Vines, Low-Growing Landscape Plants

When shopping at garden centers, you should have a number of things in mind when evaluating a potential purchase -- beyond how pretty the flowers are! Will the spot in your landscaping you've selected for it offer enough light and the right kind of soil, for example?

Here's a good way to familiarize yourself with what I cover on my landscaping website, from spring bloomers to fall and winter standouts, from pretty flowers to knockout foliage, from the tropicals to the hardiest of specimens. Simply browse the photos in this "index" and follow the links for more information.

Landscape plants that hold up to drought and sun are highly valued. If they are perennials so much the better! Of course, there are different degrees of drought resistance, a fact to keep in mind when shopping at the garden center. The sun-loving perennials featured here are some of the toughest.

Sure, flowering ground covers can be lovely. But that's not the point behind presenting this selection. To qualify for my list of top ground covers, these plants had to pass the functionality test, too. In this case, that means they have to demonstrate an ability to stabilize the soil and help you fight weeds.

Viewing my climbing vine pictures can help inspire ideas for your own plantings. The potential of vines to meet a variety of landscaping needs is often underestimated. Always read up on vines before you begin to grow any, however, as some types are invasive. For example, few introduced plants have taken over in their new homelands as widely as kudzu vine has in the South and Oriental bittersweet vine in the Northeast.

Need information on groundcovers and other low-growing plants? This a good place to begin. Learn about choices for annual and perennial flowers and vines. Many of these selections will be suitable for suppressing weeds in an area where you choose not to have lawn, or for the front rows of flower beds.

From using vinca as a groundcover to planting hanging baskets with sweet potato vine, there are as many uses for vines as there are needs to fill in a landscape. Sometimes, vines will need support to do their job (e.g., train morning glory on a lattice fence to screen out views of the street). Other times, you need to be aware of their invasiveness.

Beginners have a tendency to get hung up on pretty flowers. But those in the know develop a predilection for nice foliage. Why? Because even the flowers with the most stamina are generally ephemeral compared to foliar standouts. Install a few of the latter in that troublesome garden spot and you'll have visual interest there for months at a time.

This article provides an introduction to the application of color theory, as well as links to flower photos. The flowers are grouped by color. Not all the examples covered are low-growing landscape plants, as the article's aim is to cover a diverse range of design possibilities.

There's a shade plant suitable for every design need. Don't fight the shade, trying to grow sun-lovers there: Take the easy, sensible approach, and grow shade-lovers there! This article supplies tips on shade gardening for do it yourselfers.

When you hear "salvia," do not think just of the popular red type (a favorite for patriotic displays in the U.S., teamed with white alyssum and blue ageratum) used as an annual? There are many types of perennial salvias. I'm most familiar with those bearing blue or purple flowers, but other colors are available, especially for Southern gardeners.

Proper site selection is a critical element in successful gardening. Proper site selection can minimize maintenance hassles later. This brief introduction is good place to start if you're a beginner.

"Phlox is phlox," you say? Think again! Creeping phlox bears very little resemblance to the later-blooming, taller plants we call "garden phlox." Read about some of the different types of phlox in this collection of resources and bring yourself up to speed on some of my yard's top performers.

The list of cottage garden plants presented here includes not only old-fashioned flowers long valued for their beauty, but also plants with fragrant foliage, edible plants, and plants used for medicinal purposes. This is because the traditional cottage garden, true to its peasant origins, was more than just something pretty to look at.