Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

In our experience, trying to plan a landscape without knowing about the soils, climate, moisture, etc. is difficult and usually not too productive. So, first, we want to urge you to stick to native plants, not just native to North America, but to your area of the country. They will need less care, less water, and less fertilizer, plus they are not likely to become invasive and overrun other parts of the garden. Then, we want to give you some information that hopefully will assist you in selection of the plants that will fit your criteria and finding sources for them and, if you feel you need them, landscape planners who specialize in native plants.

To begin, follow this link to our "How To Articles" and read the ones of interest to you. Next, go to our Combination Search page, and make the appropriate selections to get information and pictures on plants native to your area. We would urge you to consider not just wildflowers, but other plants, such as shrubs and grasses, to fill this very large space. A field of waving wildflowers in May is gorgeous; in November, it's a bunch of dead weeds. You will want something else to give shape, texture and color to your garden when there are no wildflowers blooming.

Finally, go to our Native Plant Suppliers site, and ask for a list of Maryland businesses that supply native plants and/or have on-staff experts that can better advise you on what you need to do than we can.

Just to give you an example of some of the plants you can learn about on our Native Plants Database, we used the Combination Search for Maryland and picked out three plants that happen to be our favorites, too.

Herb (annual or perennial flowers) Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly milkweed)

Shrub Callicarpa americana (American beautyberry)

Grass or grasslike Bouteloua curtipendula (sideoats grama)

Asclepias tuberosa

Callicarpa americana

Bouteloua curtipendula