Easy To Understand Plant Guide

Choosing plants can be a daunting challenge. Just walking through your local garden center will get your head spinning. We can only hope you don't go into meltdown and throw in the towel!

We're here to make sense of it all.

Sure, there are, literally, thousands of plants you could choose and as you start your plant search, you'll find the choices are even more if you want to learn about all plants, even ones that cannot be planted where you live.

You will need to consider the plant's recommended growing conditions, it's water needs, it's soil needs, does it flower, how tall does it get, whether it needs trimming regularly, and how it will fit within your overall garden and the other plants around it.

This is why we want to say... YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW ABOUT EVERY PLANT before even beginning.

If you're just getting started, what we want you to do is start with the basics - the most common plants - and gradually move away from those, branching out into more exotic choices. That's what we want for you and that's what we want you to get out of this plant guide.

Before we get into some details, a word about latin names.

When searching for plants using this guide, we are not emphasizing  the latin names.  Sometimes we won't even mention them at all.  We will often be referring to plants using their common names, the name most people know.

Is it important to know the latin names of all plants?  We don't think so, even though others might say differently.

Here's our opinion on this ... YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW THE LATIN NAME to be a master at gardening and have gorgeous gardens.

Yours truly, Tony, has never paid close attention to those hard-to-pronounce names.  Even Art, my landscaping partner, although knowing and studying them to get his horticulture degree, doesn't need to use them much in his daily gardening.  That being said, together, we've created some fantastic looking gardens for ourselves and clients!

Sure, go ahead and learn the latin names if you want to impress your friends, but it's not necessary to create some great landscapes.

Read more about us by CLICKING HERE!

Latin names aside, here are some other thoughts you should consider:

All plants need water. It's a fact. Without water, they die.

This is one of the most common problems we see with our clients, not watering their gardens enough, or thinking they are getting enough water when they really aren't.

Yes, some plants like to be drier than others, which means the soil can dry out between waterings and some like to be wetter, which means if the soil dries out, they will wilt and die. Plus, succulents such as cactus need very little water, so it's important to know a plant's water needs but don't stress out over too much or too little water unless you see the plant look sick.

IMPORTANT TIP: THE WATER NEEDS OF PLANTS IN THE GROUND WILL BE MUCH DIFFERENT THAN PLANTS IN POTS.

Plants In The Ground: Generally, you cannot overwater plants in the ground as long as the soil is draining well. Think about this. Plants in your garden get rained on... sometimes A LOT of rain, sometimes for days on end. Through all of this they survive and if they don't, it might be from lack of sun caused by too many cloudy days in a row, rather than too much rain.

As long as the soil drains excess water, most plants should survive, except those that like to be drier than normal.

One important point: clay soil is bad! Therefore, if you have clay soil it's important to ammend it so that it drains well. Water held in a soup bowl formed by clay soil will definitely not be good for any plant.

Plants In Pots:
Plants in pots tend to dry our quicker.

First, many times they will be root bound, meaning there's not much soil to hold water at all. Second, the air flow around the pot will tend to dry it out as well.

The lesson learned here is this. Plants in pots need more frequent watering than plants in the ground but they all need water. Water, water water!