Quote:
Originally Posted by azoria
Don't plant a shrub that will mature at 30 feet tall when you want a cute and tidy little hedge. The battle of pruning will never end, and you will lose.
Don't install plants you loved and were beautiful in another locale, into a place where they will not thrive. Plants do what plants do where they want to do it and you cannot change their minds.
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You beat me to the punch, it is probably the biggest and most common mistake people and some landscapers do.... the wrong plants for their gardens. A baby shrub, plant or tree will grow up and take up a lot more space but for some reason people can't stand the space between them when they get planted and just can't picture that itty bitty little potted thing can be 10 feet in diameter and 20 feet tall inside of a decade or less.
As to planting plants in places they will not thrive a lot of beginners don't know that and the box store will sell them, often in quantity, giving people the perception they can thrive in their area. We all make some spur of the moment purchases and then find out those plants are not ideal. Some people don't want to give in and will try to battle mother nature and every once in a while they succeed. Just look at all those lawns in the desert....
My advice:
1. know your zones (USDA, heat--- and if you live west of the Rockies- Sunset)
2. Know what the terms full sun, part sun, part shade, deep shade really mean and why they are important to know for where you plant any new plant, shrub or tree. Get out and look when the sun is shining on your garden and keep track of the hours each part gets of sun. It will be different in fall and spring from summer when the sun is more directly overhead. Morning sun is easier on plants so if they require part shade make sure the shade is during the afternoon. Expressions like damp feet mean something. Understand that some plants love being in damp to flooded areas even if they like full sun and others will molder at the presence of water for more than an hour or two and might prefer "dry shade". These are all keys to what makes a plant thrive.
3 Learn to read up about plant needs from other sources beside the plant tag. If the tag mentions moisture the plant most likely will need more frequent watering than the average garden plant and is not a good choice for hot dry places. ALL plants will need more water when they are first planted than when they are established.
4. Never, ever plant a plant that is an invasive for your zone and region. Even experienced gardeners can be taken in by the tags.... "easy to grow" "spreads easily" but that should be a giant red flag until you can research just how easy the plant is to grow. There are plenty of annuals that are easy to grow and not invasive but beware the perennial with that description!
5. Unless you have experience with multiple zones never give people advice that don't live in the same zone and region you do. What is the perfect plant in your garden, with good manners and pretty flowers can be a terror in another garden. Sometimes it's a small inconvenience but other times you will sentence another gardener to endless weeding and plant removal. The flip side; just because you have ideal conditions for a plant that practically grows itself doesn't mean that someone in another region can do so, acting as if they should be able to will only result in loss of interest in gardening. There's too few good gardeners around as it is, why not be a bit more supportive?
6. Invasive plants are invasive, no matter how pretty or harmless they look. Kudzu is the obvious poster child but there are plenty problematic plants, shrubs and trees that are invasive by scientific standards even if they don't "look" invasive. It's not helpful to encourage planting plants that have made it to your state's invasive list.
7. If a plant isn't doing well "feeding" it with Miracle Gro or any other fertilizer is not the cure all and you may wind up doing more damage than good no matter what the commercials promise! Plants make their own food from what is found in healthy soil, water and sunshine. If the soil has something wrong with it it can just as easily be an abundance of something as much as a lack. Get your soil tested, it's easy and usually pretty cheap. Find out what your soil is lacking or has too much of before you add any fertilizer. If it isn't a virus or fungus, bug or slug then it could be the level of acid, or the kind of water you have or lack of sunlight that is causing the plant to do poorly. Not one of those would be cured with a heavily advertised fertilizer. Ask at a local nursery or check in with your county Master Gardeners for help on what could be the cause of your plant's problems.
8. Amend your soil! It doesn't matter if you have clay or sand for soil it will benefit from the addition of lots of organic material (NOT large chunks of mulch). Very few gardens start out with good growing soil so most do better with amending with organic materials (compost) over a period of years. Another fact is that sand added to a clay soil makes bricks, not better soil.
9. Learn to prune! Like bad haircuts most of the time it will grow out. Look up the best times for each plant and go to town. Many times pruning can be done through most of the season but often the blooming varieties have "safer" times where you won't ruin the bloom setting process. Many shrubs and trees do better over time when kept balanced. Some perennial plants look better if given a haircut early in the growing season for the same reason. Even a few annuals will benefit from judicious trimming now and then. Green things respond to getting trimmed with more vigorous growth.
10. Weather happens and some years are great garden years and other... not so much. Learn to give in and let go sometimes. Next year will be better!
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