What makes a landscape high maintenance? The saying “right plant, right place” is the grown-up version of the matching game. Does the plant match the site’s light, soil, water and space requirements?

Why install plants with potential heights of 40 to 50 feet to serve as waist or chest-high hedges? That’s been the case for a long time with podocarpus (P. macrophyllus), a Japanese evergreen tree. Of ...