Choose the Greenest Plants for Home Landscaping

You can plant almost anything when it comes to landscaping – BUT that doesn’t mean you should plant any old thing. Part of using environmental landscaping for your home means focusing on plants that make sense for your location and site. Right now is a great time to consider which plants to choose – before you buy organic seeds or plant starts.

Why bother choosing the correct plants?

• Your landscape and garden environment is more likely to thrive on its own. This cuts down on evasive care and nurturing.
• You’ll reduce fertilizer, water, and pesticide use if you choose plants that naturally thrive in your specific environment.
• Your plants will attract the helpful bugs, birds, and butterflies you want in in your garden and eliminate the pests you don’t want around. Native plants are much better at this task than weird non-site specific plants.

Tips for choosing the right plants:

I suggest starting at your local nursery. The folks at a local site know the area, know the weather, and know the water. A pro can help you find the best native plants and flowers.

Read Heat-Zone Gardening: How to Choose Plants That Thrive in Your Region’s Warmest Weather. This book will help you choose plants that will thrive in your area and is not only handy for warm weather regions but everywhere.

Better Homes & Gardens has an extensive regional gardening section, as does the National Gardening Association, and Gardenplace.com. You can also use basic Plant Hardiness Maps. All of the above resources allow you to make smart plant decisions – i.e find the best plants for your landscaping needs that cause the lowest eco-impact.

Tree Planting Where You Live can help you decide which trees to include in your landscaping plans.

What’s your gardening region? Does your region make it harder to plant what you like?