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Prevent doom for your blooms: Online tool helps gardeners select proper plants for local landscapes
How to use the Plant Saver tool
Go to www.holcombgc.com and click on “Plant Search” on the top right of the page. There you will find advice on trees, shrubs, vines, ground covers, annuals, perennials, ferns and ornamental grasses that are suited for the Chattanooga area. Detailed instructions guide users throughout the entire search process.
If you’ve purchased flowers, shrubs or trees for your yard yet, despite giving them tender, loving care, they died, you’ve not only made a bad investment but likely an expensive one.
Landscaping an entire yard, whether professionally or by a do-it-yourselfer, averages between $1,587 and $5,019, according homeadvisor.com.
So doing one’s homework can save gardeners time and money when it comes to shopping for plants that are ideal for local landscapes, says Tim Holcomb, owner of Holcomb Garden Center in Hixson and Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. To make the research process easier, Holcomb recently launched the Holcomb Garden Center’s “Plant Search” tool on the company’s website, holcombgc.com.
“Many of today’s shoppers do research on the Internet before they commit to a purchase,” Holcomb says. “Being in the plant business, we see the incredible options gardeners have and sometimes the decision-making can be overwhelming.”
Tom Stebbins, University of Tennessee extension agent for Hamilton County, says the search tool is a big help.
“I went to the Holcomb nursery site and used the tool to see how it works,” Stebbins says. “I like it. It should save folks money. I think it would be a great place for the new gardener to learn about decisions that determine which plants may work in their garden.”
But longtime gardeners can benefit from it as well, he says.
“Even experienced gardeners are guilty of buying plants at first sight by not asking all the right questions about sun or shade, cool or hot, water needs, fall color and many other features,” he says.
The Holcomb plant search tool allows you to select the environment your plants will be planted in – say the super-sunny spot or the swampy-wet place or the shade-drenched area – then offers suggestions for plants that will do well in each location.
“If desired, you may narrow the selection further to the color of blooms, foliage color, mature size and deer resistance,” Holcomb says. “The better you define your needs, the better the list of plants that will work in your application.”
While the garden center’s website offers 18,000 plant choices for planting in every state, Holcomb had to cut those choices down substantially for the search tool.
“Our biggest job was to narrow that list down to plants that are available to our customers and plants that we know will work well in our area,” he says.
Most search tools found on the Web are set up for nationwide results and many would not apply to the Chattanooga area, Holcomb says.
“Our primary goal with the plant search tool was to offer Internet researchers or browsers a tool to suggest plants that maybe they had not considered before and a source to obtain the plants suggested.
“The search tool does allow you to print out a list of plants that you are interested in. Each plant listed shows pictures, sizes and features of the selected plants. Our in-house customers are guided to the proper plants on site by our professional nursery staff.
“Having a narrowed down list of plants that will work in your garden allows everyone to make better use of their time,” Holcomb says.
Contact Karen Nazor Hill at khill@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6396.