ALL-ALIKE PLANTS GOOD IN GARDEN.

Byline: JANE GATES Gardening

SANTA CLARITA - There are many advantages to creating garden areas that group plants with similar growth habits or families.

For example, it is practical to group azaleas, gardenias, camellias and hydrangeas in the same garden as they all need acid soil and shade. There is sufficient diversity within these varieties to create a lovely setting that will bloom for a long period of time. There are a number of other acid-lovers you can pepper in to add other shapes or colors as well. An all-acid-loving shade garden will need less care since the whole area has the same requirements.

Ponds and other water gardens force us to use plants with similar needs. Natives and drought-tolerant plantings work best with the same principle.

But you can also plant gardens of all one type of plant. Bulbs would be less successful due to the relatively short flowering habit of most bulbs when compared with the time the foliage looks less attractive. These are best interplanted with other plants that can hide foliage when flowering is done.

Daisy gardens would be a good choice as there is a wide range of daisy-flower plants from tall sunflowers to shrubby euonymus to colorful chrysanthemums to bright Gerbera daisies to tiny Bellis daisies. And these are just a few. They come in a huge variety of colors and forms - enough to create really interesting groupings.

Grass gardens also create their own ambience. Since grasses come in so many sizes, shapes and colors, you can create a whole picture without any other types of plants. And with our frequent winds, grasses sway gracefully, adding motion and sound to the garden.

The number of grasses is awesome. We tend to think of grass as lawn, but there are all kinds of ornamental grasses available. Although they do not have colorful flowers, some have dramatic seed heads that fluff out decoratively and make splendid 10-second cat toys.

Pampas grass is probably one of the best-known ornamental grasses, but as it self-seeds so readily it has been declared a California pest. There are, however, many other grasses with better manners that you can try.

Try Miscanthus for tall colorful foliage that comes in varieties with a great selection of marvelous patterns and colors. The fountain grasses come in reds, greens and even black-flowered, as well as large and small sizes. (Watch out for the large green ones: they self-seed like crazy.)

Blue tints are available in fescues, oat and lyme grasses. And the carix family - which is not drought-tolerant - offers grasses fine as hair, thick as a finger, curly, straight and in almost every color.

So as you plan for spring, consider creating all-of-a-kind gardens. They make for eye-catching designs and easy care.