💧WaterRequires consistent, even moisture; browns out under severe drought or extreme heat without afternoon shade.
🗺️Zone4a-8b
📏Height1-2 inches (2-5 cm)
Ideal pH5.5 – 7
Japanese Camellia, Common Camellia, Tsubaki
Camellia japonica
Theaceae
LCModerate
☀️SunPartial Sun, Partial Shade, Full Shade
💧WaterMaintain consistent soil moisture, particularly during the first two growing seasons and summer bud-set. Provide 1 inch of water weekly; avoid both drought stress and root waterlogging.
🗺️Zone7a - 9b
📏Height6-12 feet
Ideal pH5 – 6.5
Japanese Flowering Crabapple, Showy Crabapple
Malus floribunda
Rosaceae
NEEasy⚠️ Mildly Toxic
☀️SunFull Sun, Partial Sun
💧WaterProvide regular deep watering during the first 2 seasons of establishment. Mature specimens exhibit good drought tolerance, requiring supplemental water only during extended dry spells.
🗺️Zone4a-8b
📏Height15-25 feet (4.5-7.5 m)
Ideal pH5.5 – 7
Hakone Grass, Golden Japanese Forest Grass
Hakonechloa macra
Poaceae
LCEasy
☀️SunPartial Shade, Full Shade, Partial Sun
💧WaterMaintain even moisture; avoid allowing roots to dry out completely in summer.
🗺️Zone5a-9b
📏Height1-2 feet (30-60 cm)
Ideal pH5.5 – 6.8
Japanese Maple, Smooth Japanese Maple, Palmate Maple
Acer palmatum
Sapindaceae
LCModerate
☀️SunFull Sun, Partial Sun, Partial Shade
💧WaterMaintain consistent soil moisture, especially during establishment and hot summer periods. Deep, infrequent soaking is preferred over light sprinkling; avoid waterlogged root conditions.
🗺️Zone5b - 8b
📏Height10-25 feet (3-7.5 m)
Ideal pH5.5 – 6.8
Japanese Pachysandra, Japanese Spurge, Carpet Spurge
Pachysandra terminalis
Buxaceae
LCEasy⚠️ Mildly Toxic
☀️SunPartial Shade, Full Shade
💧WaterProvide regular moisture until established; once rooted, exhibits good tolerance to dry shade under tree roots.
🗺️Zone4a-8b
📏Height6-12 inches (15-30 cm)
Ideal pH5 – 6.5
Kale, Borecole, Curly Kale, Dinosaur Kale
Brassica oleracea
Brassicaceae
LCEasy
☀️SunFull Sun, Partial Sun
💧WaterRequires consistent moisture (1-1.5 inches per week). Mulch heavily to retain soil moisture and keep roots cool.
🗺️Zone2a - 9b
📏Height12-24 inches
Ideal pH6 – 7.5
Kohlrabi, German Turnip, Turnip Cabbage
Brassica oleracea
Brassicaceae
LCEasy
☀️SunFull Sun, Partial Sun
💧WaterWater regularly (1 inch weekly) to promote rapid vegetative growth and maintain crisp, fiber-free stem flesh.
🗺️Zone2a-11b
📏Height1-1.5 feet (30-45 cm)
Ideal pH6 – 7.5
Leek, Garden Leek, Broadleaf Leek
Allium ampeloprasum
Amaryllidaceae
LCEasy⚠️ Mildly Toxic
☀️SunFull Sun
💧WaterProvide regular, moderate moisture (25 mm/week); avoid overhead watering late in the day to minimize leaf rust.
🗺️Zone3a-9b
📏Height2-3 feet (60-90 cm)
Ideal pH6.5 – 7.5
Lemon, True Lemon, Common Lemon
Citrus limon
Rutaceae
NEModerate⚠️ Mildly Toxic
☀️SunFull Sun
💧WaterDeep, regular watering. Allow the top 2 inches of soil to dry out between waterings to prevent Phytophthora root rot.
🗺️Zone9a - 11b
📏Height10-20 feet
Ideal pH5.5 – 6.5
Lemon Balm, Sweet Balm, Melissa
Melissa officinalis
Lamiaceae
LCEasy
☀️SunFull Sun, Partial Sun, Partial Shade
💧WaterModerate regular watering; allow upper soil surface to dry slightly between cycles.
🗺️Zone4a-9b
📏Height1.5-2.5 feet (45-75 cm)
Ideal pH6 – 7.5
Lemongrass, West Indian Lemongrass, Citronella Grass
Cymbopogon citratus
Poaceae
LCEasy⚠️ Mildly Toxic
☀️SunFull Sun
💧WaterGenerous watering during summer; reduce irrigation in winter when dormant.
🗺️Zone9a-11b
📏Height3-5 feet (90-150 cm)
Ideal pH6 – 7.5
Beans: Soil pH, Planting Depth and Spacing (Green, Bush, Fava)
The three bean records in this database, green bean, bush bean and fava (broad bean), all sit in the same narrow soil window: pH 6.0 to 7.0, well-drained, and neither waterlogged nor droughted through pod fill. That window is not a preference, it is a biological constraint. Rhizobium nodules (the reason a bean feeds itself) stop fixing atmospheric nitrogen below about pH 6.0, and fava shows aluminium and manganese toxicity on acid ground before the common beans do. Lime to 6.0-6.5 if a test comes back under 6.0, then re-test: the correction takes months, not weeks.
Depth. Sow bean seed at about three times its own thickness and no deeper: 1 to 1.5 inches for green and bush bean, 1 to 2 inches for the larger fava seed. Sowing shallow is the safer error. Common bean will not germinate in soil still below 60°F (16°C) (seed sits and rots instead of swelling) while fava is the opposite and goes in four to six weeks before the last frost, which is why it also works as an autumn sowing. Neither wants a presoak: hydrate the bed, not the seed.
Spacing. Bush types are determinate and stop growing on their own, so 3 to 4 inches within the row and 18 to 24 inches between rows gives a canopy that closes without crowding; thinned stands dry out and crack their pods. Fava is taller and stiffer, so it takes 4 to 6 inches in the row with 24 inches between rows, and it benefits from a stake on exposed ground. Pole types are a different question: they need the trellis before the seed goes in.
After sowing. About an inch of water a week, held evenly through flowering and pod set: a dry week at first bloom drops the flower set, and a waterlogged week at harvest splits the pods. Inoculate seed if the bed has not grown a legume in the last four years, keep fresh manure out of the hole (it delays nodulation) and feed phosphorus and potash from a soil test rather than by habit. Full sun for all three. For the pH side of that, start from the soil pH by crop reference table and work out the rate with the lime requirement calculator.
