Question
Hello,
My fiance' and I have just bought a new home and we are going to do the landscaping ourselves we are having the concrete edging put in .
Do you have any suggesgions for plnts and bushes that will be in complete sun proably 75% of the timeand the lawn is freshly new also , is there somethig we need to do to the soil when we plant the bushes , we were told we can use round up to kill the grass where were landscaping and that will not hurt anything were planting is that true? What kinds of bushes do you think will go good together .

Thanks

Answer

If you are looking for a general source for landscape design, try http://www.commonsensecare.com/landscape-design.html or http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/homelandscape/home.html  Plant materials are regional in nature, so what does well in Chicago will die of heat stroke in Phoenix.  There are some plants that will do well just about everywhere in the U.S., but I've answered e-mail from as far away as Australia, so one type of tree which is common here, can be virtually unheard-of is other areas.  Consult your local, friendly, and knowledgeable nursery.  Home Depot, Lowes, or the like generally try to hire smart people.

Round-up is a nasty brew of chemicals whose job is to kill plants.  It will dissipate over time (about four to six weeks), but if you apply it, then plant something right on top, it will die? There are other 搊rganic?methods using heat & sunlight (http://landscaping.about.com/od/weedsdiseases/qt/killing_weeds.htm), but the BEST method is also the toughest - pulling weeds by hand.   

As far as plant combinations, there are some that just look better together ?check out these pictures and see what I mean. http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_design_plans_strategy/article/0,1785,HGTV_3569_33643...  (Even us 揈XPERTS?like to watch Paul James on HGTV!!)

Hope it helps.