You want beautiful trees, plants and shrubs in your yard, but you don’t want a chore list every weekend.
What plants are best for low maintenance? There are lots of beauties, from Idaho native plants like fiery burning bush and bird favorite coneflower to easy-care varieties with cool names like zebra grass and ‘Tiger Eyes’ sumac.
When it comes to planting native plants in Boise and Idaho Falls, we’re truly fortunate. There’s a substantial list, and you might want them all.
Jump to Section
- The Benefits of Idaho Native Plants
- The Best Low-Maintenance Trees in Boise
- Tough, Low-Maintenance Shrubs
- Easy-Care Perennials for Idaho Falls
- The Best in Low-Maintenance? Ornamental Grasses
- So Many Low-Maintenance Plants! Now What?
What should you plant in Boise, Idaho? Landscape designers Kim Rubert and Kirk Jeppesen from Outback share a few of their preferred low-maintenance plants.
The Benefits of Idaho Native Plants
What plants are best for low maintenance? Native plants often steal the show.
Native plants are from here, so they’re automatically at home. They need less water, fertilizer, and maintenance, plus they help pollinators and attract wildlife. Using Idaho native plants is a big win.
Native plants also help our pollinator pals. Bees, especially, are having a tough time out there, dying from a variety of factors, including pesticides, drought, habitat destruction, air pollution, global warming and more.
Many of the plants we’ll share here are natives, but not all.
Some plants are called “adaptive,” which means they didn’t originate here, but they’ve been here long enough to get used to the place, so they’re happy and healthy here in Idaho. That means you have an even wider selection of Idaho low-maintenance plants.
What plants grow best in Idaho?
Let’s get to some choices you’ll love:
The Best Low-Maintenance Trees in Boise
What makes a tree low-maintenance? It’s drought resistant, needing little water once established. It resists pests and diseases, needs little pruning, can grow in various conditions, and doesn’t drop messy debris.
What trees are best for low maintenance? Jeppesen loves evergreens since they serve a purpose in the landscape throughout all the seasons, “offering a nice winter framework when everything else dies back.”
Check out these Rubert and Jeppesen favorites:
Swedish Aspen
Hardy and with pretty fall color, Swedish Aspen has rounded leaves that rustle in the breeze, adding a soothing sound to enjoy from your patio.
It’s narrow and great for small spaces if you need that. It tolerates drought and poor soil and needs minimal pruning. Unlike other aspen varieties, this one produces no annoying fluff to clog your window screens.
Arborvitae
Arborvitae are a classic choice. They don't require extensive pruning or care, and there are so many varieties to choose from, so you’re sure to find one you like.
Jeppesen loves ‘Green Giant’ arborvitae, a vigorous, fast-growing evergreen that can grow as much as 3 feet per year—perfect if you’re in a hurry.
Autumn Brilliance’ Serviceberry
A smaller tree, this beauty offers showy white flowers in spring and pretty purple berries in June that birds love. Its glossy blue-green leaves turn brilliant red-orange in autumn, adding multi-season interest.
‘Baby Blue’ Spruce
The silvery-blue hue of this semi-dwarf cultivar isn't found on many other evergreens, and it stands up well to extreme cold, high wind, snow, salt — even hungry deer. What plants grow best in Idaho? This is a no-worry addition to your list.
Chanticleer Pear
This pretty pear has white blooms but produces little to no litter, so it’s great for keeping things tidy anywhere.
It blooms in April and May, and its leaves turn orange to red-purple in the fall.
Tough, Low-Maintenance Shrubs
Shrubs are real workhorses in your landscaping, but that doesn’t mean you want to be a workhorse.
What plants are best for low maintenance? Any of these striking shrubs:
Burning Bush
This native shrub is as impressive as it sounds. Its fiery, scarlet hue in the fall makes it a stunning hedge.
Ivory Halo Dogwood
Prized for its colorful stems, variegated foliage, and compact size, this dwarf dogwood has brilliant red winter stems and showy, light green leaves with creamy white margins.
Oregon Grape
These low-maintenance native plants with glossy, holly-like leaves offer yellow flowers in late spring and attractive dark blue berries.
Ninebark
What plants are drought tolerant in Idaho? Ninebark, for one. Rubert loves this great medium-sized Idaho native shrub, which will show off clusters of pretty white flowers in late spring and light rose fall color and is drought tolerant.
The ‘Diablo’ variety will wow you with stunning deep purple foliage.
‘Gold Mound’ Spirea
This spirea adds great color to your landscaping. It has vibrant golden spring foliage, clusters of pink flowers that don’t need pruning, and bright yellow-orange foliage in the fall.
‘Tiger Eyes’ Sumac
This sumac’s striking foliage features deeply cut, almost lacy yellow leaves. In autumn, the leaves turn a brilliant scarlet-orange layer over the yellow—almost luminous.
Fuzzy-looking, purplish-pink stems contrast with the lemony foliage. Even the branches are pretty, offering winter interest.
Easy-Care Perennials for Idaho Falls
Trees and shrubs are landscaping mainstays, but perennials bring the party, offering color and texture that make your garden pop.
Some of the flowers on this list are so pretty that they look precious and fragile. Nope. These are all low-maintenance beauties the Outback pros love.
Scotch Bluebell
What to plant in Boise, Idaho? This Idaho native is as pretty as it sounds, with clusters of bright blue bell-shaped flowers on a compact plant that will happily spread. It blooms for a solid four to six weeks.
Coneflower
What plants are drought tolerant in Idaho?
Add coneflower to your list. The ultimate easy-going plant, coneflower thrives in full sun and partial shade. Birds, bees and butterflies love it. Pick your favorite color, from purple or pink to white, yellow and orange. Plant them in masses for a real show.
P.S. Leave the tasty seed heads to make your neighborhood birds happy.
Columbine
These Idaho native plants easily impress with delicate red and yellow bell-like flowers that hummingbirds and other pollinators love.
Shasta Daisy
What’s not to love about a classic daisy with its cheerful yellow and white blooms? It attracts butterflies. It’s deer and rabbit resistant. It’s drought tolerant. And it’s super sturdy.
Black Eyed Susan
These charming, carefree Idaho native plants have daisy-like flowers, dark centers, and vivid golden petals. They start flowering in midsummer and continue until the temperature drops well below freezing in the fall.
Daylilies
These bright beauties with trumpet-shaped flowers might fool you. They look fussier than they are. And they’re working hard out there — once fully grown, a daylily's leaves are so thick they tend to shade out surrounding weeds.
Disease is rare, too. Daylilies can tolerate flooding or drought. They’re happy in full sun or partial shade. Here’s your challenge: there are 35,000 different varieties.
Hosta
What should you plant in Boise, Idaho? You can’t go wrong with hostas. The challenge lies in choosing which varieties to select. Leaf colors encompass variegated white, lime green, and blue-green. The texture and shape of hosta leaves are also varied, ranging from smooth and narrow to ridged and heart-shaped.
The Best in Low Maintenance? Ornamental Grasses
What plants are best for low maintenance? Rubert loves the sturdy quality of ornamental grasses. Dogs? Kids? The guy who has to get to your gas meter? No problem. They hold up. Plus they add intriguing texture, movement, and a softness to your Boise landscaping.
A few Outback Landscape favorites:
Karl Foerster Grass
This easy-care ornamental grass tolerates most soil or light conditions and has no serious pest or disease problems. It also looks great year-round.
Spring brings fresh green leaf blades. During the summer, feathery, pinkish plumes appear. Tan seed heads form in the fall, drying out and lasting through winter.
Zebra Grass
Zebra grass is a striking variegated grass with interesting yellow horizontal stripes. It grows about 5 to 8 feet tall and 4 to 6 feet wide. In late summer, watch for a pale pink plume to emerge.
Blue Oat Grass
What to plant in Boise, Idaho? This blue-hued ornamental grass is a stunner. Its blue-green foliage tapers to a point and is topped with flowers tipped with golden, oat-like seed heads. Blue oat grass keeps its attractive light brown fall color right through the winter.
So Many Low-Maintenance Plants! Now What?
So many choices! You’re in plant-lover heaven, right?
But before you settle on your perfect low-maintenance plants, ensure they’ll thrive in your yard’s conditions, including the amount of sunlight.
Also, a quick pro design tip: Mixing trees, shrubs, perennials, and grasses adds interest and texture and can help create planting beds with four-season appeal.
Professional designers like Rubert and Jeppesen can help with all this and ensure that all your low-maintenance plants complement each other and your house.
How to Choose Low-maintenance Idaho Plants? Trust Outback
What plants are best for low maintenance? You have lots of choices. Now partner with a landscaping company that’s an expert in planting and native plants in Boise and Idaho Falls.
Outback pros will help you choose low-maintenance plants that thrive in your soil and light conditions, look great in your landscaping, fit your space, and make you happy whenever you look at them.
We’d love to help.
Outback Landscape is a full-service landscaping company offering landscape design in Boise and Idaho Falls. We install beautiful, functional landscapes and stay with you for the long haul, taking care of your property through all four seasons.
We serve residential and commercial properties in Idaho Falls, Rexburg and Pocatello, Idaho, and Bonneville, Madison and Bannock counties. Call us at 208-656-3220 or fill out the contact form to schedule a no-obligation meeting with one of our team members. We can’t wait to hear from you.
Image Sources | Arborvitae, Chanticleer Pear, Red Twig Dogwood, Coneflower, Daylily