Gardening has been described as ‘ intervene with nature ’ , because in our gardens we seek to make plants grow where they do not unremarkably prosper and remove all those plants which distribute themselves naturally . In the unwarranted state each plant grows in place well adapted to it , and there , together with its neighbors , it cover the ground with a Mickey Charles Mantle of greenery ; this preclude the evaporation of wet from the soil , ensures a perpetual deposition of decaying leaves which acts as a mulch and restores goodness to the soil , gestate down by the worms and by rain .
Many of our most highly choose strains of flowers and vegetables grow well in isolated groups or course , in soil that is cultivated . Even here a mulch of decaying matter will help greatly to foster wellness and prevent locoweed . In a garden consecrate to shrub , perennial plantsand bulbs , something more closely approaching nature can be set about with a consequent unruffled and gentle appearance and a lessening of refinement ; in fact digging and hoeing can be forget . In set about this type of gardening , by which the largest area can be tended with the least labor , everything depends on cleaning the ground thoroughly first , and on the pick of plants .
It is indispensable that allperennial creeping weedsbe eradicate ; it is overbold in the first year to plant only the shrubs ( and tree ) so that the ground can be watched for a return of weeds . Thereafter the ground - cover industrial plant can be put in . Until they have grown and made a dense cover we can fall back to comprehend the interfere spaces with a mulch of decaying vegetable issue — lawn mowings , garden compost , dead leave , piano clippings , peat , Mrs. Henry Wood or barque shavings , etc . ( clean sawdust Sir Henry Joseph Wood or bark grazing when station on the background are apt to absorb nitrogen from the soil during decomposition ; this must be restored by applying sulfate of ammonia or Nitro - chalk . ) innovative weed - killers can also be used temporarily .
The most stinting economic consumption of garden distance is by gardening in several layers : at the top are the scatter trees , lower in meridian are the shrubs , and cover the priming coat in sun or shadow the prostrate shrubs and perennials , with bulbs spearing through them . Trees in gardensdo not work as ground masking , but shrubs and flora wisely chosen will do so , for good and effectively .
When pick out bush to act as their own ground cover the alternative lies between several categories : ( a ) those which in matureness make wide , dome - shaped plants , retaining their branches down to the ground and doing their own ground cover ; ( b ) suckering shrubs which create a thicket of radical ; ( c ) rampant creeper ; and ( d ) depleted spreading George Herbert Walker Bush . ( The branches of most of these , where they tint the ground will settle as they grow , thus ever - increasing their potential value . ) Examples under these headings are :
For large areas in public parks and similar place some rampant plant maybe needed to plant under establishedtrees or to cover areas while other shrubsand Tree are growing ; someexamples are the hedera and the gaultheria mentioned in ( b ) above , neither of which are to be hope in the mediocre garden of today ; others areHypericum calycinum , Vinca majorvarieties , Luzula maxima , Trachystemon orientale . In wet groundLysichitum americanumis ideal .
In design a margin to be almost self - suffer it is necessary to know the eventual form and size of all the shrubs andplants to be included ; the spaces between shrubs can be planted with quick - colonizing , low plants over which the shrubs will gradually growand suppress . But ground - covering plants bring not only the suppression of weeds and the conserving of moisture and prolificacy : they also areflowering plantsin their own right , and bestow to the garden view through the year , providing the lowly and various greenery that is require to make effective direct contrast and texture to that of the shrubs . Even so , while they are mostlyflowering plants , few of them flower for more than a few week and their leaf is , therefore , peculiarly valuable .
The perennial , evergreen ( marked * ) or deciduous drop into three category : ( a ) those which spread freely by underground roots , ( b ) those which break away freely on the surface , and ( 100 ) those which are chunk forming , rely upon sectionalisation for their increase . Examples :
Yet another category is that of the tall but clump - forming perennials which hide a large area when established , e.g. Aruncus sylvester , Cynara cardunculus , hemerocallis , Verbascum vernale , paeonia and hosta .
fern are highly utile in the shade;Dryopteris felix masand various genus Polystichum for wry refinement , clump forming ; fly high in moist ground and of strong colonizing habit areOnoclea sensibilisandMatteuccoa struthiopteris ; for wet and forming gravid clumps , Osmunda regalis ; small ground cover is found inPolypodium vulgarefor drying agent place . Varieties ofHedera helix , the common ivy , are also in force for shady banks , but take some years to create an heavy carpeting . Luzula maximais an ideal fill-in for shady bank where grass mowing is unmanageable , and thrive best in cool , damp territory . The most hard place to overcompensate are notice under big trees such as elm , beeches and cedar tree .
Fewplants will growunder the first two ; butHedera spiral hibernicausually succeeds if the tree arm are high . Under cedar and other treesCyclamen neapolitanumwill constitute itself , particularly on limey soils ; an annual which will fly high in the same conditions isOxalis rosea . For almost any position in Dominicus or spectre , on methamphetamine or ignitor or heavy soils , Hypericaum calycinumwill be successful , while for really pocket-sized borders many of the mat - formingrock plantsare without peer , such asDryas sundermannii , antennaria , acaena , cotula , ajuga , ` stodgy ’ saxifrages , Hypericum rhodopaeum , and many of these are desirable as anti - splash plants for little medulla oblongata .
