Question

the gardener was planting flowers and shrubs. past progressive present progressive future progressive

Explanation:

The sentence "The gardener was planting flowers and shrubs" uses the past progressive tense, which is formed by "was/were + present participle" (here "was planting"). Past progressive is used to describe an action that was in progress at a specific time in the past. Present progressive uses "am/is/are + present participle" (for current actions), and future progressive uses "will be + present participle" (for actions in progress in the future). So the correct tense category is past progressive.

Answer:

past progressive