Picking the best flowers for your home garden

Choosing the right flowers is one of the most critical decisions when planning a new garden, and combining colors and textures can make any garden a showplace. The many different colors and varieties of flowers for the garden makes finding the colors you like best very easy. Of course plants should be chosen for their health and hardiness in addition to their beauty. When choosing seedlings for transplantation, it is important to choose only the healthiest, best looking seedlings, and to reject those that show any signs of disease or insect infestation. Choosing only the healthiest plants will make sure your new garden gets off to the right start. Some problems with seedlings will be apparent even to the beginning gardener. For instance, it is easy to see things like spots on the leaves, holes in the leaves, or wounds in the stems. Other problems, however, are more subtle, and they may easy to miss for the beginning gardener. If you are planning your first garden, you may want to take along a more experienced gardener, or solicit the advice of the nursery staff, to find the best seedlings for your needs. As you browse around the garden center, be sure to carefully examine the flowers, the leaves, and the foliage of the plants you are considering. Look especially for white and black spots on the flowers, leaves and foliage, as these spots are often signs of a bacterial or fungal infection. It is also important to be on the lookout for wilted leaves and waterlogged roots, as these can mean the plants will fail to thrive after they are planted. Plants with cut stems or other types of wounds should also be avoided. Of course, finding the healthiest plants is only part of the battle. The other part is transplanting those seedlings properly, and caring for them once they are in the ground. It is always important to get the transplants into the garden as quickly as possible. When planting seedlings or young plants, the hole you dig should be slightly larger than the root ball of the plant. Making the hole larger will ensure that the plant can be placed into the ground without disturbing the delicate root structure. After the plant is in place, the earth should be gently tamped down, and the plant should be given plenty of water and fertilizer. When starting a new garden, it is also a good idea to have a good soil analysis done before buying your first plants. A soil analysis will tell you if your soil is of sufficient quality, and help you be sure that it contains the nutrients your plants will need. A soil analysis will also spot common problems, such as soil that is too acidic, too alkaline, too sandy, contains to much clay, etc. There are ways to fix all these problems, but it is important to have a soil analysis done so you know how to correct any problems found. In addition, understanding the type of soil you have can help you to choose the plants that will do best in that soil. Tailoring the plants you select to the soil you have is a great way to reduce the use of pesticides and other chemicals while still enjoying a healthy and robust garden.