A little planning ahead can make a big difference
By Marci Laehr Tenuta
mtenuta@journaltimes.com | Posted: Thursday, May 21, 2009 12:00 am
On your mark, get set, plant!
Gardeners and nurseries throughout Racine County are gearing up for Memorial Day weekend - the biggest planting days of the year.
But if you really want your garden to grow, a little preparation can make all the difference. Before you head out to the nursery, make sure to get your garden soil ready, check the light the plants will receive and research plants that will grow well here, said Penny Simonsen, the annual and perennial supervisor for Stein Garden Center, 6626 Washington Ave.
Once you know the conditions of your garden, you'll be able to select the best plants. Putting the right plants in the right areas of the garden will take a lot less effort to grow healthy and full plants that offer color all season.
Before you plant
Knowing as much as you can about the soil you'll be planting in is one key element of growing plants successfully.
Racine County's UW-Extension Web site recommends having a soil test to determine the fertility of the soil, and checking to see if it is sandy or clay soil.
"Make sure the soil is good," Simonsen said. "Turn it over. You need to make sure it has enough nutrients, with a mixture of top soil, peat and manure."
Adding organic matter, such as peat moss, aged manure or compost, to soil can help improve drainage in heavy clay soils and water holding capacity to sandy soils, the Web site says.
In addition to healthy soil, the amount of light plants will get throughout the day is perhaps the biggest factor in where to plant different flowers. There are specific annuals and perennials that require partial shade or full sun to grow to their full potential.
"Take a day and figure out what kind of light you have in the garden," Simonsen suggested.
You'll also want to decide on a style of gardening, the UW-Extension Web site says. "Formal gardens commonly use straight lines and are symmetrical. A pool, statue, or sundial is often the centerpiece. Informal gardens commonly follow flowing lines forming a natural or asymmetrical shape."
Selecting your plants
To ensure plants will thrive in your garden, select flowers that will do well in the type of conditions you have.
Use catalogs, Web sites, reference materials and the expert advice of nursery employees to help you outline characteristics such as the flowers' blooming time, mature height and spread, color, lighting and soil needs.
You'll also want to research a mixture of perennials, which are plants that come back each year, and annuals, which need to be replanted every year.
Impatiens are annuals that do well in the shade here, Simonsen said. Geraniums, petunias and marigolds are great sun annuals, she said. "Those are almost foolproof."
If you want shade perennials, hostas are a good choice, Simonsen said. "They are wonderful. They can be split any time of the growing season. They produce flowers."
For a sun-loving perennial, day lilies are very easy to grow and produce beautiful flowers, she said.
Color will also be an important part of the decision process, the UW-Extension's Web site says. Ask yourself if you want to mix colors throughout the garden, or use single colors.
There are four classic color schemes for gardens: monochromatic, analogous, complementary and polychromatic, the site says. "Monochromatic gardens contain flowers of one color, but of various shades and tints. Analogous gardens contain flowers of closely related colors such as blue-green, blue and blue-violet. Complementary flower colors combine opposing colors such as red and green, violet and yellow, and orange and blue. Finally, polychromatic colors combine any color and all colors giving a carnival effect."
"Warm colors, such as red, orange, and yellow stand out and give the illusion of being close," the site says. "While cool colors, such as green, blue, and violet, appear distant and give the garden the illusion of being larger.
To plan for color all season long, check plant tags for the specific blooming time.
Simonsen said the flowers can have bloom times that range from spring bulb flowers like tulips and daffodils to late summer and early fall blooms.
Get planting
After you've decided what types of flowers you would like to use, you'll want to plan out your garden, according to Simonsen.
Deciding where everything will go beforehand will make the actual planting much more simple.
Pay special attention to plant height, the UW-Extension Web site says. "Usually, a stair-stepping pattern is used with short plants in front, followed next by mid-sized plants, and finishing with tall plants in the back, which act as the background. In an island bed the tall plants can be placed in the center of the garden."
"To ensure an interesting and natural look, don't be rigid about plant placement."
Simonsen suggests planting flowers in threes to make the best statement in a garden. "Threes are nice because you get a nice grouping," she said. "It stands out in a garden that way."
Space the plants based on their expected mature size, the UW-Extension Web site suggests. "Newly planted beds may look sparse for the first few years. Instead of adding more perennials, plant annual flowers until the perennials can grow to full size."
The Web site also recommends planting late in the afternoon or early evening, because the cooler temperatures won't dry out the plants and this can reduce initial transplant shock.