gardens: the plants that have survived after the homeowners have left it as a rental.

There can be some debate on the safety issues of plants in the rental property landscape. I see that many people use plants such as opuntia and agave, which are beautiful, low care, with low water needs. But I wonder what the legal ramifications are if someone falls (say, in a drunken stupor) in a patch of Agave havardiana? What if a pet suffers from eye damage from Stipa neomexicana? For those reasons, I’m steering clear of those plants, although I firmly believe that people living in this part of the country should have enough common sense to be careful around these kinds of plants and appreciate them for their local beauty. But that’s just my narrow opinion.

So here are a few plants that I think could be used more in rental properties.

Nolina microcarpa and N. texana - these native plants can survive with no water and won’t be damaged by the errant foot. Nolina microcarpa has six-foot (or more) flower stems, while N. texana’s purple flowers are hidden among the leaves. Mass plantings of N. microcarpa are dramatic. The nolina’s are my first choice for durability and drama, and appropriateness to this area.

Cercocarpus ledifolius and C. breviflorus. The mountain mahoganies are tough and though they don’t need water in the foothills, they can grow quickly with irrigation. Mine grew more than 3 feet this year with irrigation. Previous years, without irrigation it grew 3-6 inches. C. ledifolius is easy to find in local nurseries. Although C. breviflorus is native to the local foothills it is difficult but worth a search. I grew mine from seed I collected on a hike. Stratify through winter first, to germinate in the spring in peat-free mix. Protect seedlings from birds.

Juniperus scopulorum. The native Rocky Mountain juniper is tough and attractive. Prickly foliage like most junipers keeps people and animals from messing with it. Irrigation can be minimal or for faster growth, irrigate. Some beautiful forms are sold. ‘Moonglow’ is a blue conical variety that has the benefit of being female - so no pollen. These trees can get 20 feet tall and 15 feet wide with time, so site appropriately. Certainly, juniper as a genus is widely used in rental properties for durability and year-round appearance. The trick is to use them well, and I don’t consider a large monoculture of sheared groundcover junipers to be using them well.

Yucca glauca, Y. thompsoniana, Y. rostrata, Y. elata. Thought by some to be the same species on a continuum of sizes, Y. glauca forms stemless clumps, Y. thompsoniana grows very slowly with short leaves to 5 feet or more, Y. rostrata with longer leaves, and Y. elata to 20 feet or so with long leaves. All produce white flowers on long stems. These yuccas will give you a painful poke if you make the mistake of running into them, but won’t cause any real damage. If a plant gets trampled (unlikely except for very young plants), it will likely re-grow from the roots. Y. thompsoniana and Y. elata are fairly commonly used in older rentals around town.

Lavender and rosemary can be damaged by errant footfalls, but grow back surprisingly quickly if pruned back. Lavender may need replacing periodically.

Grasses are a terrific choice, tolerating errant foot steps and needing little care. Most need trimming once a year in early spring. Calamogrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’, and Muhlenbergia capillaris are commonly used, but there are other good choices as well. Muhlenbergia rigens (deergrass) develops into a fountain of light-catching spikes. Although it is often cut back severely in the spring, it doesn’t really need it except for rejuvenation and elimination of old and dead stems. Its close relative M. lindheimeri produces gold spikes in the fall, and will need a good trimming in the spring. I’ve become fond of Sporobolus airoides for its graceful feathery appearance and iron-tough constitution. Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans) is a native plant that is similar and just as lovely as feather reed grass. I wish I’d see the white puffs of Andropogon barbinodis (cane beard grass) in landscapes, but it’s probably to lax in form for plug-n-play use. Unless it is sited properly, a more compact or upright form will need to be found. Although I like the panicums, and the genus is native to New Mexico as well as much of the eastern U.S., the cultivars seem to need a bit more water than I prefer (originating primarily in wetter climates), and remind me of the midwest rather than New Mexico.

Certainly there are many more options, both native and non-native that would work for a rental garden. I’ll probably kick myself for not thinking of them. Suggestions welcome.