No matter what kind of landscape you choose to have, there will always be a need for care and maintenance. Everyone seems to be looking for a low maintenance landscape but this is a nebulous term. If you call yourself a gardener, then the care and maintenance of your landscape plants is part of the fun.

The topics included in oursection are meant to help you become more efficient and effective in your efforts. Doing a good job will help you to enjoy your gardening time.

This section includes specific recommendations for establishing and caring for many common types and species of landscape plants from bulbs to perennials to shrubs from crocus to rhododendrons. In addition to the pages devoted to care of specific genera and types of plants listed below, we also cover Landscape Plant Selection, Plant Installation and Post Planting Care in some detail.

Here we discuss the ideal soils for growing landscape plants, soil pH and much more. Macro-elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are brought into perspective along with the micro-nutrients of boron. manganese, etc. These and more topics are covered in the Landscape Soils, Plant Nutrition and Composting sections.

Maintaining landscape plants includes a number of functions. Pruning, fertilizing, watering, etc. all contribute to the health and vigor of our ornamental plants. We cover these and more in our Maintenance and Containers units.

Like all living organisms, ornamental plants have their problems...but no more than any other types. Among the factors that can cause damage to our plants include:

- Abiotic Problems - These are disorders that are not caused by a specific disease or insect.

- Animals - Critters that do not have either six or eight legs fall into this category. Probably the most common animal pest currently is...deer.

- Diseases - By far fungi are the most common cause of plant diseases but there are also several caused by bacteria, virus, and other microscopic organisms.

- Insects - These are those six legged creatures that feed on our plants. We have also included our 8 legged enemies, spider mites in this unit.

- Pesticides - Here we discuss the types and classifications of substances used to kill plant enemies. We also look at the whole range of non-chemical options that are included in the process called Integrated Pest Management.

- Symptoms - This section will give you tips on how to recognize the signs and symptoms of the most common landscape problems.

- Weeds - These are plants that are not wanted in our beds and borders. We talk about how to identify them and control them in our landscapes.

There are many ways to multiply plants including those we use as landscape ornamentals. This unit covers the major methods for propagating through cuttings, divisions, grafting, seeds, tissue culture, etc. Visit the plant propagation home page