Gardening tips, gardening info and heaps of ideas to help gardeners of all experience get more out of their hobby and out of their gardens.

Finally, most of the infrastructure and ground work for your garden has been completed. Now it's time to paint it with plants.
But before you rush down to the nursery and grab everything that's either on sale or is your favourite Gardening Show's "Plant of the Week", there are a few things to consider. Namely plant location and plant shape, colour and texture. The most important of these is location.
Everyone has a limited resource of property whether it's a small balcony garden or a large estate, gardeners are still faced with the challenge of limiting their plant choices. While the obvious limitations are growing requirements such as shelter for shade loving plants, or room to move for a large tree or shrub it is also worth considering the limitation of prime real estate.
What do I mean by "prime real estate"? Well, if you understand economics you will already be aware of the term "economic cost" of a decision. Placing one plant in the best possible location in your garden limits the option of placing another there.
For example, in our front garden we have only room for one large tree so we had to choose the best possible tree to be planted there. We didn't want a tree that everybody else had instead we opted for a magnolia soulangeana which are quite hard to get here in Busselton and we had never seen it in another local garden.
As you have already determined your garden style finding locations for your plants shouldn't be too onerous a proposition.
As you are setting out your garden beds and preparing them for planting spend some time tracking the sun's movement over your garden. Pay close attention to which parts receive no sun, some sun and those that are in full sun all day.
This will give you some idea as to where are the best locations for your different plants. Work within the limitations of sun exposure remembering that as you add trees and structures the availability of the sun may become even more limited.
Locating plants that have fragile flowers, such as wisteria, in areas that are notorious for wind activity is asking for trouble. Either fix the problem by creating a wind barrier or be more selective in your plant choice.
Run-off from rainfall or garden reticulation needs to dissipate somewhere. Obviously, the path of least resistance is where it will head so be selective in your plant choices for these areas as well.
Where you locate your plants will make a big difference in their success in your garden. Make wise choices now and your garden will flourish for if you run too far ahead of yourself you'll find plants will struggle in certain locations.