Choosing The Best Plants For Your Garden – Every new garden requires careful planning. It is so easy to pick up any plant you like and plant it. However, this is not a recipe for success. You should first decide what kind of garden project you’d like to establish – flowering plants, ornamentals or vegetables. Thereafter, the choice of plants for the garden depends on three basic factors:
1. What plants are best suited for your geographical area,
2. How much time are you willing to set aside for the maintenance and upkeep of your garden,
3.What plants are best suited for each area in your garden.
Choosing the best plants
Whether you want to begin with seeds or container starters, here are some factors to consider when choosing the best plants for your garden.
Sunlight: Regardless of how much care you take of a shade-loving plant, it will not thrive in sunny conditions, neither can you make a sun-loving plant grow in the shade. Check out how many hours of sunlight (direct) each area of the garden receives. Then select plants accordingly.
– Full sun-loving plants require 6 or more hours of direct sunlight everyday
– Partial shade-loving plants require 3 to 6 hours of sunlight on a daily basis
– Shade-loving plants cannot grow in complete shade but require less than 3 hours of sunshine everyday
Planting bulbs – daffodils and tulips
Size of the plant: Make sure you know how tall and wide a plant will get when it matures completely. This will allow you to see whether the area you have chosen will be right after it reaches maturity. The plant should be able to fit comfortably and if you intend growing plants in clusters, make sure each plant is planted far enough from the other to grow to its full potential.
Planting times: Different plants have different planting times. Most flowering plants should be planted after the last day of frost in your area. The only exception to the rule is pansies, which are frost resistant and can thrive in harsh conditions. Even bulbous plants, such as tulips, can withstand frost, but the bulbs should be planted in the ground in fall season.
Understanding plants
Remember your choice of plants for your garden will mean devoting time to their maintenance and care. Some plants require more attention than others to achieve lush growth. Also understanding the difference between annuals and perennials will let you make an informed decision.
Annuals: These plants grow for a single season and are categorized as shade, sun, and partial-shade loving plants. Annuals include primrose, begonia, geraniums, zinnia, marigold and sunflowers.
Perennials: These are plants that naturally dry up in autumn or winter and then bloom each spring. Bulbous plants, such as tulips, daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, irises and lilies, are good examples of flowering plants that come to life in spring. Other examples of perennials are ornamental grass, roses and perennial chrysanthemums.
Roses – perennial plant
Zinnias – annual plants