5 Mistakes Every Homeowner Makes

I recently stopped by my local garden center to pick up seedlings, and I was reminded of another common mistake—one even I’ve made—which is choosing the wrong plants for the space. Wandering past row after row of bright and blooming plants, it’s easy to fill your cart with pots and pots, only to get home and find you need to squeeze your favorite sun-loving flowers into a shady spot or you've invested in a perennial that will outgrow its designated space before it’s fully matured.

So, before you pick up even one daylily, write down the sun and shade patterns in your yard, measure available planting spaces and make a list of the flowers you like. At the garden store, look at the nursery labels, which detail how much light and water the plant needs (this will tell you where the plant can go in your garden), as well as how big it will grow (to help you figure out how many will fit in the space you have).