Written by Adam Latham
The height of planting season is upon us. How do you select the ideal plant for a particular location? It doesn’t matter if you desire an annual, perennial, shrub, or tree, the basics of proper plant selection start with a green-industry standard phrase: “right plant, right place.”
Many people have made the mistake of selecting a pretty plant first and then plopping it in the ground wherever it fits, usually one foot off the foundation of a home, wall, or fence with little regard for the light, space, soil, or moisture requirements the plant needs to flourish. But before you start lamenting the mistakes you’ve made in the past, don’t worry, even people in the green business don’t heed our own advice. A good place to start the selection process is by going to URI Extension’s online database of Sustainable Trees & Shrubs at http://www.uri.edu/research/sustland. There is a useful search feature to help narrow your choices by checking criteria such as pH, sun, shade, natives, coastal environments, and deer resistance.
Probably the most common mistake I’ve seen is selecting a plant species that is too large for the available space. You’ve seen homes that suffer from it. It’s that place down the street were the foundation plants block the windows or threaten to engulf the house. I’ve always wanted to call the shrub police to come and ticket the offender, cut down the shrubs, and reveal a beautiful home.
Be sure to read the plant tag or ask a knowledgeable horticulturalist about the growth characteristics of the plant you’re interested in. Unless you’re planting a hedge or mass planting, give your plants enough space to fully develop without having to use looping shears to keep them under control.
Soils
Moist, well-drained soil is the ideal soil condition you find on a lot of plant labels. I don’t know if that soil exists. I don’t see it often, perhaps in the floodplain soils of the Connecticut River or the turf farms of South County. My garden soil is dry, gravelly, and doughty with a good dose of full sun, too. I’ve also developed planting schemes for my clients on poor draining, clay-based soils. The only way to find out what soils you have at your site is to put a shovel in the ground. It’s very important to do this before you purchase your plant material. You might be surprised to find an underlying, unexpected condition.
I had a client who had purchased a new home and had spent additional money on improving the landscaping over and above the typical builder’s package. I was called in after the fact to assess the newly installed rhododendrons that were rapidly declining in health. The first thing I did was to dig around the rootball to see if the plants were properly installed. I found that the underlying subgrade was compacted so densely that the irrigation water could not drain through and was pooling around the rootball. The plants were literally drowning. Virtually all broadleaf rhododendrons abhor wet soils. This was clearly a situation where the plant was not matched with the soil conditions.
I’ve made errors too. The word hydrangea starts with the root word hydra, for water loving. Remember, my garden has droughty soils and my landscape is not irrigated. But I just had to try some Nikko Blue Hydrangeas. I suppose I really wanted to see just how little water these plants require. After all, hydrangeas flourish and bloom all over the Cape in sandy soils, so why not mine? Out of the four I’ve planted, one has been removed for being near death and three others have barely limped along for four or five years. Every summer the leaves on these poor plants shrivel, wilt, and scorch. Not a single flower has bloomed. No wonder these plants are barely alive. What was I thinking?
Pushing the Hardiness Zone
Our region ranges from zone 5b in the northwest corner of Rhode Island to the southern coastal areas of Massachusetts in zone 7. I’ve been trying to use the native American Holly on my plant lists for quite some time. Hampered by a lack of supply of selected cultivars, I’ve inquired as to the scarcity and have been told by nurseries that the plant is marginally hardy in my area. And with the popularity of the blue hollies and Nellie Stevens Holly, nurseries are reluctant to grow another, less-popular species. But they grow here in the wild; with the historically milder winters and earlier blooming times of trees and shrubs recorded by the Arnold Arboretum you just might be able to successfully grow plant material with more mid-Atlantic or southern “roots” such as American Holly.
You probably have an area in your landscape that catches the winter rays of the sun, or maybe a place with morning sun protected from the drying winter winds. Perhaps there is a slight slope to the south. These areas are referred to as microclimates. Did you know that here in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts the intensity of the sun and day length in winter is actually comparable to northern Portugal and Spain? It’s true: we’re all on or near 42° latitude. By protecting plants from the cold and drying winter winds, creating places that take advantage of the winter sun’s rays, and using south-facing slopes, you might be able to grow plants you never expected would grow here. I know of a nurseryman in South Dartmouth who has been experimenting with growing southern magnolias that he brought back from a trip to the Deep South. I wouldn’t recommend having plants shipped here from the far south, but you may want to experiment with pushing the plant hardiness envelope by one zone in these warmer or sheltered locations.
Read plant labels, research before buying, dig a few holes in the ground, and observe the microclimate in your home landscape. You’ll be rewarded with healthier, lower maintenance plantings.
The height of planting season is upon us. How do you select the ideal plant for a particular location? It doesn’t matter if you desire an annual, perennial, shrub, or tree, the basics of proper plant selection start with a green-industry standard phrase: “right plant, right place.”
Many people have made the mistake of selecting a pretty plant first and then plopping it in the ground wherever it fits, usually one foot off the foundation of a home, wall, or fence with little regard for the light, space, soil, or moisture requirements the plant needs to flourish. But before you start lamenting the mistakes you’ve made in the past, don’t worry, even people in the green business don’t heed our own advice. A good place to start the selection process is by going to URI Extension’s online database of Sustainable Trees & Shrubs at http://www.uri.edu/research/sustland. There is a useful search feature to help narrow your choices by checking criteria such as pH, sun, shade, natives, coastal environments, and deer resistance.
Probably the most common mistake I’ve seen is selecting a plant species that is too large for the available space. You’ve seen homes that suffer from it. It’s that place down the street were the foundation plants block the windows or threaten to engulf the house. I’ve always wanted to call the shrub police to come and ticket the offender, cut down the shrubs, and reveal a beautiful home.
Be sure to read the plant tag or ask a knowledgeable horticulturalist about the growth characteristics of the plant you’re interested in. Unless you’re planting a hedge or mass planting, give your plants enough space to fully develop without having to use looping shears to keep them under control.
Soils
Moist, well-drained soil is the ideal soil condition you find on a lot of plant labels. I don’t know if that soil exists. I don’t see it often, perhaps in the floodplain soils of the Connecticut River or the turf farms of South County. My garden soil is dry, gravelly, and doughty with a good dose of full sun, too. I’ve also developed planting schemes for my clients on poor draining, clay-based soils. The only way to find out what soils you have at your site is to put a shovel in the ground. It’s very important to do this before you purchase your plant material. You might be surprised to find an underlying, unexpected condition.
I had a client who had purchased a new home and had spent additional money on improving the landscaping over and above the typical builder’s package. I was called in after the fact to assess the newly installed rhododendrons that were rapidly declining in health. The first thing I did was to dig around the rootball to see if the plants were properly installed. I found that the underlying subgrade was compacted so densely that the irrigation water could not drain through and was pooling around the rootball. The plants were literally drowning. Virtually all broadleaf rhododendrons abhor wet soils. This was clearly a situation where the plant was not matched with the soil conditions.
I’ve made errors too. The word hydrangea starts with the root word hydra, for water loving. Remember, my garden has droughty soils and my landscape is not irrigated. But I just had to try some Nikko Blue Hydrangeas. I suppose I really wanted to see just how little water these plants require. After all, hydrangeas flourish and bloom all over the Cape in sandy soils, so why not mine? Out of the four I’ve planted, one has been removed for being near death and three others have barely limped along for four or five years. Every summer the leaves on these poor plants shrivel, wilt, and scorch. Not a single flower has bloomed. No wonder these plants are barely alive. What was I thinking?
Pushing the Hardiness Zone
Our region ranges from zone 5b in the northwest corner of Rhode Island to the southern coastal areas of Massachusetts in zone 7. I’ve been trying to use the native American Holly on my plant lists for quite some time. Hampered by a lack of supply of selected cultivars, I’ve inquired as to the scarcity and have been told by nurseries that the plant is marginally hardy in my area. And with the popularity of the blue hollies and Nellie Stevens Holly, nurseries are reluctant to grow another, less-popular species. But they grow here in the wild; with the historically milder winters and earlier blooming times of trees and shrubs recorded by the Arnold Arboretum you just might be able to successfully grow plant material with more mid-Atlantic or southern “roots” such as American Holly.
You probably have an area in your landscape that catches the winter rays of the sun, or maybe a place with morning sun protected from the drying winter winds. Perhaps there is a slight slope to the south. These areas are referred to as microclimates. Did you know that here in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts the intensity of the sun and day length in winter is actually comparable to northern Portugal and Spain? It’s true: we’re all on or near 42° latitude. By protecting plants from the cold and drying winter winds, creating places that take advantage of the winter sun’s rays, and using south-facing slopes, you might be able to grow plants you never expected would grow here. I know of a nurseryman in South Dartmouth who has been experimenting with growing southern magnolias that he brought back from a trip to the Deep South. I wouldn’t recommend having plants shipped here from the far south, but you may want to experiment with pushing the plant hardiness envelope by one zone in these warmer or sheltered locations.
Read plant labels, research before buying, dig a few holes in the ground, and observe the microclimate in your home landscape. You’ll be rewarded with healthier, lower maintenance plantings.