Greenspace: Choose plants that can overcome environmental challenges
Sometimes you wonder how plants make it. It's a tough world out there.
Floods, storms, winds, extreme heat and cold, air pollution and infertile soil do their best to challenge growing things.
Our goal in gardening is to minimize these problems, but you can only do so much. Lucky for us, some plants adapt well. Buying plants that fit your conditions is a key to success. Here are the worst local conditions and a few plants that will do well there:
Streetside and boulevard: The big challenge is vehicle air pollution. Nearby pavement limits water absorption. Generally, these areas are unprotected from wind and there's always that snowplow in the winter and road salt.
Hostas are extremely tolerant. Best bulbs are daffodils and jonquils. Colorful peonies, fragrant Russian sag, phlox and daisies do well. Sedum is the best ground cover. Best small trees are pike horse chestnut, crabapple and amur maple.
Suburban clay soil: It's high in acid, low in organic material, offers terrible drainage and seems to grow rocks. Daylilies are the champs here.
Other tolerant species are purple and gray-headed coneflowers, bee balm, black-eyed Susan, columbine, New England aster, blue-false indigo, lilac, rhododendron and azalea. Best trees are firs, pines and junipers.
Crevices: These plants do well in narrow openings in rock gardens, along walls and in planters that constrict growth. Good choices are the sedums for ground cover, columbine, artemesia, bellflower, dianthus, baby's breath, moneywort, yarrow, creeping phlox, thyme and hens and chicks.
Dry soil, shade: These require hearty plants capable of surviving drought and constant dry soil. The best are columbine, periwinkle, vinca, lily of the valley, bleeding heart, foxglove, snowdrops, sweet woodruff, daffodil, myrtle, lady fern.
Wet soil: Poorly drained low spaces are often areas where rainwater is diverted. Try sedge, blue flag iris, hyssop, Canada anemone, butterfly flower, blue lobelia, meadow rue, sunflower, bellwort, switchgrass.
Cold-tolerant annuals: These survive into late fall and early winter providing color when all else are gone. Good ones are pot marigold, bachelor's button, sweet pea, alyssum, forget-me-not, snapdragon, ornamental kale and cabbage, dusty miller, winter pansies, phlox, hearty mum, cleome, nasturtium.
Indoor containers, low light: These grow almost anywhere in the house. Good choices are parlor palm, pothos, philodendron, snake plant, peace lily, dracaena, cornstalk, arrowhead vine, English ivy and bamboo.
Send gardening questions to jim.hillibish@cantonrep.com