• Marigold produce hundreds of blooms with next-to-no attention.Marigolds 2 image by pognyc from Fotolia.com
  
  Keeping a yard looking its best can be a time-consuming process. If having a garden sounds like more work that your already packed life will allow, take heart. Dozen of garden plants have eye-catching, easy-care flowers. They'll fill your landscape with color--and/or fragrance--from spring to fall. Building your garden on a foundation of these flowers brings maximum rewards for a minimum of work
  
  

Peony

• Peonies' show-stopping, single or double spring blooms look as if they require constant coddling. Nothing could be further form the truth. Peonies survive to USDA plant hardiness zone 3, where winter temperatures regularly dip below minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Once established, the 1- to 3-foot plants provide spring color for decades. With summer watering, their glossy foliage continues adding garden interest until fall.
  
  Hundreds of peony cultivars, each blooming for a week to 10 days, are available. Planting several varieties with different blooming times is an easy way to have a spring garden full of color from early May until mid-June. Growing in full sun to partial shade, peonies perform best in well-drained, acidic (pH between 6.5 and 7.0) loam. They also grow in clay amended with drainage-improving manure, compost or ground pine bark. Established plants need watering just once every 10 to 14 days.
  
  

Tickseed

• Native to the southeastern and central United States, tickseed is a cold-tolerant plant. Like peonies, it handles zone 3 winters. This aster family perennial grows from 2- to 8-feet high. Its brown-centered, yellow daisy-like blooms brighten the garden from July to September, according to the Missouri Botanical Garden. Tickseed is the one-stop solution for gardens with dry, infertile soils. Thriving in drought and high humidity, this pest- and disease-resistant plant brings the added benefit of anise-scented foliage. Its one drawback is that it self-sows freely and may become invasive. Removing its dead flowers--deadheading--before they set seed eliminates that problem.
  
  

Marigolds

• Ranging from delicate plants a few inches high to nearly shrub-sized, annual marigolds are a plant-and-forget gift to the gardener short on time. Native to Mexico and now available in four distinct species, marigolds bloom from late spring to the first fall frost in vibrant shades of orange, gold, lemon yellow, cream and rust. Their flowers may have single, solid-colored petals, or be dense, frilled, double bi-colored affairs. Marigolds are content in sunny, hot weather. They require no deadheading. Overly long marigold stems simply bend to the ground and root to produce more blooms, notes the WSU Clark County Master Gardener's website.