The impact of poor plant choice should be understood – for example, plants struggling in the wrong conditions will not thrive, will not grow to their best ability, and may need a lot of maintenance and soil amelioration. Linking to sustainability, you should understand correct plant choice reduces the need to ameliorate soil and therefore saves using chemicals on a site. Climate change is an important thing to bear in mind and UK growers are having to re-think native species in favour of plants that will withstand extremes. An understanding of plant-based criteria for plant selection is important – what does the plant need from its planned position – temperature, water, drainage, soil type, light or shade, and hardiness? You should understand hardiness zones and be able to state the meaning of tender, half-hardy and hardy plants, and name some under each criterion. AGM (Award of Garden Merit) should be understood as this allows you to select plants that have been trialed and found to perform well in a garden setting. You should also understand why the selection of resistant varieties might be appropriate in certain areas, for example, if carrot fly is known to be prevalent in your area, select a resistant variety like Daucus carota ‘Flyaway’. The Qualification-Wide Outcome of Best Practice comes fairly easily into this area and can be linked to Sustainability – buying smaller, bare-rooted plants, sourcing locally, and using suppliers that use peat-free composts all link to the QWOs. You should be able to explain what is meant by National Plant Specification (NPS) When you select plants, there should be an understanding of their life cycles, growth habits, and
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