Achieving a healthy, low-maintenance home landscape starts with putting the right plant in the right place. Select plants that match a site’s soil, light, water, and climatic conditions. Buy quality plants that welcome wildlife, consider plant size when you make your purchase, and aim for a diversity of trees, shrubs, groundcovers, and flowers. Once these plants are established, they’ll require little—if any—supplemental water, fertilizer, or pesticides, saving you time and money.
Have you ever bought a plant that looked great at the nursery or garden center, only to have it die once you planted it? One way to avoid this heartbreaking scenario is by putting the right plant in the right place — matching the plant to the site conditions. This encompasses far more than simply putting sunworshiping plants in your yard’s sunny spots. You also need to consider things like maintenance and water needs.
Know Your Zone!
The USDA and American Horticultural Society (AHS) describe plants in terms of the lowest and highest temperatures where they can be grown. To use this information, you need to know:
■ Your zones for heat tolerance and cold hardiness. Discover that information at these links:
For cold: http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/hzm-se1.html
For heat: http://www.ahs.org/publications/heat_zone_finder.htm
■ The zones for plants you want to grow. Unearth that information on plant tags, in reference books or on the EDIS website at edis.ifas.ufl.edu or the FYN website at fyn.ifas.ufl.edu. Match the plants you want to grow with your growing zones and you will improve your odds of gardening success.
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