Choosing Plants for the Landscape

1. Choosing Plants for the Landscape Reminder: student learning activities are at the end of this power point.

2. Next Generation Science / Common Core Standards Addressed! • CCSS. Math. Content.HSN‐Q.A.1 Use units as a way to understand problems and to guide the solution of multi‐step problems; choose and interpret units consistently in formulas; choose and interpret the scale and the origin in graphs and data displays. • CCSS. Math. Content. HS N‐Q.A.2 Define appropriate quantities for the purpose of descriptive modeling. • CCSS. Math.Content.HSG‐CO.A.1 Know precise definitions of angle, circle, perpendicular line, parallel line, and line segment, based on the undefined notions of point, line, distance along a line, and distance around a circular arc. • CCSS .Math. Content. HS G‐CO.D.12Make formal geometric constructions with a variety of tools and methods (compass and straightedge, string, reflective devices, paper folding, dynamic geometric software, etc.). Copying a segment; copying an angle; bisecting a segment; bisecting an angle; constructing perpendicular lines, including the perpendicular bisector of a line segment; and constructing a line parallel to a given line through a point not on the line.

3. Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resource Standards Addressed • PS.02.01.01.a. Identify and summarize systems used to classify plants based on specific characteristics. • PS.04.01.01.a. Identify and categorize plants by their purpose (e.g., floral plants, landscape plants, house plants, etc.).

4. Bell / Work Student Learning Objectives • 1. Define the categories of landscape plants. • 2. Describe why plant names are important. • 3. Identify factors to consider when selecting woody plant material for the landscape. • 4. Explain how the environment affects plant selection.

5. Cultivar Deciduous Evergreen Flowers Genus Groundcovers Hardiness zone Ornamental Shrubs Soil pH Species Specimen plant Variety Woody Terms

6. Echinacea purpurea Purple Coneflower Liquidambar stryaciflua Sweetgum Snapdragon Antirrhinum nanum Acer rubrum Red Maple Arrowwood Viburnum Viburnum dentatum Foxglove Digitalis purpurea Write down the name of the plants that you recognize Most of the names that you do not recognize are the plant’s Latin names.

7. What are the common categories of landscape plants?

8. I. Plants are divided into separate categories based on their size, growth habit, and purpose in the landscape.

9. A. Trees • Trees are woody perennial plants that are usually single-stemmed and over 12 feet in height. • They may be deciduous or evergreen • When designing a landscape trees are used to provide shade, frame a house, or for ornamental characteristics like flowers or fruit.

10. B. Shrubs • Smaller perennial plants than trees, getting no more than 20 feet in height and multi-stemmed. • Shrubs may also be evergreen or deciduous • Used to create hedges or borders, screen an area, or as foundation plants.

11. C. Ground covers • Plant materials under 1 foot tall that are used in place of grass. • They help to tie the elements of a landscape together • They can climb objects or creep along the ground.

12. D. Flowers • Ornamental plants that add a burst of color to the landscape. • They can be found on trees, shrubs, or ground covers, or they can be plants in a category of their own like marigolds and tulips. • Flowering plants can live for only one season or return to the garden year after year.

13. Why are plant names important?

14. II. Plant naming • Plant names are what people often associate with the actual plant. • Plant names can fall into two categories—common names and botanical names (Latin names). • The botanical names of plants come from Carl von Linne (Linnaeus) and his binomial system of naming plants. • Each plant has a genus, specific epithet (species), and often a variety, and a cultivar.

15. A. Genus • A group of plants that are closely related to each other • They may contain one or more species. • The genus is always written with a capital letter and is either underlined or italicized. • It is the same for every plant in a particular group. • For example, Quercus is the Latin name for all oaks while Acer refers to all maples.

16. B. Species • A group of plants that have similar characteristics which make them distinct from other groups in the genus. • The species name is written in lower case, underlined or italicized.

17. C. Variety • Results from a difference within a species. • This difference is passed sexually from one generation to the next. • A variety follows the species name and is lowercase, underlined, or italicized.

18. D. Cultivar • A group of plants within a species with a very distinguishing characteristic. • However, unlike a variety, the only way to keep this characteristic within a plant is to asexually propagate the plant from cuttings or grafting. • The cultivar is placed in single quotations and capitalized.

19. Latin NamesAcer rubrum var. columnarGenus species varietyAcer rubrum ‘Red Sunset’Genus species cultivar

20. What factors should be considered when selecting woody plant materialfor the landscape?

21. III. Become familiar with the plants • Research potential plants • Ornamental characteristics, the mature size and form, its environmental requirements and its hardiness zone.

22. Become Familiar with the plant • Consider the purposes or function the plant will serve. • The landscaper would need a different plant to create a screen in the yard versus the plant that would be chosen to act as a specimen plant. • A specimen plant is a plant that is particularly attractive and adds accent to a planting bed.

23. Become Familiar with the plant • Plants are then selected for the correct areas based on their cold tolerance and other environmental requirements.

24. A. Ornamental Characteristics • Ornamental characteristics would include flowers, fruits, foliage, bark, and form. • The best plants for the landscape would have four-season appeal.

25. The flower • A plant’s ability to produce attractive flowers is certainly an asset to the landscape.

26. The fruit • The fruit on a tree could both be a reason for selection like in the case with crab apples or holly, or be a reason to avoid that plant, like ginkgo, which has rotten smelling fruit, or hedge apple with its fruit the size of softballs.

27. The foliage • The foliage on the plant plays an important roll in plant selection. • Plants can be either evergreen or deciduous. • The leaves can have different textures and colors.

28. Branches and trunks • The plant’s branches and trunk can add to the landscape interest.

29. The shape • The shape of the plant from an elegant weeping form to a stark pyramidal can be used in the landscape to create bold statements.

30. B. Size of the plant • One of the easiest things to forget about when selecting plants for the landscape is the mature size of the plant. • People often forget that plants will grow. One must consider the mature size of a plant and use caution when placing the plant close to the home or windows.

31. C. Hardiness Zones • The U.S. Department of Agriculture established hardiness zones. • A plant must be in the correct hardiness zone for that particular area or it will not survive the winter. • The U.S. is divided into 11 zones. • Plants in the landscape can be used from colder regions but they can not be selected from warmer regions.

33. D. Select cultivars • Cultivars have been selected because they have proven themselves to have consistent outstanding characteristics. • Cultivars are often selected for their disease resistance to common ailments.

34. IV. Environmental conditions • Two common environmental conditions that affect plants are soil pH and the moisture level in the soil.

35. A. Soil pH • The measure of the acidity or alkalinity in the soil. • It is measured on a scale of 1–14 with 7 being neutral. Measurements of 1–6 are acidic with 8–14 alkaline. • Most plants like to grow at a pH of 5.6–7.0. • If the soil pH is too high or too low, it will affect the availability of nutrients to the plant .

37. B. Soil Moisture • Most plants do not like to have their roots sitting in wet soil for any length of time. • Many plants can not tolerate dry soils without any moisture.

38. Review • Plants add a beautiful surrounding to a home. But using the proper plants means more than selecting the one with a pretty flower. Being able to identify the plants name is the first step in determining the needs of a plant. Good landscapers associate plants with growing regions and will select plants based on their shape, foliage, flower and fruit.

39. Evaluation • List four factors that one should consider when selecting plants for the landscape. • Would a pH of 6 be acidic or alkaline? • What are the two common environmental concerns that affect plants? • What hardiness zone are we in? • What are the two categories of trees?

40. The End!

41. Student Learning Activities • Sample tests are available in the Lesson Plan tab.

44. Test the acidity of soil • What you need: • A soil sample • Vinegar • Baking Soda • Water • 2 sample containers • Here’s How: • Scoop some soil into a container. Then, add half a cup of vinegar. If the soil bubbles or fizzes, is alkaline. • If there’s no reaction, scoop a fresh soil sample into a second container. Add half a cup of water to the mix. Then, add half a cup of baking soda. If the soil bubbles or fizzes the soil is highly acidic.

45. Jar Testing for Soil Type • Fill a large clear glass jar halfway with your soil sample. • Fill the remaining half with tap water, leaving 1” of air. • Attach the lid, then shake the jar vigorously until you have broken up all of the clods in the soil. • Put the jar in an out of the way place so that it can rest undisturbed overnight. • After 24 hours, your jar’s contents will have settled into distinct layers. SILT, CLAY, and SAND. By examining the relative proportions of these layers. You can gain a sense of which type od soil you have.

46. Create a design for this home. Your design should include: trees, shrubs, groundcover, and flowers. On the back of this paper create a key with the names of the plants that you have chosen for your design. On another paper write a one to two page paper explaining your design, and why you chose those plants.

47. Name: _________________________________

48. Create a design for this home. Your design should include: trees, shrubs, groundcover, and flowers. On the back of this paper create a key with the names of the plants that you have chosen for your design. On another paper write a one to two page paper explaining your design, and why you chose those plants.

49. Name: _____________________________

50. Color the map with the 11 different plant hardness zones. Create a key on the back of this sheet for the different zones. Name: _________________________