How to Create Your Dream Garden, Articles, Food & Home

Turn your backyard into an outdoor oasis with these tips for picking, planting, and caring for outdoor plants.

Pick the Right Plants

Landscape and professional gardeners know that plants that are not suited for your yard’s conditions won’t last a long time no matter how much care they receive. This is true for any plant capable of living more than one season and even, to some extent, for the annuals that will grace your yard for only a few months. Make a list of the conditions at your home: the pH and work-ability of your soil, sun and shade, rainfall, winter cold hardiness, summer heat and humidity, and anything else you think might be important. Good reference books list the needs of common garden plants, but common sense will get you far. For example, if you live near the Great Lakes, use plants native to that area or to other parts of the world with similar conditions and you can’t go far wrong. Also be mindful of what is likely to get eaten by wildlife in your area, such as deer. If you don’t know, inquire at your local nursery.

Fit Plants to Your Yard

If you choose acid-loving shrubs, such as rhododendrons and azaleas, for your landscape but your soil isn’t acidic, understand that you’re creating a lifelong maintenance chore for yourself. Sure, soil pH can be adjusted, but only temporarily. Products that lower soil pH do so only for a season, if that long, so you’ll have to apply them year after year, forever. A garden that requires extra care can still have a long life, but the chances decrease as the maintenance load goes up. Keep this in mind before planting a sun-loving shrub in a shady yard or a moisture-loving plant in semiarid terrain.

Say “No” to Invasive Plants

No matter how much you like a pretty but invasive plant, you and your garden are probably better off without it in the long run. Plants that can rapidly overrun their neighbours probably will, and once that happens, the whole garden may have to be torn out. So for the long-term health of your garden, pass on the invasives and stick with well-behaved plants that make good neighbours. A reputable nursery can help you sort out the two.

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