Location
The part of the country you live in determines the availability of certain plants & materials, though the internet provides unparalleled opportunity to create unique landscapes no matter where you live. One good example is the Japanese Garden with its specific sand, stones, bridges, water elements, plants and statues, all parts of these gardens and not readily available in all parts of the country at your local garden center. Asian theme gardens have been in existence in the United States for many years brought here by Asian migration to the US. A prime example of this culture’s influence on traditional landscapes in this country can be seen in the gardens of San Francisco. Japanese gardens are abundant and the climate is excellent for the types of asian variety plants that you’d find in Japan. However, southern and coastal New England has a very conducive climate as well. I created an Asian themed garden in Southern NH (Zone 4). I had 50 varieties of asian trees, shrubs, perennials and ground covers planted in my garden. One variety of Japanese Maple can also be seen as far north as Lincoln, NH though the climate and temperatures in this location are not sustainable to many asian plants. That particular tree is the only one I know of for miles around.
Climate
The climates of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Southern Vermont, Southern New Hampshire, Southern Maine up to Mid-Coast not only support a huge variety of well known plants, they can also support a great variety of Asian plants. There is a wonderful hosta and Asian plant source a few miles north of Bath, Maine indicating the possibilities of growing a wider variety of plants in many locations across New England. As you get further north the opportunity to grow as many varieties certainly decreases, but there are things you can do to extend the number of varieties you can grow including building shelters and greenhouses that protect plans during the days when the temps reach a balmy -20 to -30 degrees F. Heather is a great survivor of the New England climate and certain cultivars will give you a wonderful winterscape as the snow depths decrease toward spring. The ‘erica L.’ and ‘Erica tetralix L’ varieties of heather, known as ‘heath’ has cultivars that are hardy to Zone 4, but may survive in Zone 3 pockets. I have grown heath and heather in Zone 4 with great success. There are over 1000 known varieties of heather. I grew only 17.
Hardiness Zones
Hardiness Zones are guidelines. An example of this is an area on the New Hampshire/Massachusetts border which is pretty much designated as Zone 5, but if you look carefully at a detailed Zone map you might notice an area near Nashua, NH that might support some Zone 6 plant varieties. Ice plants, specifically, Yellow Ice Plant (Delosperma nubigenum) typically Zone 6, though in some places listed for Zones 3-9, thrived in a garden I planted for a customer in Hollis, NH. The garden was south to south east faced and was surrounded by several varieties of sedum. It was not mulched over winter and it came back year after year. Experimentation in your garden is essential to expanding the number of varieties you want to grow. I love to push the envelope so to speak. I’ve won many and lost a few of these challenges to nature. Timing and luck probably play an important part in the survival rates, but education and experience helps in the determination of what and what not to plant. Ask around, look around and see what the gardeners in your area are planting and find out their success and failure stories. Garden club members are a wonderful source of information.
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