6 Plants for Favorable Planting Situations
Learning Objectives
- Identify plants for favourable planting situations.
Horticulturists understand and use the climate and conditions of a given site to select and grow healthy plants. While growing conditions can be optimized by choosing the right plant for the right place, temperature will remain the least controllable of the environmental factors in exterior landscapes. Given suitable plant hardiness, average conditions of full to part sun or part shade, and well drained, moist soils with appropriate pH will provide favourable growing conditions for many garden plants.
Species that prefer average growing conditions are found in a wide range of plant families. Some familiar plant families with members that thrive in average growing conditions include:
- Caryophyllaceae – Arenaria verna (Irish moss)
- Cupressaceae – Callitropsis nootkatensis ‘Pendula’ (weeping Nootka false cypress)
- Ericaceae – Rhododendron Northern Lights Group (azalea)
- Fabaceae – Wisteria sinensis (Chinese wisteria)
- Lamiaceae – Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii ‘Profusion’ (beautyberry)
- Ranunculaceae – Clematis cvs. (clematis)
- Rosaceae – Prunus laurocerasus ‘Otto Luyken’ (Otto Luyken laurel), Prunus serrulata ‘Kwanzan’ (flowering cherry)
- Sapindaceae – Acer macrophyllum (bigleaf maple)
- Pinaceae – Picea abies ‘Nidiformis’ (nest spruce), Picea abies ‘Pendula’ (weeping Norway spruce), Picea glauca (white spruce), Picea glauca ‘Conica’ (dwarf Alberta spruce), Pinus contorta var. contorta (shore pine), and Pinus nigra (Austrian pine)
View the images of plant family members available at the KPU Plant Database [New Tab].
In addition to shared morphological patterns in flowers and reproductive structures, family members tend to have similar growth characteristics, nutrient needs, and often the same pests. Key characteristics that distinguish members of some additional plant families are summarized below.
Adoxaceae – moschatel family
- Mostly deciduous shrubs
- Buds are conical
- Leaves are opposite in arrangement, simple, with prominent pinnate venation and serrate margin
- Inflorescence is a cyme of showy florets
- Fruit is a drupe
- Example: Viburnum plicatum cvs. (doublefile viburnum)[New Tab]
Betulaceae – birch family
- Deciduous trees and some shrub species
- Plant stems are mostly smooth, the genus Betula (birch) has bark peeling in layers
- Leaves are alternate in arrangement, simple, with double serrate margin and pinnate venation
- Inflorescence is a long pendulous catkin (male flower) and short, cone-like pendulous or erect catkin (female flower)
- Fruit is a small, single-seeded indehiscent nut in a short-winged samara
- Example: Betula papyrifera (paper birch)[New Tab].
Brassicaceae – mustard family
- Herbaceous perennial, and annual and biennial species
- Leaves are alternate in arrangement, simple and pinnately lobed, without stipules
- Inflorescence is a raceme
- Flower structure is uniform throughout the family