How to figure out what to plant where you live
Two things decide whether a plant survives in your yard: how cold it gets in winter, and how much sun the spot receives. The USDA hardiness zone captures the cold — it's a number from 3 (coldest) to 11 (warmest) based on your area's average lowest winter temperature. A plant rated for zones 5–9 will overwinter anywhere in that range but may die in a colder zone 4. Match the plant's zone range to yours and you've cleared the biggest hurdle.
Match the sun, too
The second filter is light. Full sun means six or more hours of direct sun a day; part sun is dappled or a few hours; shade is mostly indirect light. Putting a sun-lover in shade leaves it leggy and bloomless, while a shade plant in full sun scorches. This tool only shows plants that fit the exposure you choose.
How many plants do I need?
Once you know the bed's area in square feet, the count comes down to spacing. As a rule, space a plant about as far apart as its mature width so the bed fills in without crowding. Divide your bed area by the square of that spacing and you get the number of plants for a solid mass. The calculator runs this for every plant it recommends, so you see the quantity for your bed instantly.
Design tip: layer, don't monocrop
A bed planted with a single species looks flat. The classic approach is to layer — taller anchor shrubs at the back, mid-height perennials in the middle, and low groundcover or border plants at the front. Use the per-plant quantities as a starting point, then split your bed among two to four of the recommendations rather than filling it with one.
Frequently asked questions
Are these plants guaranteed to grow for me?
Zone and sun get you most of the way, but soil type, drainage, and local microclimate matter too. Treat the list as a strong shortlist, then check a couple of favorites against your specific soil and watering setup.
Where do the photos come from?
They load live from Wikimedia Commons, a library of freely licensed images, so the tool stays lightweight and the photos stay properly licensed.
Can I use this outside the United States?
The USDA zone system is US-based, but many countries map to equivalent zones. If you know your equivalent USDA zone, the recommendations still apply.
Plant spacing example
A 10-by-6-foot bed contains 60 square feet. Plants spaced 18 inches apart each occupy roughly 2.25 square feet in a simple grid, suggesting about 26 plants before allowing for paths, mature spread and design groupings.
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Finish the plan with the mulch calculator, grass seed calculator, or gravel calculator.