There’s a reason that New Jersey is known as The Garden State. The climate and soil here allow for a huge variety of trees, shrubs, plants, and flowers to flourish here.

That means when you’re looking for trees to plant in your New Jersey yard, you have lots of choices. If you want shade trees you can take your pick from Maple, Linden, Red Oak (which happens to be our state tree), or Swamp White Oak—just to name a few. Some shade trees such as Callery Pear and Yellowwood also flower in the late spring and early summer, which adds a whole different dimension to your yard’s look.

You can also add a wide variety of evergreens, ornamental trees, or deciduous shrubs to the mix in your yard for variety. Azalea, Hydrangea, Carpet Rose, Lilac, Burning Bush, and Rose of Sharon are among the deciduous shrubs that do well in New Jersey.There are also many kinds of groundcovers such as Myrtle, English Ivy, Pachysandra, and Blue Rug Juniper that flourish in our state.

If you’re looking for perennial flowers for your garden, The University of Texas at Austin's Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center recommends more than 100 different perennials for New Jersey including such favorites as Red Columbine, Bluebell Bellflowers, Cutleaf Coneflowers, and Chrysanthemum just to mention a few.  And while a big advantage of perennials is that they continue to flower year after year, most won’t bloom all summer long. So it’s nice to have a mixture of early, mid, and late blooming flowers to bring color to your garden throughout the growing season.

To keep things interesting, you may want to add some annuals and change the look of your garden from year to year. Better Homes and Gardens suggests the following as good choices for New Jersey garden annuals such as Grape Petunia, Lanai Lime Green Verbena, Frosty Knight Sweet Alyssum, Crackling Fire Begonia, Lanai Candy Cane Verbena, and Hot Springs Lobelia.

With all of those choices, you may want to enlist the help, advice, and experience of a landscaping professional. We’re delighted to direct you to one of our trusted partners, Daub’s Garden, Gifts, and Nursery at 1461 Route 22E, in Annandale, NJ. You can give them a call at (908) 236-2604 or check out their Facebook page.