A Garden Tool to Find Plants For Specific Conditions

I have a flower bed in my backyard under a huge fir tree. This means any plant that lives under it must like dry shade. I've found it's hard to find plants for dry shade - right now brunnera, carpet bugle, epimedium and bishop's weed are doing well there, but I'm looking for more. I was happy to recently discover HGTVGardens.com and their plant finder tool which is easy to use and has specific information on which plants will do best in whatever conditions I enter. (Of course there's lots of other things on the site like tips, landscape ideas and photos from gardeners all over the country, in addition to a whole farm-to-table section! But oh, man, is the plant finder tool fun!)
And I found three new plants for dry shade to look for: foamflower, saxifrage, and wild petunia. Now, I just have to find where to buy them!
A few clicks on the conditions I'm looking for is all it takes for a list to come up of plants that will do well there - in your own time zone, too.
There are other things on the site, too, like landscaping ideas, tips, flowers, and more.
Getting questions answered is another nice aspect of the site.
Jami @ An Oregon Cottage
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Douglas Hunt Douglas Hunt on May 10, 2013
    Sounds like a great resource, Jami. The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center has a similar tool, which of course focuses on native plants. You can search by state, light requirement, soil, bloom season and color and even leaf arrangement: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/
  • Jami @ An Oregon Cottage Jami @ An Oregon Cottage on May 10, 2013
    Thanks, Douglas! I do have an area I want to plant only natives in - that would be great to use that tool so I'd know for sure the plants are truly native in our area. I didn't know about that. I wish these tools were around when I was planting our barren landscape years ago! Maybe I'll have to move just to have a blank slate again. ;)
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