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I'm sure everybody who is into gardening
has walked into their favorite garden center
be it spring, summer, fall or whatever time
and just gets carried away about all the
grand and glorious plant material available,
the colors, the fragrances, the sizes and shapes
and really buy more upon impulse as opposed to
actually what the plant is going to do
how it's going to perform and especially,
where you intend to put this plant.
I think the first thing you need to understand when you come to a garden center or a nursery
is that you're looking for a plant for a certain spot.
Walk around the nursery and take note of the signs that garden centers place.
They're there for you to learn something.
They want you to be successful.
So if you look at the sign, for example the Lamium here,
the Lamium, as is stated, is a great plant
to be used as a ground cover and according to this particular sign,
we're talking about morning sun to almost full shade.
So what that tells you is you've got a good, shade-tolerant plant. Putting this plant in full sun
it really may not perform well.
It may start burning foliage and starting to not grow as well as you like.
The other thing that the sign tells you here, is the fact that this thing
will flower in late spring to early summer, which is a good thing for color in the garden.
Also the fact that it likes a moist soil
and, again, dry soils are gonna take the leaves of this plant and really give them
brown edges that are not all that good looking.
The other thing it tells you is
"sheer in spring to stimulate new growth."
That's telling you, don't be afraid to cut this plant.
By cutting it back after it's maybe starts looking
a little bit worn and tattered you encourage new growth
and the plant basically revives to give you a whole new planting.
And the other thing that I would suggest is that when you take this plant home
and it does have a pot tag in it,
take that pot tag and I would make a folder.
If you put these in a folder, then you have a reference
that you can go back to to know what kind of plant it is,
what kind of requirements am I looking for
and if you ever have to replace that or add to your collection
you know exactly what to ask for.