Preliminary Steps Help You Pick the Right Plants

By C. Rae Hozer, Cumberland County Master Gardener

Pick the right plant. Put it in the right place. Then treat it right.

That’s sage garden advise. All three factors are important to success.

Preliminary Steps can Help You find the Right Plants for Your Landscape  

Do up-front fact finding before trying to pick the proverbial “right plant” or before asking someone else to recommend plants for your landscape. Keeping notes and using a digital camera to record plants or gardens with a look that appeals to you can make planning and shopping for a landscape project easier. Recommended preliminary steps:

1. Know conditions at your site. Draw a sketch showing the property with buildings. Give a rough estimate of distances. Include compass directions (to help determine sun exposure). Make notes indicating windy, hot, or shady locations. Make notes about slopes, poor drainage, etc. Have a soil test done to determine the need for lime or fertilizer once you have a general idea of the type of plants to be grown in the area being planned.

2. Note the maintenance level you’ll be able to/wish to provide.

3. What ornamental plant features do you like– foliage color, texture, evergreens; flowers; exfoliating bark? What favorite plants should be included? Are there plants you don’t like?

4. Notice what grows well in your neighborhood and region. If you see appealing specimens/landscapes, snap a picture. This helps in plant identification and shows whether a plant’s growing conditions are similar (sun/shade, etc.) to the site you are developing.

5. Plant specimens are labeled in display or botanical gardens and arboretums. Write down  Latin plant names (as well as common names). Note outstanding features (example, big red flowers). If that exact variety isn’t available find another with the same attribute.

Fall Gardeners’ Festival may help in Quest for Right Plants 

Cumberland County Tennessee Master Gardeners (CCMGA) are hosting a Fall Gardeners’ Festival Tuesday September 29 from noon until 6pm on the grounds of Discovery Gardens within the UT Plateau AgResearch and Education Center, 320 Experiment Station Road off Hwy 70N north of Crossville. Admission is free. Garden talks by UT experts and local Master Gardeners. Many plant recommendations. Hear about ‘Magnificent Flowering Trees for Appalachian Gardens’ and ‘Great Plants for Fall Gardens’ (noon & 3pm), ‘Tough Enough: Low Care Roses for TN’ (1pm & 4pm), ‘Woody Ornamentals for the Plateau’ and ‘Well Designed Mixed Gardens’ (2pm & 5pm). Other gardening sessions: ‘Making Hypertufa Planters’, ‘Tennessee Yards and Gardens’, ‘Plant and Garden Photography’, and ‘Working with Nature: Organic Gardening’. Tours of the UT Plateau AgResearch and Education Center as well as of Discovery Gardens (Tree & Shrub Garden, Sun Perennial Garden, Celebration of Life Memorial Garden, Passive Composting Exhibit, and Rose Garden) will be held throughout the afternoon. Bring samples of yard & garden problems to Ask-the-Expert booth for diagnosis. The Master Gardeners (MGs) have developed an interactive computer disc with color photos showing hundreds of plants suitable to Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau (all successfully grown by MGs in Cumberland County). This resource CD will be on sale ($10). Details at Cumberland County Tennessee Master Gardeners website, www.CCMGA.org. 

Plateau Gardening is written by Master Gardeners for those tending home landscapes and gardens in Tennessee’s Upper Cumberland Region. Contact UT Extension Cumberland County, P.O. Box 483, Crossville, TN 38557, (phone 931-484-6743) for quick answers to specific questions, free publications, or to learn about becoming a Master Gardener. Email comments or yard and garden inquiries to Master Gardener Rae, mgardenerrae@frontiernet.net.