Put the right plants in the right spots

Finding plants that fit just the right spots in your garden is sometimes a challenge. Looking at a picture in a book or seeing a tree in a pot is not always the easiest way to determine what is the best plant for a given area.

With the unprecedented building boom along the Wasatch Front and the number of people redoing their yards, it is time for some advice on landscaping your home.

Over the next few weeks, we'll cover designing a landscape to make it attractive and functional. We will also cover selecting the right plants and the best planting times and techniques.

The following are a few basic ideas that will save you time, money and frustration.

After many years of teaching, I have determined that most landscapes come from one school of design: "plants on sale."

After loading up at a plant sale, many people return home and walk around the garden looking for a place to put the just-purchased plants. The selections usually get planted in the first empty spot.

The problem with this is the homeowner never considers what the plant will do as it grows. All plants grow three dimensionally. They grow taller and they spread out. In addition, roots grow in the same three dimensions.

To have a good, sustainable landscape, you must have the right plant in the right place. Ignore this one fact, and you will fight your landscape until you or the plants finally give up.

One of the worst offenders is our own state tree, the Colorado blue spruce. Although they look cute when they are in a small pot, they grow and grow and grow.

According to "Sunset Western Garden Book," Colorado blue spruces will grow to be 80-100 feet high and spread about half that wide. If someone plants them on either side of the front door or if they are planted too close to a house, they soon need to be removed — and removal is a much bigger challenge than planting.

Other common landscape shrubs include junipers. This large group of plants is extremely variable. They come in various sizes, ranging from Juniper Blue Carpet that only gets 4 inches tall to the Pfitzer junipers that grow 6 feet tall or more and spread 15-18 feet wide. Such plants are not welcome around the foundation of most homes.

While pruning may keep them under control, the plants will never look good, and it sentences the homeowner to a lifetime of pruning drudgery.