How to choose plants bound to last

Here's the lowdown on selecting plants that will enhance your home for many years.

• If you choose acid-loving shrubs, such as rhododendrons and azaleas, for your landscape but your soil isn't acidic, understand that you're creating a lifelong maintenance chore for yourself.
• Sure, soil pH can be adjusted, but only temporarily. Products that lower soil pH do so only for a season, if that long, so you'll have to apply them year after year, forever.
• A garden that requires extra care can still have a long life, but the chances decrease as the maintenance load goes up.
• Keep this in mind before planting a sun-loving shrub in a shady yard or a moisture-loving plant in semi-arid terrain.
• Landscape and professional gardeners know that plants that are not suited for your yard's conditions won't last a long time no matter how much care they receive.
• This is true for any plant capable of living more than one season and even, to some extent, for the annuals that will grace your yard for only a few months.
• Make a list of the conditions at your home: the pH and work-ability of your soil, sun and shade, rainfall, winter cold hardiness, summer heat and humidity, and anything else you think might be important.
• Good reference books list the needs of common garden plants, but common sense will get you far.

• Before buying a shrub, consider the amount and kind of maintenance it will require, especially if you're buying it because it's billed as a "low-maintenance" plant.
• Barberry is a good example: The only maintenance it needs, beyond watering, is a good pruning once or twice a season.
• But it's covered with nasty spines that make the job daunting. A sturdy pair of gloves will keep your hands free of punctures, but if some jobs are so unpleasant you opt not to do them, you'll end up with an overgrown garden that won't last long. Get the whole story before you buy.

• No matter how much you like a pretty but invasive plant, you and your garden are probably better off without it in the long run.
• Plants that can rapidly overrun their neighbours probably will, and once that happens, the whole garden may have to be torn out. So for the long-term health of your garden, pass on invasives and stick with well-behaved plants that make good neighbours.
• A reputable nursery can help you sort out the two.

• Whether you're buying a tree or a perennial, look for a plant that is well rooted but not root bound.
• It will transplant the best and have the greatest chance of survival. Ask a nursery staff member to tip the plant out of its pot for you so you can examine it.
• The roots should be visible at the surface of the soil all around the root-ball, but there should not be a solid mat of roots anywhere.
• Avoid trees and shrubs with major roots that seem to wrap around the root-ball. These roots can "girdle" a plant, killing it.