We're here to help you achieve those goals this year! Whether you're reworking an existing gardening bed, planning a new gardening bed altogether, or just need ideas to plant a tree or two here and there, first things first, know the sunlight your area receives. This is vital to choosing the correct plants for your space.
1. Know your sunlight and the dimensions of your gardening beds.
Full sun= 6+ hours of sunlight per day and/or full afternoon sun
Part sun= morning sun with afternoon shade
Shade= shaded all day
Keep in mind that leaves are off deciduous trees right now, so that may change your sunlight on that particular gardening bed once spring comes/leaves return.
2. Be inspired thru Pinterest, garden blogs and magazines, Cheekwood Botanical Garden, and more.
Sometimes we all need inspiration. Discover what style of garden you'd like to create. It can be helpful to look at the exterior style of your home while determining this. Check out our Pinterest boards for further inspiration.
3. Use our Plant Finder tool to select perfect plants for your space.
This helpful guide walks you through what plants will work well for your space. You can type in what kind of sun requirements you need, what type of plant you're searching for (tree, shrub, perennial, annual) and even more detailed information (like if you want it to bloom specifically in a certain season, or you definitely want it to have beautiful fall color)!
To use this helpful tool, first go to our website homepage and click on Plant Finder.
From there, you will be able to scroll down and select what criteria you want to search for. You can be as specific or non-specific as you'd like!
In this example, I searched for a pink-flowering tree that stays around 25' x 20' or less. I also said I had a part sun location.
And, as you can see, many options came up for me to look through! Please note that the best results will be the first ones listed. Depending on how specific your search was, more options come up but they may not be exactly suited to your needs if your search was pretty specified.
In this example above, the first page comes up with many great options, but as I get further down the page, some recommendations are getting a little larger in height than I had specified for my space. So know that the first few listed are your best choices based on your search.
With this new tool, you can also create a wish list! You simply click the 'Add to My Wish List' button beside the plant info, then when you're ready to see what you've saved, click 'View My Wish List' at the top of the page (shown below).
Your wish list will come up and you can take a photo of it with your phone to know what plants you're looking at or print it and bring it to the Garden Center with you. Below you can see that you can add quantities also, depending on the size of your gardening space.
Take a screenshot or bring this list with you to the nursery. We will answer your questions and give suggestions if needed. Please note that our Plant Finder tool is not always 100% accurate with our current inventory, however, if we do not have a specific variety in stock, we can usually show you an alternate variety.
New year, new gardening goals! We're here to help you create the garden of your dreams!