Plants

People depend on plants for nearly everything—food, clothing, shelter, medicine, and even oxygen. To gardeners, they offer even more rewards. Growing green things provides the opportunity to learn and to express oneself. Plants are also beautiful and therapeutic.

Choosing Plants for Your Garden

Although design elements such as walls, paths, and decorations are important, plants are what bring a garden to life. Gardeners today have so many options when choosing varieties. It’s important to select ones that are appropriate to your zone, site, and soil conditions.

If you’re just getting started, look for versions that are relatively easy to grow. Most natives, for example, require very little attention when planted in the right conditions. If you find a plant that does well for you, try some different varieties of the same type. Once you feel comfortable growing these, branch out to more challenging versions. Gardening is always an experiment.

If you’re lucky enough to be starting a garden from scratch, remember to begin by planting trees and shrubs, which form the backbone of the garden. Then follow with smaller —perennials and annuals. If your garden is already established, you can still incorporate new landscaping. You may want to replace varieties that aren’t doing well with new ones you want to try. There’s always room for one more flower.

Growing Indoors

Growing houseplants allows you to bring a bit of the outdoors inside. You don’t have to be a great gardener to have houseplants. Many common types don’t need a lot of light and require only basic attention to watering. Flowers may be picked up at the florist or grocery store for instant color.

Many versions in your outdoor garden make good houseplants too. Common examples include amaryllis, coleus, ivy, palms, and poinsettias. Plan to bring in just before the first frost in the fall. Many herbs can be grown inside on a sunny windowsill. Forcing bulbs is another easy way to bring the garden inside.

Names of Plants

Every variety has a botanical, or Latin, name. Most are also known by a common name, which often varies by country or region. Botanical names are international and transcend language barriers or regional variation. To avoid ambiguity, botanical names are used on tags and in garden publications.

Whether you start indoors or out, just start planting! Find out for yourself how enjoyable gardening can be.