Oak Park Landscape & Water Garden Center - Plants and Planting

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Our Knowledge Helps your Garden Grow!

Whether you are an experienced gardener, or just beginning to explore your outdoor surroundings, Oak Park Landscape & Water Garden center can help you grow the garden you really want. You'll love our commitment to plant quality, as well as our variety of outdoor plants, landscaping plants, perennials, and annuals. All of our plants are grown in a Midwest climate – not "force grown" from a warmer area. We do this because we know our plants will be raised in a climate as cold -- or colder -- than ours in northwest Ohio; hence, they are better prepared to last longer and endure the winter weather.

For the experienced gardener, Oak Park's perennial selection offers unique plantings you can’t find in most garden stores. For homeowners looking to have their garden stand out in their neighborhood, Oak Park’s garden accent department offers beautiful fountains, designer garden art, and unusual accents.

For beginning gardeners up to master gardeners in the Toledo, Ohio, area, Oak Park offers the most in knowledge and fast and friendly customer service. A visit to Oak Park is kind of like going home - friendly people working in a beautiful environment, who speak in a language everyone can understand. You will never feel like you don't know what to buy, or where something should be planted. Our friendly experts are readily available to answer your questions and help you achieve your goals.

Take a stroll through our gardens to get all kinds of ideas for outdoor gardens and container gardens. Oak Park’s container gardens sport the usual mix of annuals and greens, but we also mix annuals with perennials. We do this so you can take out the perennial at the end of the season for years of growing.

Oak Park’s 10 Best Garden Plants

We are often asked which perennials and other garden plants are best to grow. To answer this question, we need more information, such as: How much sun will the plant receive? What type of soil do you have? What size would you like the plant to reach at maturity?

There is a short list of plants we recommend for new gardeners, or those wishing to simplify their gardening efforts. The criteria we use to come up with the 10 best plants are:

1. Easy to grow ~ no special soil or fertility requirements.
2. Long-lived ~ all perennial ~ so no need to plant every year.
3. Low maintenance ~ little clean-up or dividing to keep the plant looking good.
4. Looks good for a long period of time ~ either it blooms for a long period of time, or when not in bloom, the foliage has ornamental value.

The Top 10

Siberian Iris ~ These beauties bloom mid to late spring. They look like ornamental grass when they are finished blooming, growing well in all sorts of conditions, light levels, and soils. Daintier than their cousins (German iris) and not as temperamental as the Japanese iris, Siberian iris bloom in shades of white, blue or purple. Mature height is about three feet.

Daylilies ~ These flowers bloom in mid to late summer, and the foliage looks somewhat like ornamental grass when not in bloom. Daylilies perform well in all conditions like the Siberian Iris do. In fact, they do well planted together for early and late season bloom. The variety "Stella D'Oro" and some of the other re-blooming daylilies can give season-long color. Daylilies can live for many years without much care. Colors range from everything except true blue. Sizes range from eight inches to four feet.

Hosta ~ Once thought to be just for shade, new varieties of hosta tolerate -- and in some cases prefer -- full sun. They last decades, getting bigger and better each year. Hosta are grown mostly for their foliage, and the plants come in a huge variety of shapes, color variations, and sizes. Teeny tiny Hosta can be only a few inches or less, while the larger variety grows to five feet tall and wide. This is a favorite plant for collectors.

Sedum ~ This succulent plant takes hot and dry conditions, but will thrive in a variety of situations. One of the first plants to emerge in spring, sedum, or "Autumn Joy," blooms late summer and fall and is often called Rose-Live-Forever because it does. Many sedums are ground-hugging types, while others grow to two foot in height. Flower colors are yellow, white, pink and red.

Coral Bells ~ The new varieties of this plant come with purple foliage and keep their leaf color through winter. Some have ruffled leaves, while others have a silver cast to the leaf. Some gardeners are not impressed with the flowers and cut them off. This is an exciting new entry into the garden scene that will add interest to many garden situations and conditions.

Yarrow ~ Available in many colors, this is a drought tolerant and long-blooming plant. Once the first blooms are spent, cut back and it will bloom again. "Moonshine" has a great, clear yellow, long-lasting bloom with silver foliage. Yarrow needs to be planted in full to part sun. Sizes range from 12 inches to three feet tall.

Coreopsis ~ This is one of the longest blooming perennials. It blooms all summer in full to part sun, with daisy-like blooms in pinks and yellows. Foliage varies with a variety from grassy to fern-like. The height varies, too, from inched to two feet.

Lamb's Ears ~ Silver-gray fuzzy foliage that is great for edging, and softening hard edges of walkways. Lamb's ears like dry, lean soil and need little water. The plant needs a little yearly clean up, but it is worth the effort. A new variety, "Big Ears," has larger leaves and is less likely to produce what some think are less-than-attractive flowers. Height is less than 12 inches, not counting the flower, which can get up to two feet above the foliage.

Roses ~ Not the hybrid teas that require lots of work, but the landscape roses which are disease and insect resistant. These roses bloom all summer in a sunny location. Landscape Roses come in many colors and plant shapes. Sizes range from less than 12 inches for miniature roses and low-growing groundcover roses, to more than six feet for some hedge roses and more than 10 feet for climbing roses.

Ornamental Grasses ~ Dramatic in appearance and in varying sizes, sun tolerances, colors, and textures. Grasses are the mainstay of the low-maintenance type of landscape design termed "New American Landscape." Most ornamental grasses do best in full sun, but there are some low-light varieties. Varieties can range from three inches tall to as large as 12 feet.