Plants Used for Landscaping

Japanese Garden

• Landscaping to achieve a Japanese garden effect means limiting your choice of plants to certain traditional species. Trees that are commonly utilized in Japanese gardens include Japanese maple, Chinese redbud and sweet olive. Small shrubs to add to this landscaping theme include dwarf mountain pine, rose daphne and Chinese juniper. Flowers used in a Japanese garden tend to be very colorful, so choose from peonies and chrysanthemums. You really can't have a Japanese garden landscape without bamboo and you have several varieties to choose from, including black, pygmy, yellow grove and fernleaf bamboo.

Bog Garden

• A bog garden is a landscaping design that simulates the natural transformative state existing between wetlands and drylands. Plants play a vital part in this particular landscape design and must be those capable of thriving in moist soil conditions. Perennials suitable for a bog garden include taro and arrowhead. A good tree addition is the Japanese maple. Other appropriate choices for inside or outside the water are candelabra primrose, moneywort, yellow iris and parrot feather.

Tropical Landscape

• A tropical landscape theme should be dominated by plants with large leaves. Options available in this kind of plant provide diversity of texture, color and shape. Elephant ears are one of the most common plants that can add great size to your landscape design. Less common choices include Persian shield with leaves that can grow as long as 7 inches as well as gunnera, rubber trees and sweet potato vine.

Containers

• Containers can be creatively integrated into a vast range of landscaping styles. Designing with containers starts with the choice of the containers themselves. Materials include terra cotta, plastic, wood, ceramic and metal. Plants that can thrive inside a container and add multiplicity of colors and shapes include impatiens, snapdragon, bellflower, lamb's ear, caladium, tulip, morning glory, nasturtium, orchid cactus, plum tree and herbs ranging from basil to sage.

Artificial Pond

• Just about any landscape theme can be enhanced with the addition of an artificial pond. This element can be as simple as a wooden barrel filled with water to a sophisticated pond with waterfall and fountain system. Plants that can be incorporated into any type of artificial pond include the water poppy, water snowflake, cattails, an enormous selection of water lily species and companion plants like goldenrod, cinnamon fern, hosta and variegated sedge.