Perpetual Motion
The best landscapes have something interesting going on at all times of the year. They may have pansies blooming in the spring, perennial wildflowers blooming through the summer, a sugar maple with beautiful red and orange leaves in the fall, and hollies which keep their showy red berries through the winter. Choose plants for your own landscape that will give you interesting colors or textures throughout the year.
Hardiness Zones
USDA Plant Hardiness zones are often used to determine if a plant will grow well in an area. Hardiness zones are based on the average cold temperatures for an area. Therefore, areas of the country with similar average low temperatures will all be in the same hardiness zone.
Because USDA Plant Hardiness zones are based on the average cold temperatures of an area, there is no guarantee that a plant listed as growing in zone 7 will actually thrive in a specific location within zone 7. Various parts of the same zone can vary in the amount of rainfall they receive, the average high temperature, the soil type, and many other environmental conditions. However, the USDA Plant Hardiness zones can give us a good idea of how a plant will perform in our area.