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Plants For Landscaping - How To Choose?With so many beautiful plants for landscaping available to choose for your garden, how does one actually decide which ones to select? Factors such as height, color, texture, evergreen or deciduous all impact a landscape design. Choosing Landscape Plants An attractive landscape design incorporates many different kinds of plants for landscaping. It is Consider the following: Sun or Shade Conditions Some plants need sun to do well. Others only grow well in the shade...and some will do fine with a little of both. Many plants do not perform the way they should due to being placed in the wrong area.
Deer Problems If you have deer visiting your property, use deer resistant plants. Your plants will have the best chance of surviving, although no plant is fool proof. Monitor your plants closely. If you see some nibbling, use one of the deer repellents that are available. Deer fencing is another option. Mature Height of Plants Know how large the plants that you are using will get. We have all seen overgrown gardens. Plan for the future. If, for example, you are using a Flowering Dogwood Tree at the corner of your house, know that it can get to be about 18 feet wide. Therefore, it must be planted at least nine feet away from the house. All Season Color Consider the blooming times of your landscape trees, flowering shrubs and perennials. Ideally, included plants for landscaping that flower during all seasons. Don't forget the beautiful Fall color of trees and shrubs. Red Maples and Burning Bush provide dazzling red foliage. Foundation Plants Consider using evergreen shrubs for the background. When winter comes, you will appreciate the greenery. Consider window heights when selecting shrubs. Do you have a blank wall? Think about how you will address it....tall landscaping plants, climbing vines and/or trellises are some options. There are numerous plant categories. It is good to become at least a little familiar with them, so that when a plant category is referred to, you will know the type it is and in what situation it can be used in the landscape. Here are some major categories: Trees are used in landscape designs for different purposes. The type These plants for landscaping do not lose their leaves in the winter. They will always keep their foliage and thus the name "evergreen". American Holly and Douglas Fir are typical evergreen trees. Flowering trees or those that have interesting structure or bark are called ornamental trees. They are usually smaller than shade trees. An example would be the Flowering Dogwood Tree. These trees offer a cool area to your landscape. They generally are large with wide canopies, thus providing shade. Landscape Shrubs Evergreen - Flowering and Non-flowering Like evergreen trees, these garden shrubs keep their leaves all year long. These plants Evergreen landscape shrubs are often used for front foundation plantings, but can be used anywhere in the garden. Some types flower, while others do not. Please visit my page on Evergreen Shrubs. Deciduous - Flowering and Non-flowering These garden shrubs lose their leaves in the winter, so only the branching structure remains. However, deciduous garden shrubs usually have features that are very nice during the season. For example, they may have reddish leaves or produce beautiful flowers. Perennials Perennials come back year after year. These landscaping plants will die down in early winter, leaving their finished foliage. This foliage must removed either in the Fall or Spring, but prior to the new growth beginning again. These perennials love the sun, and only do well when they are planted in sunny areas. Some shade is acceptable to them, as long as it is sunny most of the day. These perennials will do their best in shady areas. They prefer a lot of shade, although some sun is needed. There are shade perennials that flower, but often they are known for their beautiful foliage. Annuals Annuals live for one season and then they are gone. However, these landscaping plants flower all summer long providing wonderful color.As with perennials, and all plants for that matter, use the correct annuals for your sun/shade conditions. Some prefer sun while other like the shade. Groundcover This would be a low growing plant that usually covers a wide area. Sometimes that's all that is needed in the planting bed. Groundcover can be evergreen or deciduous, and can flower or be non-flowering.Sample groundcovers for shady, or somewhat shady areas, are Pachysandra, Ivy, and Vinca. Sometimes low growing shrubs can be used as groundcover. For sunny places on your property, consider Juniper Horizontalis, Thyme, and Ajuga.
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important, however to select the right plant for the right location.
of features you would like and the planting solutions you are looking for can guide you in selecting the right trees for you landscape plants.
for landscaping may be a needle type, like Junipers, or they may be a broadleaf type, like Rhododendron. 