The first two rules of shopping for landscape plants with garden catalogs are centered around needs, much like shopping for groceries. A “shopping list” will serve the gardener well, just like the family grocery shopper.
One. Need a landscape sketch. It’s super important to start with a visual representation of the landscape; where the house, buildings, driveway, pasture, fences, etc are located, so that existing plantings can be evaluated and new ones considered.
Two. Where are the “holes”? A list of needs, otherwise referred to as holes, is a good identifier. They could be actual gaps in the landscape or places where trees/shrubs/fruits are dying and need to be replaced.
John Fech is a horticulturist with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and certified arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture. The author of 2 books and over 200 popular and trade journal articles, he focuses his time on teaching effective landscape maintenance techniques, water conservation, diagnosing turf and ornamental problems and encouraging effective bilingual communication in the green industry. He works extensively with the media to extend the message of landscape sustainability, making over 100 television and radio appearances each year.
