Identifying Landscape Plants

Plant identification is an organized process and identification experts often quickly move through the steps with little thought. For novices, it is important to understand the thought process to efficiently and correctly identify a plant. Once the plant is identified, homeowners and landscape managers should read the plant description in a book or other reference, be able to understand the most important identification characteristics, and compare those characteristics to the sample. Observing the plant within landscapes, at landscape nurseries, or on the Internet is a valuable learning experience.