John - it must depend a lot on the resources available. Would your friend have a some young alpine gardeners who could do a 'makeover' of the garden? Would an alpine raised bed for example be of interest to him (near to the house), or is the priority really the lowest maintainance possible commensurate with a garden reasonably nice to look at? Most people on this Forum are likely to be too excited by plants to really think in those terms, but maybe there are some who face the same problem and have solved it? There are many dry-loving dwarf shrubs which wouldn't require the pruning and tidying of perennials - some of the daphnes once they get their roots down are excellent (I wouldn't be without D. retusa). After travelling to the Czech Republic I would also recommend truly dwarf conifers - they vary greatly, some make good groundcover, others vertical accents, and they are the toughest of plants, putting up with neglect and drought once established. They also look very good in the winter when there is not much of interest in the garden. Finally just an outcrop of rocks and stone, sensitively done, could provide that calming influence of Japanese gardens, and associates perfectly with conifers. It does sound in this case that less is more.
