What's your strategy for selecting plant species and cultivars for your planting design?

1 Know your site

Before you start browsing plant catalogs or visiting nurseries, you need to understand the physical and environmental characteristics of your site, such as soil type, drainage, exposure, climate, and microclimate. These factors will determine the suitability and adaptability of different plant species and cultivars for your site, as well as their growth and performance. You can use site analysis tools, soil tests, and climate data to assess your site conditions and identify the plant zones and communities that naturally occur or can thrive there.

2 Define your design intent

Next, you need to define your design intent and objectives for your planting design, such as creating visual interest, providing seasonal variation, enhancing biodiversity, attracting wildlife, reducing water use, or creating a sense of place. Your design intent will guide your plant selection and arrangement, as well as the style and theme of your planting design. For example, if you want to create a naturalistic or native planting design, you will need to select plant species and cultivars that are indigenous or compatible with the local flora and fauna, and arrange them in a way that mimics natural patterns and processes.

3 Research your plant options

Once you have a clear idea of your site conditions and design intent, you can start researching your plant options and creating a plant palette. You can use various sources of information, such as plant catalogs, books, websites, databases, magazines, or experts, to learn about the characteristics, requirements, and availability of different plant species and cultivars. You can also visit existing landscapes, gardens, or natural areas that have similar site conditions and design goals as yours, and observe how the plants grow and interact with each other and the environment.

4 Evaluate your plant choices

After you have a list of potential plant species and cultivars for your planting design, you need to evaluate them based on several criteria, such as their suitability for your site conditions, their compatibility with your design intent, their maintenance needs, their availability and cost, their cultural and ecological significance, and their potential impacts on the environment and human health. You can use a matrix or a checklist to compare and rank your plant choices, and eliminate those that do not meet your criteria or have negative effects.

5 Test your plant combinations

Finally, you need to test your plant combinations and arrangements before you finalize your planting design. You can use sketches, models, or software to visualize how your plants will look and function together, and how they will relate to the site and the built elements. You can also use mock-ups or trial plots to test how your plants will perform and behave in real conditions, and how they will change over time. You can use feedback, observations, or measurements to evaluate your plant combinations and arrangements, and make adjustments as needed.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?