When planning a landscape,
it’s tempting to pick the most
colorful, vibrant plants. An
eye-popping property fi lled with yellows,
purples, pinks, and other bold
colors is sure to catch anyone’s eye.
However, the right plant for a property
is not always the most colorful.
Gardening novices can easily
be overwhelmed on a trip to their
local garden center, where employees
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may ask a host of questions that
have little to do with homeowners’
preferences and everything
to do with the growing conditions
around their properties. Those
questions may seem a little intense,
but they’re well-intentioned.
Successful gardening is more
about soil conditions and access to
sunlight than it is about the plants
themselves. An awe-inspiring hy-
Successful gardening is more about soil conditions and access to sunlight than it is about
the plants themselves. Metro Creative Connection
Home
What to know
before planting
around your
property
drangea bush will only impress if
it’s planted in a location where it
can thrive.
The Landscape, Nursery and
Urban Forestry program at UMass
Amherst Extension advises homeowners
to learn about the following
site conditions, and ultimately
share that knowledge with local
garden center representatives, before
they pick and plant anything
around their properties.
• Hardiness zone: The Plant Hardiness
Zone Map from the U.S. Department
of Agriculture is designed
to help gardeners determine which
plants are most likely to thrive
where they live. The map can be
found on the USDA website at www.
usda.gov.
• Light availability, intensity, and
duration, from full sun to deep shade:
Prior to planting, homeowners can
document this information in a notebook
or on their smartphones. Do so
for a long enough period of time that
you can get an accurate of idea of the
conditions in which plants will have
to grow, and then take that information
with you to the garden center
where you will buy your plants. Employees
can then use this info to help
you fi nd the right fi t given the light
conditions.
• Water availability, both quantity
and quality, as well as ease of access
• Exposure to wind and temperature
extremes
• Exposure to weather events,
snow loads, erosion, and fl ooding:
Garden center employees can likely
recommend plants based on traditional
weather patterns in a given
area.
• Soil type, drainage and compaction:
Homeowners can take note of
any areas of their property where
water pools or the ground feels especially
soggy after rainfall. Share
this information with garden center
employees prior to picking plants
for such areas. If soil appears compacted,
aeration prior to planting
may be necessary.
• Competition from existing vegetation,
keeping in mind the roots underground
that you can’t see
• Above ground wires or obstructions:
Trees will grow up, and the
presence of power lines or other obstructions
may threaten the trees or
prove dangerous if trees eventually
grow into or hang over power lines.
Knowledge of various conditions
prior to planting can save homeowners
the cost of replacing plants and
the hassle of dealing with plants
that don’t take
Metro Creative Connection
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