Not all of us are adept at garden design and only some of us can afford professional help.\u00a0 What can we do to get beauty in our landscapes at a cost that still allows us to buy plants?<\/p>\n
Of course there are numerous internet sites, software programs, and other web-based means of finding garden plans or formulating designs.\u00a0 But there is another, easily overlooked way to give yourself a quick assist in the design department\u2014the catalogs and websites of plant vendors.\u00a0 Often you can make use of their expert plant combination and design ideas without spending a nickel.\u00a0 All it takes is a little browsing in the right places.<\/p>\n
We all have specific garden situations that befuddle us.\u00a0 These include, but are not limited to: dry shade, hungry varmints, wet spots, sun-baked patches or awkward corners.\u00a0 You may have tried various solutions to these problems and come up disappointed.\u00a0 Or you may have commit the horticultural sin that I perpetrate frequently\u2014getting started on a garden solution only to lose interest or run short of the time necessary to complete it.<\/p>\n
Never fear, the garden gods forgive almost everything.<\/p>\n
When you are ready to try again, turn to the vendors.<\/p>\n
One of my favorites, Bluestone Perennials, lists ten separate garden plans on its \u201cPre-Planned Gardens\u201d page, from \u201cLamp Post Garden\u201d to \u2018Expandable Perennial Garden\u201d.\u00a0 If you click on the individual garden tabs, you can see plant lists and even garden layouts and planting guides that you can download or print out from your computer.\u00a0 While these layouts are designed to fit a specific space configurations and dimensions, you can easily adapt them to fit your individual circumstances.<\/p>\n
Of you want, you can order all the plants from that vendor, or go to your local garden center.\u00a0 If you already have some successful specimens on the site, you can simply fill in from the vendor\u2019s planting list.<\/p>\n
Go to the website of the venerable New England plant purveyor, White Flower Farm, and click on \u201cGarden Designs\u201d to find listings for both container and in-ground planting schemes.\u00a0 The site shows a picture of the designated landscape\u2014for instance \u201cMeadow Garden\u201d– and the \u201cProduct Details\u201d tab provides a plant list, along with dimensions.\u00a0 You don\u2019t get a plan to download, but you can figure out the layout by scrutinizing the picture.<\/p>\n
Some vendors don\u2019t provide plans, but do feature plant suggestions for specific situations.\u00a0 The website for David Austin Roses, for example, has an entire section on \u201cSpecific Situations\u201d, and the available options range from \u201cRose Border\u201d to \u201cShady Areas\u201d to \u2018Very Few Thorns\u201d.\u00a0 In every case, the vendor suggests specific rose varieties that do well in the designated situation, along with mature dimensions for each variety.\u00a0 All you have to do is select from the suggested varieties in sufficient quantities to fill your space, and you are all set.\u00a0 Once again, you don\u2019t have to buy anything, but can use the \u201cSpecific Situations Guide\u201d for ideas and inspiration.<\/p>\n
Some vendors offer curated collections of plants that will work together in selected settings.\u00a0 These collections take the guesswork out of plant and color combinations and assure sequential bloom times.\u00a0 The collections do not include planting layouts, but if you pay attention to the information provided about mature dimensions, you can figure out a logical layout.\u00a0 Select Seeds, which sells old-fashioned and heirloom varieties of seeds and plants, offers seven collections of various annual plants, which are suitable for either container or in-ground growing.<\/p>\n
If you have a specific garden theme in mind, some merchants provide collections of plants that fit the theme.\u00a0 Plant Delights Nursery, which stocks an amazing array of species and varieties, features ten different themes, from \u201cRock Garden Plants\u201d to \u201cNight Gardens\u201d.\u00a0 You pick and choose from among the offerings, using plant dimensions and requirements to determine which ones will fit your space and situation.<\/p>\n
I like the ease offered by these vendor-conceived options and the fact that the selections can add a bit of cohesion to home landscapes.\u00a0 Even if I don\u2019t use all of the suggested plants, I get ideas from the combinations and layouts.\u00a0 All vendors include lots of planting and cultural information, which also takes the guesswork out of installation and maintenance.<\/p>\n
As winter draws to a welcome end, we are all looking for inspiration.\u00a0 It is closer than you think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Not all of us are adept at garden design and only some of us can afford professional help.\u00a0 What can we do to get beauty in our landscapes at a cost that still allows us to buy plants? Of course there are numerous internet sites, software programs, and other web-based means of finding garden plans … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3,5],"tags":[2044,2045,2046,720,30],"class_list":["post-2651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","category-winter","tag-landscape-design-design-solutions","tag-plant-combinations","tag-special-situation-gardens","tag-theme-gardens","tag-thrifty-gardening"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2651"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2652,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651\/revisions\/2652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}