subject: Selecting The Right Plants For Your Garden [print this page] Often gardeners plants on impulse, without a overall garden plan, only to realize later that there is nowhere in the garden to place the new plants. Having a planting plan helps. There are a few factors to consider before buying plants for your garden. It is important to carefully analyze the existing conditions of your garden. Check to see how much sun and shade it gets, whether the soil is well or poorly drained and whether your garden is exposed to winter winds. Knowing these conditions is important and will help inform your plant selections.
Proper selection of trees, shrubs and flowers is also based your own individual preferences as well as on a plant's characteristics such as size, form, texture, and color. There characteristics contribute to the functional and aesthetic qualities of a garden design.
Be sure that your planting plan has an interesting combination of colors and textures of plants. While plants are generally selected for their flower color, various shades of green are the prevailing colors in a garden, especially through summer. Many plants have leaves with tones of silver, grey or purple that are just as attractive as the plant's flower. A variety of greens is more visually interesting than a single shade of green. A frequent mistake gardeners make, however, is to use try and include every color available. Sticking with an overall color theme, whether complimentary or contrasting, will help to tie together all the elements of you garden. Some plants, such as the red twig dogwood, have colorful bark which can brighten up the winter landscape.
Form or silhouette is an often over looked plant quality. In winter, a tree's form can add a sculptural quality to the landscape. The form of a Japanese maple in winter, for instance, is striking.
Using your planting plan as a guide, place your chosen plants around the garden bed in their pots to see how they will look. If necessary, re-arrange them until you are satisfied. Grouping plants in sets of threes or fives is generally preferable to planting in them in groups of even numbers. Tall plants should go be place in the back of the garden, or the centre if your garden will be viewed equally from all sides. Avoid planting up against large trees. The roots of trees are competitive and will rob all the nutrients and moisture meant for your flowers.
Selecting garden plants requires a bit of planning and research. If done well, your chosen plants will provide your garden will lushness and color season after season.
