Foolproof plants for aspirational gardeners: Plant it and forget it series Updated Mar 02, 2021; Every gardener has felt the defeat of bringing home a special plant only to watch it slowly wither. Which prompts these questions: Where are the low-maintenance shrubs that don’t demand a lot of pruning and the plants that don’t depend on spraying since they are disease-resistant? They’re abundantly available, says Bruce Hegna of Portland-based Nature/Nurture Landscape Design. “If you put the right plants in the right place initially, they should be able to survive with a little neglect, except in areas of blazing hot sun,” he says.