Now that the busy time has arrived at nurseries, the folks working there are regularly asked gardening questions, many of which are repeatedly asked, day after day. To help guide you if you are one of those spring shoppers I have put together some answers based on my experience as it comes from the other side of the counter. These basic guidelines are mostly common sense solutions and are not the be-all or end-all to every problem but they sure come in handy when you're stuck with a lot of questions.

If you have an island bed or flower bed along a building, decisions have to be made as to the placement of taller plants as they are combined with smaller plants. The aesthetic rule that best applies here is to put plants in the bed that are not taller than half of the width. This lets you know how tall the tallest plants can be and this mostly applies to shrubs, perennials and annuals. A very narrow bed looks its best with low plants. The placement of tall plants in a narrow strip tends to look out of place. The sense of scale is lost.

Amending your soil is another area that folks find confusing. What is the best way to amend clay soil and make it better for new plants or enhanced for existing plants? In the greenhouse and nursery industry, growers and landscapers understand that good soil contains 20 to 25% air. There are many types of soil and their air capacity will vary but it is understood that clay soil contains about 3% air without further compaction from foot traffic or general construction. Obviously this is why many plants fair poorly when plunked in a clay based soil.

Landscapers prefer to amend clay by adding a product known as Norfleet's Virginia Fines. This product is made up of fine, decomposed wood chips. As an amendment the fine chunky wood chips will not bind together and this allows air to remain in various sized pockets within the soil. We make our own compost which contains fine wood chips and aged manure. Following the same premise this allows air to remain in the soil over time but the manure acts as a slow release fertilizer and enhances the soil further. If your flower beds are already established, this rich compost can be laid on top of existing soil by as much as 3" and previously planted perennials will grow into the new layer.

I add this compost to my beds at least once a year (often twice) just as the perennials are sprouting or as they are cut back in fall. This compost is sold in bulk, either loaded onto your pickup truck or delivered in 5 yard loads.

One may think that adding sand to clay will aid with drainage but it actually binds with clay and air capacity is reduced even further. To add sharp drainage for rock garden plants or particular bulbs it is best to use turkey grit, available at Southern States. A pulverized granite, this larger aggregate can greatly increase your success with difficult plants that suffer from the low air porosity of clay soil.

As for placement of plants, particularly ground cover plants, the spacing between them can be hard to determine. Most true groundcover plants, such as Vinca minor or pachysandra can be planted as close as 8" apart. The figures below will help you figure out how many of any particular plant you may need for a new bed, based on square footage:

on 6" centers, multiply by 4
on 8" centers, multiply by 2.25
on 9" centers, multiply by 1.77
on 10" centers, multiply by 1.44
on 12" centers, multiply by 1
on 18" centers, multiply by .444
on 36" centers, multiply by .222

Many of the larger perennials can easily be placed on 3 foot centers or 3 feet apart. I often use the 18 to 30" centers to calculate how many plants may go in a bed and then get a feel for how much the entire bed will cost when a homeowner is planting a new perennial garden. The 3 foot on center calculation would be used if the budget is tight and the gardener is willing to wait awhile for things to fill out.

When putting annuals or perennials in a flower garden, it is accepted that odd numbers work best. One should not plant in two's but in three's. This is a very important rule and definitely worth following. Common sense will tell you that two plants placed in the same vicinity will be expected to grow exactly the same. The structure is now formal and it is very difficult to get any two plants to grow the same, even more difficult to keep things growing in a formal pattern where each plant matches the one beside it.

Many of the beautiful gardens that hold to these strict parameters also keep plants in off site beds as they will grow as possible replacements for the few that fail. Informal or asymmetrical beds will allow plants to grow slightly askew. A great benefit for the gardener with little time to keep everything perfect.

Keeping these simple rules in mind, one will find laying out a bed slightly easier. If you really need a little help and go the nursery at this time of year, I might add that bringing pictures will help us help you. Many a diagram is drawn in spring on notebook paper as customer struggles with the answers at the nursery and seeks assistance. Imagine how much better we could help you with a picture!