Getting Ideas for Your Garden Space

After you take inventory of your garden space and yard in general, consider what sort of garden you want. Before you get bogged down in choosing plants and deciding where to plant them, think in broad terms once again. How do you want to use your garden? What are your needs and expectations? Naming your goals can help you further clarify the details of your plans. If I had one single, strong piece of advice to give you at this point — and I do! —it would be this: Be realistic. Identify, admit, and allow for special uses and considerations. Working within an honest, clear-eyed framework is so much easier.
A beautiful garden can grow up around your “givens.”

Taking advantage of your yard’s assets

Every garden space has its strengths and its good spots, if only you look, and some of the “problems” I mention in earlier sections can actually be benefits if you see them that way. You can save yourself a lot of time, effort, and grief by identifying these types of spots and working with what you have rather than knocking yourself out to impose an ambitious plan upon your garden space. Go with the flow, in other words! Here are a few examples of conditions you may find within your garden space and how to handle them:

• Sunny days: Bright sunshine is beloved by many plants, especially those with colorful flowers. Rejoice and be glad you have it; then go shopping for a wide range of bright and lively plants. Have fun with color combinations. Full sun also affords you the opportunity to grow many vegetables, herbs, fruits, and waterlilies. See the chapters ahead for details on choosing and growing the types that interest you.
• The dark side: If your lot in life is shade, don’t fret. Consider it a gift, a chance to create a cool, soothing, even enchanting oasis. Without direct blasts from the hot sun, plants in a shady area look fresher and crisper for far longer. Wilting and withering in the heat aren’t issues, colors don’t get washed out, and not only do flowers last longer, but they also add sparkle and definition.
  
• Dry conditions: Instead of knocking yourself out trying to provide water for thirsty plants, seek out ones that prosper in drier growing conditions. A nursery that offers native plants (and good-looking cultivars of the same) is a good place to start. You don’t have to grow only cacti and succulents, though you should check out the amazingly wide range of colors and shapes before you decide not to; lots of exciting dry-ground, drought-tolerant plants are available to gardeners these days.
• Water: If your yard’s soggy or boggy, stop neglecting the area to weeds or trying to dry it out. Instead, grow plants that relish damp ground. Loads of good-looking choices — large and small, tall and ground-covering, flowering and foliage — are available. Try red twig dogwood, red maples, skunk cabbage, or Japanese primroses.

Soil quality and weeds

The soil isn’t the type or quality you want?
More often than you may think, poor soil thwarts gardening plans. People just forget or underestimate the importance of having organically rich, welldraining ground to plant in. To tackle this problem, try growing only those types of plants proven to work in your soil. See what the neighbors are growing in their gardens, or check with the local nursery for the best plants to grow in your area. You can also dig into the soil and mix in the materials you want (sort of like making cake batter, only more work). A rototiller is a handy tool to use for this purpose. Remember to work down to a depth of 6 to 8 inches for most garden plants — less for shallow-rooted grass, more for trees and shrubs.

Too many weeds?
You can attack these unwelcome plants any time of the year, but you’ll make faster progress if you start in late fall or early spring and thwart them before or just as they’re sprouting. Use a hoe, smother weeds with plastic or mulch, or carefully use an herbicide (or some combination of these tactics). Then, in midsummer, make sure you don’t let weeds go to seed. Pull them, mow them down, and discard them outside your garden to keep them from coming back.

Reclaiming the good garden hiding in your yard

Improving on what you already have in your yard is a quick and easy way to start enjoying a good garden. Timing is often key; that is, make your move at the right time and the project will be less work and will yield faster results. If the project seems overwhelming, by all means, find or hire help.

To improve a flowerbed, rake out all debris, remove all weeds, and add soil amendments in late fall or early spring. Plan what will go in, and remember to avoid overcrowding and to allow for each plant’s mature size. Last but not least, mulch the bed to retain moisture and thwart weeds so the bed will hopefully never get out of hand again.

You can reclaim a vegetable garden, even if it’s full of weeds — chances are that the garden still has fairly good soil. Get weeds and debris out of there in fall or early spring, repair or install edging and/or fencing, and then dig in some organic matter for good measure (this step’s easier now, before you add plants). Then cover the entire area with black plastic or a thick layer of mulch until you’re ready to plant to keep out digging critters and thwart a resurgence of weeds.

What to do if your yard is too small?

A small yard can seem bigger, more welcoming, and a lot more charming when you employ a few basic gardening techniques. With these methods, you can transform your cozy little yard into the garden of your dreams:

-Soften the edges of your lawn so they don’t seem so imposing. If you
have a fence, you can
* Paint the fence a bright color (dark colors heighten the sense of constriction).
* Add lush vines or climbing roses.
* Adorn the fence with potted plants.

- Create a varied layering effect — that is, position different plant types and textures above and behind one another, stepping up to the edges of your yard. Some gardeners literally display a combination of in-ground and potted plants on and around a rack or stepladder.

- Add a focal point — a statue, a small fountain, or one spectacular pot or urn with a big, dramatic plant or showy combination of plants; this move draws attention away from the close boundaries.

What to do if your yard is too big?

Here are three good ways to reduce that maintenance-demanding, waterhogging lawn and create ideal spaces for gardening:

- Create garden beds around the sides of the yard, widening or extending them as you can. Alternatively, create what landscapers call island beds, which are flat or mounded beds (in any shape and size you like) in the middle of a lawn.

- Add large, sprawling structures that take up a lot of yard space, such as
* Pathways
* A terrace, patio, or deck
* A pool (swimming or ornamental)
* A potting shed or gazebo. Adding garden beds around these structures really spruces things up.

- Fence in or otherwise enclose individual “garden rooms” within spaces around your yard. The fence can be an artificial fence made of wood or metal, or it can be made of hedges, ornamental grasses, or trellises overhung with vines. Use your imagination!

What to do if you got too few shade?

If your garden space is sunnier than you’d like, the quick solution is to add human-made items — try an umbrella or two, a pergola (arbor), or an outdoor tent. For the long term, you can make a planting plan with shade trees and vines that cover trellises and other structures.

What to do if got too much shade?

A yard or garden space with a lot of shade is often lamented as forcing too many limitations on gardeners. Never fear! This problem is often much easier to remedy than you may think, usually just by pruning some trees and bushes:

1. Go out with clippers and/or a small pruning saw to remove all “nonnegotiable” branches and twigs — anything obviously dead or diseased, particularly the lower branches of thick trees.
2. Go on to thinning — taking out growth that’s rubbing against other branches or crowding the interior of a plant.
3. For anything you can’t handle, call in a certified arborist or a tree company.

You need the services of a tree company if you decide to take out an entire tree. Check with local authorities; in some areas you need permission to cut down trees. In the end? More sun, more light, and more air —a whole new yard!

If a more permanent structure, such as a house or fence, causes your shade problem, you may still have more planting options available than you think.

Regardless of whether bushes and shrubs are a shade problem, you should prune them to remove some or all the offending thicket to keep your garden (and yard in general) looking good. Try an early-spring pruning foray. (This is also the time to do drastic chopping back, say, if you want to reduce a hedge’s height; cut no more than one-third at a time — you can prune again next season.)

Evaluation of your surrounding

Observation! That’s the very first step. Forget for a moment what’s growing in your neighbors’ yards or other home landscapes around town that you see and may covet. It’s time to take a broader view — it’s all part of the assessing process, a process that can lead you to a gorgeous, successful garden of your own. And don’t forget that the garden is part of your yard in general. If you incorporate your garden plans into an overall plan for your yard, the yard itself can become a beautiful extension of the garden. Identifying and spending some time analyzing what you already have is an important step in planning. After all, every yard is different and therefore presents a gardening challenge. You may be surprised, as you ponder, to discover that you can work quite well with what you already have, making seemingly minor changes to major effect.
Start by looking at the big picture. Here are the basic things to look for that affect your overall gardening plans. The following issues directly influence your planting decisions:

• Local climate: Over the course of a calendar year, is your area’s climate dry or damp? Generally sunny or generally rainy? Do your winters (or summers) slow everything down or bring plant growth to a temporary halt? The answers to these questions can tell you which plants are likely to grow easily and which ones may require some extra help.
• Type of soil in your yard: Consider the natural soil in your area. Is it rather sandy? Clay? Loamy (rich, crumbly, and dark)? Acidic? Alkaline? Does it drain rainwater away quickly, or does moisture puddle and linger for days? The answers can help you understand which plants will thrive and which ones will need soil improvements.
• Plants native to your area (or already growing in your yard): I’m not asking that you make a garden out of entirely native plants — after all, you may want to distinguish your yard from the surrounding natural landscape. But finding out which plants (trees, shrubs, grasses, flowers) are native or perform well in your general area, either by observing or by asking around, can further fill you in on what kind of growing conditions you’ve been dealt. When looking at plants, make sure you don’t choose invasive exotics, which are aggressive nonnative plants that can escape your yard and run rampant. Your state may also find some native plants harmful. For information and details on what to watch out for, visit plants.usda. gov/java/noxiousDriver and here are some structural considerations for your garden:
• Permanence of big structures: Okay, the house stays. The garage and shed, too, although maybe you can move or replace the shed. What about shade trees? Can and should you cut any of them down, or at least prune them? Big branches may be a hazard, and letting more light into a garden is often welcome.
• Walkways: It’s hard, but not impossible, to change the path of foot traffic if it’s currently in the way of your garden space. So take a hard look and be honest. If you add or replace a walking surface, the yard can look immediately nicer and your garden spot may be neatly outlined. Planting options for installing a path include gravel, brick, flagstone, and other paving materials. Wandering paths look nicer and slow down footsteps, but pathways should actually lead somewhere if you want people to use them. Wider paths also slow people down and encourage them to enjoy their surroundings — your beautiful garden.
• Desire for privacy or shelter: Good fences can make good neighbors, and materials make all the difference. Big, substantial wooden fences do block street noise and unsightly views but may also create shade and look unfriendly. A lighter or more open design may be better, perhaps softened with a flowering, climbing plant. An alternative is living fences of hedges or an informal line of bushes . Work with what you have to improve your fence’s look, or vow to install or replace it with something nicer.

Before making any major changes, consult with neighbors who’ll be affected, especially if you have a neighborhood association that governs big yard projects.
After evaluating these items and the impact they’ll have on your future garden, you may find that you have the start of a good plan for forming the boundaries and overall design of your garden.
Don’t be intimidated by the beautifully designed and laid-out yards you see in your neighborhood or admire in the pages of gardening magazines or books. Transforming and beautifying your yard yourself, while bringing in outside help only if you think you need it, is perfectly possible. Like any other large project, you’ll get further and feel better if you divide it into smaller parts

Plant Naming

Whenever you’re talking about plants, knowing how they’re named can help you avoid getting tangled up in the Latin. Generally, when looking for plants and flowers, you encounter two types of names — botanical and common.
Read on for some info on how the naming system works, and then carpe
diem — pluck the day!

Botanical names
The botanical name is the proper or scientific name of a plant. It consists of two parts: the genus name and the species name. The species name is kind of like your own first name (except it comes last in a plant’s botanical name). The genus name is similar to your family name (except in botanical names, it comes first). For example, in the plant name Hosta undulata, Hosta is the genus name, and undulata is the species name. Hosta describes an entire genus of famous, mostly shade-loving plants named hostas, and undulata describes the type of hosta it is — a hosta with an undulating leaf shape. Sometimes the botanical name has a third name, right after the species name, known as the variety. A variety is a member of the same plant species but looks different enough to warrant its own name, such as Rosa gallica var. officinalis. Still another botanical name that sometimes comes up is the cultivar, or cultivated variety. Cultivars are usually named by the people who developed or discovered them, and they’re often maintained through cuttings, linebred seed propagation, or tissue culture. In other words, they’re cultivated (humans grow, improve, and develop them). An example is Lychnis coronaria ‘Angel’s Blush.’
A hybrid plant is the result of the cross-pollination between two genetically different plants, usually of the same species but different varieties. This combination can happen because of cultivation, or it can occur naturally through bee pollination between two different plants.
Botanical names are more common with some types of plants than others. For instance, you frequently run into them with herbaceous plants, trees, and shrubs but much less so with roses, annuals, and vegetables. You can find botanical names on the labels and in many garden references.

Common names
Common names are what you’re most likely to encounter when shopping for plants to put in your garden, and they’re what you mostly encounter in this book. You can find these names prominently displayed on seed packets or on seedling trays of plants that are for sale. They’re kind of like botanical nicknames that gardeners use to describe a certain type of plant without going into a great amount of detail. For example, the Hosta undulata fits into the genus Hosta, so most gardeners merely refer to these plants under the common name of hostas. And you may know that Hemerocallis is actually the genus name for the common daylily, but chances are that most gardeners you encounter just call them daylilies.

Bringing in Beauty with Flowers (and Foliage)

Flowers are often the first thing that comes to mind when people think of gardening and the first thing people plan to grow when they want to beautify their surroundings. Flowers are marvelous because they come in a huge variety of sizes, colors, and shapes, and no matter where you live, at least one kind of flowering plant can grow there. Even the volcanic crater of Haleakala, on the island of Maui, is home to a flowering plant: the rare silver sword.
Flowers are more than merely the beautiful display they put on, however. If you know the different types of flowers out there, you can take full advantage of displaying them in your own garden. Read on for info on annuals and perennials, as well as a bit on bulbs and roses.

Amazing annuals

You may already know what annuals are without realizing that you know! These beauties are the flowers, arrayed in flats and pots, for sale every spring down at the garden center — everything from geraniums to impatiens to marigolds. You bring them home and plunk ’em in the ground, and they get right to work, delivering pretty much continuous color all summer long. When fall comes, they start to slow down (some may even go to seed); cold weather eventually causes them to wither and die. Game over. (That is, unless you live in a frost-free climate; in this case, your “annuals” become perennials. See the upcoming section titled “Perennial plants” for more information.) For the brief time annuals are growing and pumping out flowers, you get a lot of bang for your buck. A great deal of selection and breeding refinements over the years have made these plants totally reliable. They’re hard to kill. Indeed, some of them keep blooming their cheery heads off even when you neglect them. More sophisticated gardeners have been known to sneer at good old annuals. They’re boring. They’re too perky. They’re “plastic plants.” These folks may or may not have a point, but hey, annuals are hard to beat if you want a colorful garden.
In the end, the main drawback of annuals is economic. You have to buy new ones every spring. If you’re planting a wide area, running out to buy more year in and year out can get expensive. Time may also be an issue for you —you may grow sick and tired of getting down on your hands and knees and replanting.
You can use annuals

• To fill an entire flowerbed (this popular use is why some places call annuals bedding plants)
• In container displays — in pots, windowboxes, patio planter boxes,and more
• To fill a hanging basket
• To edge a walkway
• To “spot” color in a perennial bed
• In edging and as decoration for a vegetable or herb garden
• To cover over or at least distract from a fading spring bulb display If the info you want on annuals isn’t in the upcoming sections.

Caring for and feeding annuals
Luckily, taking proper care of annuals is not rocket science. For the most part, annuals are easygoing, because they’re bred to be quite tough and durable. Many can withstand some neglect and still be productive — not that I recommend ignoring them!
Without a doubt, water is an annual’s number one need. All that lusty growth and continuous flowering requires fuel. A thirsty plant can’t sustain the show for long. Regular, deep soakings are best because they reliably supply water to the roots, which leads to a stress-free life of consistent growth and bud and bloom production. (Note that a drying-out plant favors its roots and, to a lesser extent, its leaves, in a bid for survival, automatically jettisoning its You can’t deny that regular doses of plant food significantly boost your annuals (make sure you apply it according to directions). The leaves become healthier and greener, and you end up with more buds and flowers.
The rather unromantic term of deadheading simply refers to the practice of pinching or cutting off spent flowers. Your annuals look nicer when you do this, of course, but removing the flowers also serves another purpose: It thwarts the plant from the energy-intensive process of producing seeds, and the plant responds by diverting its energy back into making more flowers.

More on Annuals

Favorite annuals
If you shop earlier in spring (before the garden center has been picked clean, I mean) or go to a place with a big selection, you see lots of choices. If you find certain types too boring or common, look around for alternatives — one big trend these days is familiar annuals in new colors, even bicolors. Get creative!
Have some fun! Here are some popular annuals:

1. Sun-lovers: Angelonia, California poppy, cleome, cosmos, geranium, lobelia, marigold, million bells, nasturtium, nicotiana, petunia, portulaca, salvia, and zinnia
2. Shade-lovers: Ageratum, cineraria, coleus, forget-me-not, impatiens, nemophila, pansy, primrose, sweet William, vinca, wax begonia
3. Unusual, offbeat, but still easy annuals:

• Collinsia: An easily grown and graceful plant that looks similar to a blue snapdragon
• Eustoma: A plant with very long lasting, silk-like flowers
• Feverfew: An annual covered with double, mostly white chrysanthemum-like flowers
• Annual foxglove: A plant with charming, nodding flowers on a tall spike, adding a dramatic vertical element to any garden
• Honesty (money plant): An annual grown for its translucent quartershaped seed pods that make it choice for dried arrangements
• Larkspur: A plant that’s easy to grow by directly sowing the seeds in your garden in the early spring
• Nemophila: A plant with sky-blue cup flowers on compact mounded plants
• Nierembergia: A ground-hugging plant covered with purple cup-shaped flowers
• Stock: An annual with heavenly fragrance and flowers from white to pink to purple
• Torenia: A flower that looks like an open-faced snapdragon on compact plants, in shades of blue, pink and white.

Raising annuals from seed
Of course you can raise annuals from seed! Some are simpler to grow than others. Annuals with very small seeds like snapdragons and begonias are a bit more of a challenge because you need to start them indoors in a bright windowsill or under fluorescent lights.
Just buy the seed packets in late winter and sow them in flats or pots (particular directions are always on the back of the packets). Raise the seedlings indoors until spring weather comes and the soil warms up and all danger of frost is past; then move the plants outside.
Some annuals are so fast-growing that you can sprinkle their seeds on good soil in late spring, right outside, and they’ll quickly sprout and grow. This group includes popular ones like zinnias, marigolds, and nasturtiums. This process may require you to do some thinning at some point, but otherwise, it’s dead easy. Again, consult the back of the seed packet for details. One advantage to this tack is that you can grow some more unconventional or rare annuals. It certainly makes for a more interesting garden!

Beholding a one-time show
The very definition of an annual — a plant that goes from seed to flowering to death in one season, completing its entire life cycle in short order — states that annuals are a one-time show. When it’s over, it’s over. (Except when it’s not; if you garden in a mild climate, many annuals merely slow down for the winter but survive.)
If you garden in a cold climate, you can try digging up some favorites or bringing potted annuals inside. Keep them in a nonfreezing place, out of direct sunlight, and let them rest. Cut back all spent growth. Start reviving them with water and plant food when spring returns. However, if despite your best efforts, your wintered-over annuals don’t return to their former glory the following spring, accept their fate, pull them out, and replace them with new ones.

Perennial plants

For many gardeners, going from growing annuals to exploring perennials seems to be a natural progression. But remember that you don’t have to choose! You can grow both and, indeed, your garden is likely to be the better for the diversity.
So, what, exactly are perennials? They’re long-lived herbaceous (non-woody) plants — flowers and herbs, mainly. How long they last depends on the plant and the conditions in your garden. But these plants certainly last longer than annuals.
A typical perennial emerges in the spring, grows and often produces flowers and seeds as the seasons progress from spring to summer to fall, and then slows down or dies back in winter. But the plant doesn’t actually die; it just rests. The following spring, your perennial returns in glory to repeat the cycle. Unlike annuals, you don’t have to replant perennials every year. Once should be enough — well, if you choose wisely and take good care of your perennials, you ought to get many good years out of them. Eventually, though, some perennials run out of steam. Their growth gets crowded and they don’t seem to flower as well. At this time, you can dig them out and replace them, or you can divide them (perhaps discarding the tired out center, or mother plant) and replant well-rooted bits for a fresh new start.

Here are some of the many uses of perennials:

• Creating a colorful bed or border
• Filling an island bed (an isolated, self-contained garden, like an “island” in a sea of lawn)
• Mixing them with annuals to assure summer-long color
• Edging a walkway, patio, pool area, or deck
• Interplanting them with roses or other ornamental shrubs to provide year-round interest
• Dressing up an area that was formerly lawn

Caring for and feeding perennials

The water needs of perennials vary. Some are moisture-lovers, others are drought-tolerant, and many are somewhere in the middle. Do your homework when choosing plants, not just on what they prefer but on which ones are suitable to the growing conditions in your yard and climate (otherwise, you’ll be jumping through hoops trying to please them).
One generalization is possible, though: Nothing makes newly planted perennials feel more welcome than plentiful water does. The perennials have gone from a sheltered and confining life in a pot to the wide world of your garden, and water helps sustain the roots and encourages them to establish themselves and expand into their new home.
Many perennials (like most people) enjoy being fed. They respond by growing more robustly and producing more flowers. You’re fine with a general, all purpose garden fertilizer, applied according to the label directions during the height of the growing season. Don’t feed your perennials as fall approaches and growth naturally begins to slow. You don’t want them producing a fresh new flush of growth that soon gets nipped by a frost.
I have to admit that fertilizing the majority of perennials isn’t mandatory. If you plant them in soil that suits them (and do your homework when choosing the plants), they may do just fine without it. Good, organically rich soil and good growing conditions and regular water can sustain healthy, hearty perennial growth for quite some time. Fertilizing merely supplies a boost in these cases.

More about Perennials

Favorite perennials
Lots of places offer perennials these days. The garden centers in spring and early fall are full of them. Unless the place is especially big or sophisticated, you’ll find mostly common, tried-and-true choices. If you get a taste for the In on the ground floor: Groundcovers

Low-growing perennial plants may be handy in a flower border (near the front where they won’t be blocked from view) or as an edging, but they have another, very practical use: You can plant entire areas with them, and they can form a lowcare carpet. They’re especially nice for shady areas where lawn won’t grow.
Some favorite groundcovers include ajuga, candytuft, creeping phlox, epimedium, ivy, lamium, lily-of-the-valley, pachysandra, sweet woodruff, and verbena. more unusual perennials, or common ones in uncommon colors, turn to mailorder or Internet shopping. What’s out there may astound you — thousands and thousands of fascinating and beautiful plants await!
Here are some favorites:

• Sun perennials: Black-eyed Susan, coneflower, coreopsis, daylily, delphinium, gaura, hardy geranium, iris, penstemon, peony, phlox, pincushion flower, poppy, Russian sage, salvia, sedum, and Shasta daisy
• Shade perennials: Astilbe, bergenia, bleeding heart, brunnera, ferns, foamflower, goatsbeard, hellebore, heuchera, hosta, Solomon’s seal, spiderwort, and violet

Looking at lifespan
The life cycle of a perennial depends on various factors, notably the type of plant and whether it’s happy in your garden. But you can certainly expect to get a minimum of two years and a maximum of a decade out of the vast majority of perennials. For best results, of course, take good care of them. Most perennials are slow starters. During their first year in your garden, they tend to invest in developing a good root system. Be patient! After that’s established, they grow and expand, and the flower show gets better with each passing year. You can hurry things along by fertilizing regularly during the height of the growing season and get a head start by planting in the fall.

Considering fall planting
If you shop for perennials in late summer and get them in the ground a good six weeks or more before the first frost, those plants will definitely have a head start over their spring-planted counterparts. In fall, the soil is still warm and welcoming, and drenching fall rains can help water in the new kids. Depending on the severity of your winter, cutting back any new growth and mulching when winter is just around the corner may be good ideas.

Working with Woody (or Viney) Plants

Woody plants consist of shrubs, some vines, and trees. It’s probably a more important garden element than annuals and perennials simply because of the space that woody plants take up over the long term. You may have inherited some trees and shrubs when you moved into your present home, or you may be considering replacing what you have or installing some new ones. Whatever you’re thinking, choose and act wisely. Allow these bigger plants the elbow room, the deeper prepared soil, and the light they may need.
The reason trees, shrubs, and some vines are called woody plants is that the bulk of their stems, and branches, are, well, woody — not herbaceous. This growth doesn’t wither or die back in the wintertime. Yes, the leaves, flowers, fruits, berries, and seeds may fade and fall off, but the rest of the plant, its “bones,” so to speak, abides. And with each passing year, the main stem or trunk grows another layer thicker, and the plant may add additional branches or woody stems. No wonder woody plants are considered more-or-less permanent, and certainly substantial, parts of a home landscape. The difference between a shrub (or bush) and a tree can be pretty tenuous. Shrubs usually have multiple stems that branch close to the ground, and the plants are often at least as wide as they are tall. Trees are usually higher than they are wide, tend to be larger than shrubs, and usually have one or just a few predominant stems or trunks. These definitions become foggier when a very large shrub gets pruned to one stem to look like a tree or a small tree is trained to have multiple stems and is pruned to be a hedge. In these cases, are they trees or shrubs? Your call is as good as mine!

Shrubs

You may choose flowering or evergreen shrubs. Both kinds are worthwhile in different ways. Just bear in mind that flowering shrubs tend to have a fairly brief period of glory, and then you’re left with only foliage, so pick a shrub whose foliage you like. Good fall color, leaves, and/or berries may also be a factor in your decision. On the other hand, evergreen shrubs, whether broadleaf or needled, are valuable for long-term, consistent green color and, in many cases, a denser-growing profile.

Favorite shrubs for home landscapes include

• Flowering: Azalea, broom, buckeye, burning bush, daphne, flowering quince, forsythia, fothergilla, hibiscus, hydrangea, mock orange, smoke bush, sweetshrub, and winterberry
• Broadleaf evergreen (with spring flowers and more-or-less evergreen foliage): Andromeda, aucuba, barberry, boxwood, camellia, cotoneaster, gardenia, holly, laurel, mahonia, manzanita, mountain laurel, nandina, oleander, rhododendron, and rock rose
• Evergreen: Some cedars

Take a look at some of the roles shrubs can play:

• Foundation planting (around the base of your house to add architectural interest, insulation, and security)
• Boundary and hedge plantings (possibly in addition to, or in lieu of, fencing)
• Individual, solo spots of color (specimen plants)
• Mixed-border citizens for more architectural interest (have a mixture of shrubs, or have a mixture of one type of shrub and roses or perennials or vines or all of these)
• Backdrops for a flower border
• Entryway, poolside, deckside, or privacy plantings

Trees

Trees can raise your property value, improve air quality, prevent erosion, lower your air conditioning costs, and provide a handy support for your hammock. Not too shabby, eh?
For most home gardeners, trees in the landscape are often already present but need care and pruning to look good. Or you may be shopping for one or more ornamental or fruiting trees to add. As with shrubs, your options include deciduous (ones that drop their leaves each fall; they may flower and fruit or have berries or seedpods) and evergreen (with leaves or needles that remain year-round).

Favorite trees for home landscapes include

• Flowering and deciduous: Catalpa, crape myrtle, dogwood, dove tree, golden chain tree, horse chestnut, magnolia, redbud, serviceberry, silk tree, snowbell, and stewartia
• Shade trees: Ash, basswood, beech, catalpa, elm, ginkgo, honey locust, Kentucky coffee tree, linden, locust, various maples, various oaks, sourwood, sweet gum, and tupelo
• Evergreen: Arborvitae, cedar, cypress, false cypress, fir, hemlock, juniper, Norfolk Island pine, pine, spruce, and yew
• Fruit and nut trees: Almond, apple, apricot, avocado, cherry, chestnut, citrus, crabapple, fig, filbert (hazelnut), juneberry, loquat, mulberry, nectarine, olive, pawpaw, peach, pear, pecan, plum, quince, and walnut

Roles trees can play involve things like
* Shade
* Privacy (including noise reduction)
* Grandeur and substance in the landscape
* Food (fruits, berries, and nuts)
* Decorative beauty due to foliage (including fall color!)
* Shelter and food for birds and other wild creatures

Vines

Annual vines like morning glory, nasturtium, moonflower, and so on aren’t woody, but vines — woody or not — can be a substantial presence in your landscape. Vines like to grow upward, though some need assistance in terms of guidance and/or support.
Some vines are valued mainly for their lush foliage. Others flower and fruit, with attractive seedheads or berries by fall — all factors that naturally add to their appeal and affect placement and maintenance. Choose vines based on whether and when you want these extra, color-contributing features. Also, when purchasing, be sure to inquire about predicted mature size!

Some of favorite vines for home landscapes are

* _ Akebia
* _ Honeysuckle
* _ Bougainvillea
* _ Ivy
* _ Clematis
* _ Jasmine
* _ Climbing hydrangea
* _ Kiwi
* _ Climbing roses
* _ Mandevilla
* _ Creeping fig
* _ Trumpet creeper
* _ Dutchman’s pipe
* _ Wisteria
* _ Grape

Roles vines can play include

• Cloaking or disguising a fence (especially if it’s unattractive; or just use vines to make it into a more substantial barrier)
• Climbing a trellis that’s either against a wall or fence or out in the open (if well-supported)
• Covering a gazebo to give shade and privacy as well as beauty
• Decorating a pillar, arbor, or pergola, adding shade and beauty as well as making a major contribution to your garden landscape
• Adding extra, vertical color to your garden (which is especially nice if your garden is small or you want to give it a feeling of enclosure)
• Draping over an outbuilding or shed, an old or dead tree trunk, or another larger structure in need of some softening or disguise
• Providing flowers and edible fruit for decorating and eating

Note: Even ridiculously strong vines can’t help you swing from tree to tree, namely because they’re attached to the ground and not-so-attached at the top. If you really don’t want to stay grounded,