Be selective: Get the Right Garden Stuff
By Laurie Casey
The Morton Arboretum
A beautifully-designed garden featuring an interesting mix of healthy plants is a joy to behold—perhaps even more so when it’s your own.
This is the last in a series of three columns on home landscape design. In week one, we talked about analyzing your yard. In week two we discussed how to create a design of your proposed landscape. Now you’re ready to choose an area of your yard and select the plants you’ll use.
The key to this stage is to start small says Karla Lynch, The Morton Arboretum’s manager of horticulture education. “Pick one part of your property to work on, such as the area right by the front door or the patio,” said Lynch. “Think about how that part fits in the big picture and then hone in on that area.”
One way Lynch limits the area’s size is by considering a very practical criterion: the time it will take to water the new plants. “Never plant more than you can water. If you don’t have time to water your new plants, you’ll waste your money,” she said.
This stage is all about finding the right plant for the right place. If you want a tree to shade the patio, base your decision on your site analysis from week one, which helped determine the growing conditions (amount of sun, soil moisture, wind exposure and available space, including height and width). You can also start thinking about other characteristics: Will a round or columnar tree fit best? Do you want showy spring flowers—or a tree that won’t “litter”? How about fall color? Now is the time to pore through catalogs, books and gardening magazines for ideas for trees and plants that fit these requirements.
Finding the right mix of plants can build interest through the entire year. Consider foliage color, blooming time and texture, a concept that can be tricky for new gardeners. “To work with texture, you have to have two different textures next to each other to see that they are different,” explained Lynch. Foliage can be fine-textured like the densely spaced leaflets on a maidenhair fern’s fronds. Coarse-textured plants, like catalpa trees, have big leaves that are far apart. Medium-textured plants include honeysuckle, which has 2-3 inch long leaves that are 1-2 inches apart.
Finally, we’ve all admired gardens with that certain something that draws you in and beckons you to examine it more closely. This is what Lynch calls, “visual energy.” A shot of ornamental grass waving in the breeze can have visual energy. Moving water in the form of a fountain or pond has it, too. Or you can use a plant with a surprising color to establish a focal point.
Choose a pleasing mixture of the right species that will thrive in your yard will help you build a garden that has “all the right stuff.” Visit the Arboretum’s Selection Guide at www.mortonarb.org, by choosing “Plant Trees” to find informational leaflets about specific trees and other plants that are hardy for our climate and soil.
Glad You Asked
Q. I’d like to use American hornbeam to shade my patio. What are its growing requirements?
A. An excellent choice for shading a small area, American hornbeam can grow in full sun to heavy shade. It is tolerant of sunny, dry sites, but be sure to mulch it. It prefers growing in rich, cool, moist soil.
Q. Is Amur cherry with its very attractive, peeling bronze bark suited to an in-ground planter near my deck?
A. Yes, but monitor soil moisture. The roots should remain moist, but not wet.
At the Arboretum
More cities such as Chicago are adopting invasive species ordinances that outlaw some of the common garden plants we’ve used for decades. Learn about invasives, and take home ideas for beautiful, hardy alternatives you can use in your home landscape at “Adaptive or Invasive? Woody Landscape Plants in a Changing World.” February 6, 9 a.m.-noon. Fee is $35. Registration now open. Call (630) 719-2468.
Laurie Casey is a staff writer at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle.