Helpful Tips and Reminders

Gardens are all about enjoyment—lots of beautiful flowers with a little bit of work.  Here are some simple tips that can help you with both.

Design tips

Use an odd number of plants when planting annuals, perennials, trees, and shrubs.

 

Use a thriller, filler, and a spiller in your container garden. Choose a tall focal plant for the center (thriller), medium-height plants around the focal plant (filler), and trailing plants around the edge (spiller). Feel free to mix annuals and perennials.

 

Plan for a succession of color throughout the season. Check the bloom times on perennials and be sure to include a mix of spring, summer, and fall bloomers. Add annuals for ongoing color. Tuck containers into your garden bed or border for an extra pop of color in the garden.

Reminders

Look for garden tools with brightly colored handles so they are easy to find when you put the down in the garden.

 

Take risks.  If you love a plant but aren’t sure how it will work in a certain spot—go ahead and try it!  You can always move it later if it looks wrong or doesn’t thrive.

 

Swap out plants each season—pansies in early spring, your favorite annuals for summer, mums in the fall—for year-round color.

 

Don’t like wearing garden gloves? A toothbrush works great for getting dirt out from under your fingernails.

 

Save your plant tags and note what worked well and what didn’t from year to year. Plant them near the plant or keep them in a notebook.

Care tips

Mulch your garden to conserve water and deter weeds. If occasional weeds appear (and they will), they’ll be much easier to pull.

 

Deadhead your garden. Flowering plants perform best when you remove dead or dying blooms. Deadheading gives the plant energy for new blooms and makes your garden look well cared for.

 

Be sure your planters have drainage holes. Proper drainage is essential to a healthy container planting.

Terms to know

Light conditions

Just like people, plants enjoy varying amounts of sun–some are sun worshippers, others prefer cool shady spots. Make sure your plants thrive by planting them where they’ll get the right amount of light to thrive.
 

Full Sun: 8 hours of direct sunlight a day
 

Part Sun: 4 to 8 hours of direct sunlight a day (avoid hot afternoon sun)
 

Shade: Less than 4 hours of direct sunlight a day (avoid hot afternoon sun)

Plant type

Perennials: Die back each fall and reappear the following year.

Annuals: Die back each fall and need to be replaced the following year.

Biennials: Take two years to complete their life cycle—flowering every two years.

Zone

Hardiness zones give gardeners an easy way to identify the geographic locations where specific plants can grow, including their ability to withstand winter temperatures in that zone. A plant that is “hardy to zone 10,” for example, can withstand a minimum temperature of -1°C (the minimum winter temperature in zone 10).

If you don't know your hardiness zone, see our map or find it by postal code

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Soil Chemistry

Different plants require different pH levels, so knowing your soil type helps you select plants that will thrive in your garden.  You can also use soil additives to change the pH to match the level needed by your favorite plants.

 

Neutral soil: When the pH is 7 the soil is neither acidic nor alkaline.

Acidic soil:  When the soil pH is 0 to 7 the soil is acidic.  The lower the number the more acidic the soil.

Alkaline soil:  When the soil pH is 7 to 14 the soil is alkaline.  The higher the number the more alkaline the soil. 

 

For a simple soil tester try the Luster Leaf 1612 Rapitest pH Soil Tester

Deadhead

Deadheading plants by removing spent blooms encourages new buds to form.  Since plants are trying to produce seeds, removing the flowers before seeds form promotes more flowering and extends the bloom time.   

 

For most plants, you can simply pinch off the withered flower.  For plants with thicker stems you’ll need to get out the scissors or pruning shears. 

Pinch Back

A good technique for creating bushier plants, herbs, and vegetables is to pinch back the top of the plant before it flowers.  This redirects the plant’s energy into creating new shoots rather than growing tall and leggy, making them fuller and easier to manage.