subject: Certain Plants Need A Particular Soil! [print this page] The purpose of the soil in your garden is growing plants. You might wish to be utterly unadventurous, with turf grasses forming a central lawn which is edged with borders and spotted with flower beds. These beds and borders are full of shrubs and bedding plants. You will almost certainly find room for a few Rose bushes along with a woody climber or two for your walls of the house. For many the lure of home-grown vegetables is irresistible.
This standard pattern of the suburban garden is slowly varying, flowering shrubs, evergreen ground covers and little trees are rising in popularity, plus the classical herbaceous border is losing its charm.
You might wish to depart from the routine pattern. There are those that devote their front gardens to alpines and bulbs, others create Rose gardens, some create natural gardens with shrubs and wild flowers, and then there is the organized chaos of your cottage garden with its herbs, annuals and old-fashioned perennials.
The choice of plants you can choose from is kind of staggering. The catalogue of a seed nurseryman contains thousands of varieties, the list of a general nurseryman is much more incomprehensible with all of its shrubs, trees, climbers, herbaceous border plants, alpines, and so forth. A walk around a modern garden centre is a most satisfying encounter which was denied to our ancestors, but it is also a bewildering job when the idea is to choose a variety of plants which will be right for the garden.
You may think the choice is up to you. It is just a matter of liking the image in your catalogue or the specimen at the garden centre. Well, no it is not - there are a number of factors which need to be considered if you do not want to waste a great deal of money and time, and many of the factors are outside of your control.
Follow the step-by-step guide below so as to make sure the plants you would like growing will thrive as part of your garden. You need the appropriate plant from the appropriate supplier.
Step 1. Will you want a lasting feature or a short-lived display? Trees and shrubs are used to establish the permanent living skeleton of the garden. Hardy perennials will live in your garden for years, but they do die down in your winter. Annuals are for temporary display only. Do you want a labour-saving plant? Herbaceous perennials and 'hobby plants' such as Dahlias and Chrysathemums involve a lot more work - staking, feeding, dead-heading, dividing etc. Most shrubs and trees require just a little yearly maintenance, but well-timed pruning could be a requirement. If want leaves to stay over winter? Choose evergreen, but it is not always the perfect plant to grow. A Garden filled with evergreens can look boring and unchanging - deciduous plants add an additional dimension with fresh leaves opening during the spring and changing colours in autumn.
Step 2. Choose the correct plant type. What shape and size will be suitable? One of the commonest blunders in gardening is to purchase a plant which at maturity is much too large for the space available. Chopping back yearly means that both natural beauty and floral display could be lost. Always confirm the expected height before purchasing. What will the growing conditions be like? Check if your plant has clear-cut requirements regarding sunshine, temperature, soil, lime tolerance, drainage and soil moisture. Some plants are remarkably tolerant of extreme climatic and soil conditions, others are not. Nearly all annuals will need full sun, rockery perennials need good drainage and Pieris, rhododendron, Camellia, Calluna and Pernettya hate lime.
Step 3. Is money your main consideration? Seed purchased in packets or saved out of your own plants is cheaper, but it could take years to raise a shrub or herbaceous perennial using this method. Rooted cuttings taken from plants in your garden are another inexpensive source of plant material. If simplicity is the primary consideration, containers have revolutionized planting out. Just choose a container grown specimen at any time of the year, dig a hole in your garden and pop it in. But containers are not quite that easy, but they are surely the most convenient and 'instant' of all plant materials.
Step 4. As a general rule you get what you pay for, but this doesnt mean that there is a 'best' supplier for all circumstances. A 'bargain offer' from a mail order nursery might be the right choice if you are short of money and have a sizable space to fill with common, garden shrubs, but in many cases it is preferable to look at what you are buying beforehand, and it is always wise to seek out a supplier with a good reputation.
