KEEP THINGS SIMPLE
Large groups of only a few plant varieties look better than single specimens of many different plants. If plant type "A" is to the left of your door, it isn't necessary to have the same plant to the right. Symmetrical plantings usually don't look natural.

FIT PLANTS TO SPACES

Do not overplant around the foundation area of your home. You want to complement your home, not hide it; a common mistake. Use summer blooming & fragrant plants in outdoor living areas: Summersweet, Potentilla, Honeysuckle, Coreopsis, Buttonbush, Oakleaf Hydrangea, Sweetbay Magnolia, Fragrant Azaleas, Fringetree. Use plants with horizontal branching to break up the corners of a building: Dogwood; Stewartia, Hornbeam, Oxydendrum, Hobblebush Emmenoptyrys.

MAKE IT INTERESTING & TIE IT TOGETHER

Create limited sight distances within your garden so a visitor CANNOT see everything at once. Hiding things around a corner or creating a barrier with tall plants creates a welcome element of surprise. Repeating the same plant in various parts of the garden creates unity. Didn't I see this before? Repeating & massing in unequal triangle patterns looks natural. Odd numbers of one plant variety look better than a pair or even number appearing more natural & random to the eye. Past seven though, it doesn't really matter

BREAK THE MONOTONY

Try to use more than evergreens. Deciduous plants add fall color, a sense of seasons and color variations through flowering displays. Why not liven up your garden with some plant groups you have not tried yet? If you have been strictly a rhodo person, try some conifers or vise versa. Remember what grandma said...a garden is never finished.

FRAGRANT PLANTS & FLOWERS

Buddleia, Calycanthus, Cephalanthus, Chimonanthus, Chionanthus, Clethra, Comptonia, Corylopsis, Daphne, Some Azaleas, Fothergilla, Gaultheria, Hamamelis, Ilicium, Lindera, Magnolia, Myrica, Sarcococca, Styrax, Zenobia.

FERNS MAKE GREAT FILLER PLANTS

They are so easy & perfect for filling in large areas, creating a peaceful, harmonizing effect Christmas fern tolerates drier soils. Cinnamon tolerates wet. Hayscented spreads very fast. Our Fern list has more varieties. Our prices represent true value for top, Northern grown plants.

PLEASING COMBINATIONS

Coarse textured rhodos combine well with perennials, wildflowers & finer textured plants: Paxistima, Dwarf Mahonia, Partridgeberry,Foamflower, Bearberry, Cranberry & small leaved rhodos. Bold leaved Galax is exquisite with fine textured plants like Bearberry, Paxistima, Mitchella & Heathers. Some plants while beautiful by themselves, look best planted in clumps or drifts, such as: Daylilies, Aronia, Wildflowers, Heathers & Ferns. Gingers mixed with Japanese Painted fern are dramatic. Bearberry makes a great combo with conifers.

FOLIAGE TEXTURE, BRANCHING & BARK

Plants with special texture can draw interest: the fuzzy leaves of rhodo Yakusimanum, the waxy blue foliage of Zenobia & the mottling of Asarum shuttleworthi or Viola grypoceras are examples. Huge leaved plants: Gunnera, Rodgersia, Paulonia, Magnolia tripetala, Emmenoptyrys. Many plants have interesting branches, especially attractive in winter: Japanese Maples, Blueberry, Hobblebush, Dawn Redwood, Stewartia, Birch, Dogwoods, Hornbeam. Some plants with interesting bark: Stewartia, Clethra, Blueberry, Japanese & Paperbark Maples, Shadblow, Dawn Redwood, Heptacodium, Taxodium, Birch.

DON'T FIGHT YOUR SITE

If you have wet soil, use plants that prefer or tolerate wet, rather than spending money to fix the soil. The same goes for sandy soil, etc. This saves you time and money and your plants will be that much happier. Use the contours of your land if you have them. Ups and downs make the garden interesting. There is no need for a flat garden, unless you plan on building a putting green.

MICRO-CLIMATE & MOTHER NATURE

North facing slopes in a woodland area are ideal for rhododendrons. Temperature fluctuations are minimized, drainage is good & the slope to the North maximizes beneficial winter shade. Areas near your foundation are good for tenderer plants, especially near chimneys. Remember, East & North sides of a house (out of wind) are actually the most protected; not the South side. instead of grass & the chemicals needed to grow it, use low maintenance groundcovers, they'll cost less in the long run. Read Noah's Garden & Planting Noah's Garden by Sara Stein. Do not rake away leaves, they make great mulch. Pine needles are also great mulch, they break down into perfect soil. By the way, isn't that how it worked in the forest forever?

ERICACEAOUS PLANTS SUCH AS

Rhodos, Blueberry, Andromeda, Cranberry, Oxydendrum, Kalmia, Gaultheria, Azalea & others blend nicely. Ericaceaous gardens are fascinating.

WET SOIL & DRY SOIL

If you have WET clay soil: try Summersweet, a great plant liking wet soil.
Others: Azalea Viscosum, Sweetbay Magnolia, Fringetree, Buttonbush, White Cedar, Baldcypress, Sweetgum, Winterberry Holly, Clethra & Mountain Holly.

These are especially good for DRY areas: Aster, Bayberry, Sweetfern, Smoketree, Hickory, Leatherwood; Junipers, Bearberry, Heather when established, Christmas Boxwood and Wintersweet

EARLY COLOR & LATE COLOR, SEQUENCE

Wildflowers add a color burst before major trees & shrubs bloom. Early blooming wildflowers: Spring Beauty, Bluets, Trillium, Hepatica, Bloodroot, Violas, Shootingstar Columbine. Hybrid Witchhazels, Wintersweet and Winterhazel bloom between January & April depending on climate. Rhoda Dauricum & Mucronulatum are very early blooming & very hardy. Some plants that bloom during the fall: Toad Lily, Franklinia, Seven Son, some Daylilies, Potentilla, Coreopsis, Honeysuckles, Disanthus Staggerbush holds its fall color late into the season, as do Blueberries, Itea & Heptacodium. Plant for a sequence of bloom for extended interest. Many gardeners tend to plant only "May" blooming plants -forgetting the other 11 months of the year. A few summer bloomers: Azalea Viscosum, Potentilla, Bottlebrush Buckeye, Honeysuckle, Buttonbush, Trumpet Creeper, Seven Son, Daylilies.

FALL & WINTER COLOR AND MORE

Plant fall coloring shrubs to brighten Autumn: Enkianthus, Stewartia, Dawn Redwood, Hobblebush, Maples, Spicebush, Nyssa, Blueberries, Smoketree, deciduous azaleas, Itea. Just because snow is flying is no reason to forget the garden. Some plants for winter interest: heathers, blueberries (beautiful red stems), conifers, Yakusimanum rhodo and its cousins, with their fuzzy leaf coating called indumentum. Plants with berries, such as the hollies, both deciduous and evergreen provide months of color. Dogwoods, Running euonymus, Partridgeberry, Sea Buckthorn, Wintergreen, and Bearberry are also good for berry displays. About color combinations: White and near white flowers used in the background make a garden appear larger and more open. Brightly colored plants look better when isolated from other bright plants (in most cases). Too much color in one area can be distracting. Use hot, vibrant colors such as red & orange carefully so they don't overpower the show.