Think of your ideal, slow Sunday morning: maybe it includes soft light through the windows, coffee in hand, and nowhere else you’re supposed to be. The "Easy Sunday Garden" captures that same sense of calm and presence. It’s a garden that looks polished and abundant, yet never feels demanding. One that rewards you with beauty without requiring constant attention, pruning, or problem-solving.
(Above)Garden designer Barbara Hilty uses arching branches and vines to create a serene corner. All Gold Japanese Forest Grass adds a pop of color as the roses and hydrangea start to bloom.
This trend isn’t about gardening less; it's about enjoying more. It’s about designing smarter, choosing better plants, and creating a space that fits beautifully into real life. The result is relaxed elegance: a garden that feels classic, confident, and quietly luxurious, with just enough structure to feel timeless and just enough softness to feel inviting.
Why the "Easy Sunday Garden" Is Taking Off Right Now
The rise of the Easy Sunday Garden isn’t surprising when you consider how people are living today. Life is full of work, family, travel, commitments, stress, and constant news stories. Many gardeners simply don't have the time for landscapes that require constant oversight to look good.
There’s also a noticeable shift away from the idea that gardens need to be perfect or technically impressive. Overly fussy plant palettes, rigid designs, and high-maintenance beds are losing their appeal. In their place? Gardens that offer an emotional return on effort.
Homeowners want spaces that welcome them home at the end of the day. Gardens that still look good if you miss a week (or a month) of maintenance. Plants that mature gracefully, rather than peaking briefly and then demanding replacement or rescue.
The Easy Sunday Garden reflects a growing appreciation for longevity and restraint. Fewer plants, chosen thoughtfully. Reliable performers that settle in and improve with age. A garden that feels good to be in, even when you’re not actively “working” in it.
The Look: Relaxed Elegance
These gardens are layered and softly structured, with a sense of permanence and history, even when newly planted. You’ll often see a backbone of evergreen hedges or shrubs that quietly frame the space, creating calm and cohesion year-round. Within that structure, flowering shrubs and perennials add movement, romance, and seasonal interest.
The overall feeling is lived-in, not overdesigned. Plants are allowed to grow into their natural shapes. Edges aren’t razor-sharp. Paths invite strolling instead of marching. The palette is often restrained, including one or two primary colors, frequently anchored by white, to keep the garden feeling serene rather than busy.
Hydrangeas are perfect for playing a starring role, delivering clouds of bloom in spring and summer. Climbing roses soften fences, walls, or arbors with a touch of nostalgia and romance. Lilacs and spirea add old-fashioned charm, while evergreens quietly hold everything together. The result feels classic, dreamy, and grounded.
(Above) In the garden of Kathleen Fortune, Eden Climber® Rose and Toki Clematis cover an arbor.
The Plants That Define an Easy Sunday Garden
Plant choice is where this trend truly shines. Easy Sunday Gardens are built around plants that earn their place in the garden for years.
Easy-Sunday Plants: What to Look For
Dependable and long-lived
Beautiful across multiple seasons
Forgiving if life gets busy
Strong disease resistance
Moderate water needs once established
Clean, naturally attractive growth habits
Proven performance in both landscapes and containers
Flowering Shrubs: The Heart of the Garden
Flowering shrubs are the heart of the Easy Sunday Garden. They provide structure, texture, and consistent beauty with less work than many perennials.
Hydrangeas are an obvious favorite, offering generous blooms and handsome foliage. Roses, especially modern shrub and climbing types with strong disease resistance, bring classic romance without constant fuss. Lilacs are a great choice for fragrance and spring nostalgia, while spirea offers reliable bloom and tidy growth with little to no maintenance.
These shrubs don’t just flower and disappear. They anchor the garden visually, creating a sense of abundance that doesn’t rely on constant replanting.
Seaside Serenade®
Newport Hydrangea
An outstanding cut flower, its big flower clusters range from blue-violet to deep pink, depending on soil pH. Like other varieties in the collection, it reblooms all summer and into the autumn. 4' tall and wide. Zones 4-9.
Heavenly Ascent®
Pink Climbing Rose
A compact climber with large, richly fragrant pink blooms that flower abundantly through the season. Ideal for trellises and offers great disease tolerance. Full sun. Up to 8' tall with support. Zones 5-9.
Little Darling®
Lilac
A fragrant dwarf lilac that blooms heavily in spring, with a second lighter bloom in fall. Drought-tolerant once established. Up to 4' tall and wide. Full sun. Zones 4-8.
Evergreens: Year-Round Calm
Evergreens provide the quiet confidence of an Easy Sunday Garden. Boxwood, holly, pittosporum, dwarf olive, juniper, and well-behaved evergreen shrubs create structure, frame views, and ensure the garden never feels bare, even in winter.
They also give flowering plants something to shine against. A hedge doesn’t need to be formal to be effective; even loosely clipped or naturally shaped evergreens bring balance and serenity.
Emerald Colonnade®
Holly
A versatile male evergreen holly with a naturally pyramidal shape, ideal for hedges, screens, or windbreaks. Its dense, glossy green foliage responds well to shearing. Up to 12′ tall, 8′ wide. Zones 7-9.
Little Ollie®
Dwarf Olive
A compact evergreen with elegant branching and deep green foliage. Ideal for hedges, accents, and topiary, with excellent tolerance to heat, drought, and salt. Full sun. Up to 6' tall and wide. Zones 8-11.
Blue Arrow
Juniper
An improved selection with tight, bright blue foliage and a narrow, upright habit. Ideal for tall screens in small spaces. Produces silvery blue berries from late spring through winter. Full sun. Up to 15' tall, 2' wide. Zones 4-9.
Perennials: Reliable, Rhythmic Color
The Easy Sunday Garden favors reliable perennials that have a long bloom time, hold their shape, and don’t require staking, dividing, or constant cleanup.
Think dependable performers that quietly show up each year, filling gaps without demanding attention. Used in thoughtful groupings rather than scattered throughout, they add softness and seasonal rhythm without visual clutter.
Baby Pete™
Agapanthus
A compact variety that blooms weeks earlier than other varieties. Rarely sets seed for a longer bloom period and works beautifully along paths or in containers. Full sun. Up to 15" tall, 24" wide. Zones 8-11.
Evolution™ Colorific™
Coneflower
A compact and low-maintenance nativar, with sturdy stems and lush foliage. Flowers continuously from late spring through fall. Adaptable and waterwise. Full sun. Up to 20" tall, 18" wide. Zones 4-9.
Dark Foliage Plants: Adding Depth and Drama
Darker-leaved plants add contrast and richness and offer an interesting visual dynamic. Purple heuchera (coral bells) bring deep burgundy, plum, or near-black foliage that pairs beautifully with evergreens and white flowers. Snakeroot offers subtle texture and shadowy depth, especially in shadier spots. Dark-foliage shrubs like ninebark and smoke bush are excellent choices, as well.
These plants don’t pull the attention; they elevate everything around them.
Black Forest
Cake Heuchera
Deep purple, almost black foliage is topped with spikes of cherry-red flowers in late spring. Provides long-lasting color contrast in mixed containers. Part to full sun. Up to 6" tall, 12" wide. Zones 4-9.
Black Negligee
Snakeroot
Deeply cut, serrated foliage emerges emerald green, then matures to a brilliant dark purple. Long, fragrant flower spikes tower above the foliage in the fall. Full to part shade. Up to 2' tall and wide. Zones 3-9.
Lilla
Smoke Bush
A low-maintenance, dwarf form with frothy plumes of pink summer flowers and wine-red foliage. Leaves turn shades of orange, coral, and red in the fall. Part to full sun. Up to 6' tall and wide. Zones 4-10.
Container Plants: Flexible Beauty
Containers near doors, patios, or favorite sitting spots allow for seasonal refreshes without disrupting the whole landscape. A few thoughtfully placed containers can deliver instant joy, whether it’s fresh spring color, a summer accent, or something evergreen to carry you through winter.
VIBE® Ignition
Purple Salvia
Vibrant purple flowers attract bees and hummingbirds all summer long. Thriving even in heat and drought, and even in humidity. Partial to full sun. Up to 24" tall and wide. Zones 7-11.
Junior Walker™
Catmint
This exceptional, compact variety boasts finely-textured, aromatic gray-green foliage and delicate, soft lavender flower spikes that are beloved by bees. Partial to full sun. Up to 16" tall, 36" wide. Zones 5-9.
SunSparkler® Dazzleberry Sedum
A drought-tolerant option that performs well in containers. Topped with brilliant raspberry colored flower clusters. Up to 8" tall and wide. Zones 4-10.
Easy Luxury for Real Life
There’s a quiet confidence to the Easy Sunday Garden, and that’s where its sense of luxury lives. Luxury isn’t about complexity or rarity; it comes from choosing better plants instead of more plants. Classic varieties with proven performance feel timeless because they are timeless, earning their place by showing up beautifully year after year. This approach favors restraint. Fewer varieties create more impact, and repeating the same plants throughout the garden brings a sense of cohesion and calm, allowing each one to shine.
The Easy Sunday Garden is meant to be enjoyed, not constantly managed. Paths are simple and intuitive, guiding you through the space without fuss. Edges feel comfortable rather than rigid, and there are natural places to pause; a bench tucked into a corner, a chair near a favorite view, a spot where you instinctively linger. These are gardens that invite sitting, strolling, and observing. They make room for morning coffee, evening conversations, and quiet moments in between, with a few well-placed containers near doors and patios offering easy, seasonal joy and gentle reminders of why you planted a garden in the first place.
A Garden That Shows Up for You
You don’t need to overhaul your entire landscape to begin an Easy Sunday Garden. This is a long-game approach, and that’s part of its beauty. Start with one area that matters most to you: the front entry, a patio, or the view from your favorite window. Swap out high-maintenance plants for reliable shrubs with naturally graceful habits, and allow them the space and time to grow into themselves. Resist the urge to overfill. With a little patience, these gardens only get better, settling in and becoming easier every year.
At its heart, the Easy Sunday Garden isn’t about doing less; it’s about enjoying more. It’s a garden that fits your life instead of asking your life to revolve around it. One that feels welcoming on busy weeks and especially lovely on quiet ones, showing up season after season with calm, dependable beauty. Gardening not as a performance, but as a pleasure.
More Garden Design Resources
- Garden Trends Webinar
- Garden Trends Design Guide
- Downloadable garden design guides
- Check out the Garden Design section of the blog for more garden design lessons and stories
- Sign up for our Grow Beautifully newsletter. You'll get more design inspiration, garden tips, how-tos, and first access to exclusive guides, webinars, and plants.