Designer Landscaping Plants
Episode: #6 07/10/2006
Presenter: Melissa
King
We all love buying and trying new plants, it is all part of the fun of gardening but it is amazing how often you can go back to those tried and true varieties, those plants that are genuinely good garden performers and work well in a variety of garden styles.
The following are the plants that you know you can rely on to form the backbone of your garden ? the ones you can use on mass for dramatic effect, as hedges and borders.
Mondo grass (Ophiopogon Japonicus),, both tall and dwarf, is still among the best performing groundcovers, spreading quickly to form a dense green border.
Designers and gardeners alike love strappy leaved liriopes (Liriope muscari),, which form a luxuriant mass of foliage.
For ground-hugging colour you can?t beat glorious rock daisy?s (Brachyscome Hybrid Cultivars), which flower for most of the year.
Hebe?s (Scrophulariaceae), lavender (Lavandula Lamiaceae) and box form attractive hedges and low borders around shrub and flower beds.
For larger hedges and screens you can?t beat Photinias (Photinia x fraseri Robusta) with their brilliant coloured new growth and wonderfully fragrant Murrayas.
Dwarf Sacred Bamboo (Nandina domesatica ?Nana? ) looks outstanding planted on mass in modern and oriental style gardens.
If you are after something a little more natural looking try big bold plantings of Banksia ?Birthday candles (Banksia spinulosa ) with golden bird attracting flowers.
Filling an area with just one or even a few kinds of plants spaced closely together is a really simply way to create a dramatic effect and reduce maintenance. It is all about getting to know your soil and climate, finding plants that work for you and planting them in big bold groups.
When you are dealing with large quantities, mail order is a smart way to go. All of the above varieties are available from Garden Express in little landscaping pots, so you can buy big quantities in small sizes and have them delivered straight to your door. Plus with mail order, the more you buy the cheaper it gets.
Young plants are also vigorous growers and when you buy them in little pots they grow and establish very quickly.
Garden Express
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