For many, it's not spring until you visit the nursery or garden center. If this is your first time shopping for landscaping plants, you may be a little overwhelmed by the selection. Fortunately, most nurseries have plenty of knowledgeable staff on hand to help you. The following tips can also help ensure you make the right choices as you shop.
Tip #1: Check the health of all plants
Every plant you choose from the nursery needs to be healthy – you don't want to introduce any diseases to the rest of your landscape. Check both the upper and lower leaf surfaces for discolorations and holes, as well as along the stems. There should be no visible mold on the soil surface or on the plant itself. Finally, slide the plant out of the nursery pot and check out the roots. There should appear to be a greater ratio of soil to visible roots. The roots you can see are healthy if they don't seem slimy, withered, or produce a foul odor.
Tip #2: Know your container basics
Hanging baskets and pots of flowers are a quick way to add color to your landscape, but you need to know how to choose an arrangement. Make sure the pot or container has bottom drainage holes, otherwise you will end up having to repot the flowers anyway. Baskets and pots should be deep enough to hold at least 6 inches of soil, as well. Overly shallow containers dry out quickly and the roots often become overcrowded. Finally, make sure every plant growing together in a basket or pot has similar growing needs. You don't want an arrangement that combines water loving plants with a desert succulent, for example.
Tip #3: Read the tags
The plant tags are your best tool for choosing the right plants. Before going to the nursery, monitor the sunlight and soil conditions for every part of your garden that you want to plant. Then you can use nursery tags to choose plants. All tags will contain the water, temperature, and sunlight hour needs for the specific plant. Only pick out plants that completely fit the conditions profile for your garden. As a general rule, low light plants grow best in heavily shaded areas, while those that require medium light can grow in dappled shade or areas that receive less than five or six hours of direct sun. Full sun plants will need six or more hours of direct sunlight to thrive.
For more help, contact a nursery in your area such as Moon Valley Nurseries.
Share10 May 2017
When my husband and I bought our house years ago, we thought it would be our "starter" home and we would move in a few years. We soon had two children, and we then decided against moving since we live in a great school district and we love our neighbors. However, I was growing very tired of the appearance of our home. We painted it a different color, and it still seemed like the "same old house" that we were tired of. We finally deciding that maybe good landscaping would "do the trick" and make our home more enjoyable to use again. We were right, and I now love our home! I now love spending time in our yard and just enjoying the scenery. I have such a passion for landscaping now I decided to create a blog about it. I plan to share many landscaping tips, so come back!
