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HOME MAY 2018 6 Whether you are new to gardening, or experienced but limited on time, there are certain failproof plants that you must have in your landscape. My gardens don't get as much care as they should. Sometimes all we need is a plant that we can't kill. I rely on these plants myself. I have certain areas around my house that are basically survival of the fittest, and these hard-to-kill plants are thriving. Before choosing the actual plants, though, it is good to familiarize yourself with basic design factors such as height, flowering time, sun and shade needs, etc. After all, we don't want to put plants in the wrong spot because they will struggle, and that defeats the purpose we are trying to obtain. Don't be afraid to ask the experts at your local garden center for help. We love to talk gardening with anyone and everyone. Remember, we were beginners once our- selves. Let's start with the larger plants and work our way down. Native trees breed success When selecting trees for the landscape, stay native for success. The reason is because they establish better because they're accustomed to our environment and soil. Red or Freeman maples, lindens and bur oak are good choices for large landscape trees and flowering crab apples are a great ornamental short to mid- size choice. Stay away from fast-growing, weak-wooded trees like silver maples; they can be maintenance nightmares. Diehard shrubs Let's move on to shrubs. Some diehard sun- loving shrubs for the landscape would include spirea, barberries, ninebark, burn- ing bushes, dogwoods, lilacs, mugo pines and forsythia. The toughest shade-loving shrubs would be old-fashioned hydrangeas like Annabelle, viburnums, sweetspire, chokeber- ries and kerria. Yews would be a good selec- tion for either sun or shade, if you're looking for something evergreen. Sure-fire perennials What about perennials? A great place to start is the native section of your favorite greenhouse. Some hardy sun-loving perennials include baptisia, black-eyed Susan, coneflowers, thread-leaf coreopsis, daylilies, perennial sunflowers, peonies, Russian sage, sedums, butterfly weed and yarrow. Shade-loving varieties include bleeding heart, columbine, foam flower, lady's mantle, hosta and turtle- head. Can't-miss annuals As far as annuals go, some extremely tough sun-lovers are petunias, million bells, alyssum, cosmos and verbena. These are extremely tolerant of abuse and a good choice for containers as well as beds. I use these at my house because they require much less care and survive quite well on their own. Some good shade-loving varieties include pansies, violas, begonias and New Guinea impatiens. I love plants that basically take care of themselves besides a little watering and fertilizing. I didn't get into specifics on each plant here because there are lots of different varieties to choose from and everyone will pick their favorite. Just remember plants can die for many reasons, many of which are out of our control, but by planting the toughest of the tough, your successes will far outweigh your losses. Happy gardening! (Michael Timm is a horticulturalist at Ebert's Greenhouse Village in Ixonia.) Submitted photo A carpet of daisies is tough to beat when it comes to planting and forgetting them — for the most part. Submitted photo A hard-to-beat perennial for hardiness is the sunflower, which range in varieties. Everyone needs hard-to-kill plants at times A list of hardy survivors for every part of the yard MICHAEL TIMM