Create the Garden of Your Dreams
Transform your garden into a flowery oasis: know how to choose, plant and care for your plants.
Choose the right species
Professional gardeners know that unless you choose plants that are right for your garden, you won't be very successful, no matter how hard you go. This truth applies to perennials, but also to annuals that flower for only a few months. Note the factors that characterize your garden: pH and nature of the soil, sunshine and shade, rainfall, harshness of winter, heat and humidity in summer and any other particularity that you deem important. Reading good books will help you discover the needs of common garden plants, but common sense will guide you. For example, do you live near the Great Lakes, in the Gaspé, in the Bas-Saint-Laurent? Choose plants that grow in your area or in areas that are related to it - you are less likely to go wrong. Also think of natural predators, raccoons, hares, marmots, etc. If you don't know them, check with a local nursery.
Adapt plants to your soil
If you love varieties that come in acidic soil, like rhododendrons and azaleas, when the soil in your garden is not acidic, know that you put up with repeated maintenance work. The soil's pH can correct itself, but the results are temporary. Products that acidify the soil only work for one summer; you have to do it year after year. A garden that takes so much work may have a future, but its chances diminish as your task increases. Think twice about planting a sun-loving shrub in a shady garden, or a moisture-soaked plant in semi-arid soil.
Hunt invasive plants
Even if you love an invasive plant, you will be better off without it over time and your garden will be better off. The exuberant plants eventually take over everything and when the damage is done you have little choice but to rearrange the whole garden. So, for the well-being of your garden and yours, say no to invasive plants. Stick to well-bred plants that stay in their place and are good neighbors to others. The nursery will help you distinguish from each other.
Divide to favor
Most perennials, such as aster, daylilies, and phloxes, need to be periodically divided. This involves removing them every three or five years, dividing the root ball by cutting it or shaking it, and putting the pieces back in the ground. Dividing plants encourages flowering and makes recoveries more vigorous. Astilbes are a good example: undivided, they bloom less and less because their roots intertwine and become woody, while the same plane, once divided, is covered with flowers. But this principle does not apply to all plants. Some do not need such treatment; others hate it. Find out in a good book before dividing a perennial whose requirements you don't know.
Give plants space
If you plant perennials or trees so close together that they shade each other out, a day will come when one of them will have to step aside in front of the other. Although it is difficult to see the adult plants that will grow out of tiny seeds, space them out according to where they will occupy when mature. This principle is even more valid for trees: changing their place when they are established is no small task. A good reference book will give you the size of the mature tree and the spacing to keep.
Wait before planting bulbs
Spring bulbs give flowers that are a real wonder. This explosion of colors while nature is still on the back burner console of winter. But if your garden is brand new, allow a year or two to pass before you put any bulbs in it. Wait until you are certain that you are satisfied with its layout and that you will not make major changes to it. Because if you decided to modify it during the summer, you would risk destroying beautiful tufts of new bulbs with your spade. Rather than having to replace them, be patient and put the bulbs in the ground when you are sure everything will stay in place.
Find little wonders on the internet
Before the internet arrived, you had to take a thousand and one steps to find rarer plants. Today, all nurserymen, even the smallest, have their site; a quick search allows you to discover dozens of garden centers. To increase your chances, look for the species that interest you under their botanical name, then under their common name. If it's a particular strain, mention it in your research.
