Right Plant Right Place

In landscaping, there is a saying, “right plant right place.” This post discusses how to pick the correct plants for the correct location.

Do you ever walk into your local nursery and see the wide variety of plants available; evergreens, flowering shrubs, ground cover, grasses, annuals and perennials, and trees? Before picking one up, you need to make sure it is the right plant for the right place.

Read the Label

A great way to determine if the plant fits a space is to read the label.

Many plant growers include a label with their plants that provides basic information and essential information about the plant. Understanding this information and how it relates to where you install this plant is critical for the future success of the plant.

Labels generally include how tall and wide the plant gets, the light and water requirements, the optimal soil conditions, and the zones it grows. Let’s look at why this information is important.

How Big Does The Plant Get?

This question is the most overlooked one. When you purchase a plant from the nursery, it isn’t at its mature height and width. The plant grows larger and wider over time. Ask yourself, how much room is there for this plant to grow?

tree and power lines — Tree and Power Lines

When planting a tree, remember to look up. Are there power lines, street lights, or other obstacles in the way of future tree growth?

The picture on the right shows a tree severely pruned due to interference with the power lines. This severe pruning creates an unhealthy tree.

When buying shrubs, make sure there is enough room for the shrub’s full-grown width. So many people purchase shrubs and plant them right up against their homes, not leaving space for the shrub to grow.

When installing plants in a row or a group, be sure to consider the width of the plants at full maturity and not the width when you purchased them.

The picture on the left shows arborvitae planted in a row. The spacing in between the trees leaves room for growth.

Doing these small calculations saves you money, so you don’t buy more plants than needed to fill a space.

Just like people, plants only grow to a certain size. Knowing the size of the plant at maturity is critical.

Does the Plant Like Sun, Shade, or a Little of Both?

Answering this question is pretty simple. Does the area where you want to put the plant receive more sun, more shade during the day, or a little of both?

Getting it right is vital. Installing a shade-loving plant in full sunlight is detrimental to the plant.

For example, most hostas love the shade. If a hosta is in a bed that receives full sun, its leaves burn, and the plant slowly dies.

Similarly, a plant that needs full sun installed in a shaded area struggles to survive because it isn’t getting the direct sunlight it needs.

Planting salvia in a bed that receives a lot of shade reduces flowering and the overall growth of the plant.

What is the Plant’s Hardiness Zone?

The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) has a plant hardiness zone map. The map shows the expected average minimum winter temperature for different parts of the country.

It is divided into different zones. These zones range from zone 1a, Alaska, to zone 13b, south Florida, and the Keys.

Knowing which zone you live in is essential. Some plants do not do well in very cold temperatures, whereas others do and vice versa.

For example, a tulip loses its ability to come back year after year in zones greater than 7. The winters in zones eight and higher don’t get cold enough for tulips. Palm trees prefer warmer versus colder winter temperatures.

Does the Plant Prefer Wet or Dry Conditions?

Plants evolved to grow in almost every environment on earth, from swamps, marshes, and bogs to arid regions and deserts. While many of us don’t live in these extreme environments, microenvironments around our homes imitate these more extreme environmental conditions.

For example, depressions in your lawn, areas around the gutter downspouts, or the condensation dip tube on your exterior A/C unit produce or hold moisture for extended periods. These areas create wet conditions for plants.

Alternatively, a south-facing slope, raised planter beds, edges of hardscape features (walkways or walls), or even places under eaves produce microenvironments that either receive less rainfall, dry out faster, or have hotter soil temperatures.

Plants like coneflowers, ornamental grasses, and cedar trees do well in these dryer locations.

Understanding the microenvironments around your landscape improves your ability to select the right plant for the right place.

What Are the Optimal Soil Conditions?

The label tells you the type of soil the plant prefers. On this label, the azalea likes slightly acidic soil. To determine your soil conditions, you must perform a soil test.

When the results from the soil test return, modify your soil by adding the necessary soil amendments.

Be sure to research the plants you want to install and the optimal soil conditions for those plants. You don’t want to purchase a plant that doesn’t like clay soil when that is what you have.

Other Things to Consider

Traffic Patterns

How do people and pets move around your yard and landscape? Would planting a rose bush with thorns next to a pathway be a good idea? Would groundcover survive planted where a dog that likes to dig?

Grouping Plants

Install plants that like dry conditions with other plants that like dry conditions. Do the same with plants that like wet conditions. This grouping of plants also goes for plants that like shade and those that prefer sun. If you mix and match, the plants not getting their needs met suffer while the other plants are happy.

Salt Tolerance

If you live along the coast, make sure the plant tolerates the salt levels of where you live.

salt tolerant plants — Salt Tolerant Plants
Top (L) Oleander, Top (R) Japanese Black Pine, Bottom (L) Prickly Pear, Bottom (R) Honey Locust

Purpose of the Plant

If the plants you buy have a purpose, make sure they fulfill that.

Screening

If you want to screen your driveway from your neighbors, you don’t want to purchase a deciduous tree (drops its leaves in the fall), as it only acts as a screen when it has leaves. You want to buy evergreen trees.

Fall Color

If you want to add fall color to your landscaping, purchase plants that give you that color when the weather cools.

boston ivy — Boston ivy turns a bright red in the fall.

Purple berries are showy on the Beautyberry in the fall.

Wildlife

Are you wanting to attract wildlife or deter it? Marigolds and bee balm are just a couple of plants that are said to deter deer from the yard. Many perennials attract bees and butterflies.

My Process When Looking for Plants

The first thing I look at when deciding on a plant is how much room is available. I want to pick a plant that fits the available space and doesn’t get too big. When a plant fits the space, it significantly reduces the amount of pruning I have to do to keep it from becoming overgrown.

I then ask myself a few questions: Do I want an evergreen or a deciduous plant, perhaps something that flowers? Next, how much sunlight is available? Is the area shady, or does it receive sun all day long?

Then I want to know about the soil conditions the plant will be growing in. Does the area stay wet for long periods? Is it rocky or sandy? Once I know the soil conditions where a plant is going and answer the previous questions, I significantly improve my chances of picking the right plant for the right place.

At this point, I still might not know the exact plant, but I know what kind of plant I am looking for.

I head to my local nursery with my checklist in hand to discover my perfect plant. Remember, plants often come with information tags for quick identification and characteristics. If you only see the name on the label, a quick internet search with your phone leads to the info you need.

After a few minutes, I exclude several plants, learn about a few new plants, and narrow it down to two or three plants that fit my needs.