Landscape Design

Site assessment are an important part in the planning process your landscape design.   Looking at the following aspects will help you pick which plants would work in your project.

• Soil
• Sunlight
• Water
• Plants

Soil

On some projects it is a good idea to have a Soil test completed.  The results can be helpful in seeing if there are any needed additives.  This information is used to fix any deficiency in the soil makeup. For example a soil low in organic matter will slow the growth of your plants adding a compost can resolve the issue.   Or if the soil is holds to much water adding sand to the mix can help with drainage.

Sunlight

Knowing where the sun is and is not on you property will help determine which plants or variety of plants to put in what areas?  For example planting a plant that likes the shade in a  location where it has sun all day will result in a stressed plant that most like will not survive.

Water

Much like the sunlight there will be areas on you property that have more moisture than others. If you happen to have an area where there is an abundance of moisture and you plant a tree or shrub that is drought tollerant it will most likely not survive.  Whereas choosing a tree that likes lots of water would be a better choice.

Plants

When choosing your plants not only do you have the consider the soil, sunlight and water, you will need to consider the zone.   What does zone have to do with plants?  The zone refers to the climate.  Each area has a different zone and each zone is numbered in Canada the zones are from 0 to 9.  Zero being the coldest area and 9 being for the warmest area.   When selecting your plants you will want to select ones within the zone as choosing outside the zone may result in having to replace plants or trees regularly.  For example planting a plant from zone 7 in a zone 3 would result in the plant not surviving the cold winter.  Likewise planting a plant from zone 2 in a zone 8 the plant may not thrive in the heat of the summer. Site assessment can impact your design and results.  Jost one necessary step in your design.