Bamboos & Grasses (SIMPLE STEPS TO SUCCESS) PDF
Preview Bamboos & Grasses (SIMPLE STEPS TO SUCCESS)
Bamboos and Grasses Bamboos and Grasses Jon Ardle LONDON, NEW YORK, MUNICH, MELBOURNE, DELHI SENIOR EDItOR Zia Allaway ACtINg SENIOR DESIgNER Rachael Smith MANAgINg EDItOR Anna Kruger MANAgINg ARt EDItOR Alison Donovan DtP DESIgNER Louise Waller PICtURE RESEARCH Lucy Claxton, Richard Dabb, Mel Watson PRODUCtION CONtROLLER Rebecca Short PRODUCED FOR DORLINg KINDERSLEY Airedale Publishing Limited CREAtIVE DIRECtOR Ruth Prentice PRODUCtION MANAgER Amanda Jensen PHOtOgRAPHY Sarah Cuttle, David Murphy First American Edition, 2007 Published in the United States by DK Publishing, 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014 07 08 09 10 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Copyright © 2007 Dorling Kindersley Limited text copyright © 2007 Royal Horticultural Society All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Published in great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited. A Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN-13: 978-0-7566-2691-4 ISBN-10: 0-7566-2691-9 DK books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or educational use. For details, contact: DK Publishing Special Markets, 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014 or [email protected] Reproduced by Colourscan, Singapore Printed and bound by tein Wah Press, Singapore Discover more at www.dk.com Contents Designing with 6 grasses & bamboos Find inspiration in these beautifully planted grass and bamboo gardens. Getting started 30 Learn about the conditions your plants enjoy and how to plant them. Planting recipes 58 Use these exciting planting combinations to add drama to your garden. Caring for your plants 100 Discover the best ways to keep your plants looking good throughout the year. Plant guide 120 Choose bamboos, grasses, and grasslike plants from this comprehensive guide. Suppliers 154 Index 156 Acknowledgments 160 Designing with grasses & bamboos Whatever the setting, be it a gravel garden, Asian-style design, or patio display, bamboos, grasses, and grasslike plants can make it special. In this chapter, discover the beauty of these versatile plants, and how to create a range of exciting designs by combining them with flowers, shrubs, and trees. 8 Designing with grasses and bamboos All-grass plantings Planting a border with just grasses can provide year-round interest and be surprisingly colorful, with a sense of movement that shrubs or perennials simply cannot match. Pictures clockwise from below Color contrast The combination of the relatively wide, bronze-red leaves of hook sedge (Uncinia uncinata rubra) and the threadlike, narrow green leaves of clump-forming Festuca glauca illustrates the contrast of hues that can be achieved using grasses. Both these plants prefer acidic soil and are evergreen, requiring only an annual tidy in spring. Mixing sizes and textures Some of the best large plants for the centerpiece of an all-grass planting are the many cultivars of pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana). Some can reach 10 ft (3 m) tall, with clumps of gray-green foliage and huge plumes of “ostrich feather” flowers in late summer (the dwarf cultivar ‘Pumila’ is better for small gardens). In the foreground are smaller Stipa calamagrostis, which flower for a long period, and one of the best blue-leaved grasses, Panicum virgatum. Compact and modern Snow, or tussock, grasses (Chionochloa) are elegant, mounded plants with arching, plumelike flowers, like mini pampas grasses. This broad- leaved type, C. flavescens, is the hardiest tussock. Winter structure Even deciduous grasses can contribute much to the winter garden. The bleached straw “bones” and flowerheads of Miscanthus can survive very harsh winters and look particularly attractive rimed with frost.
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