Climbing plants are a largely untapped resource for today's gardeners. Because their habit of growth is primarily vertical, they can be used to provide privacy, screen eyesores, and draw the eye upward to create the illusion of space.
In Armitage's Vines and Climbers, renowned horticulturist Allan Armitage selects and profiles the most useful and attractive climbing plants for a wide variety of sites and conditions. The choices include both woody and herbaceous plants, both annuals and perennials. Profiles for more than 115 plants include a general description, hardiness, plant family, best method of propagation, method of climbing, and the etymology of botanical and common names. Climbing plants add an extra dimension to gardening - literally.
By following Armitage's sage advice, gardeners and designers will be well equipped to create dazzling gardens that transcend the boundaries of horizontality.
The biggest mistake gardeners make each season is starting out too big and then quickly realizing their large plot requires too much weeding, watering, and backbreaking labor. Vertical gardening guarantees a better outcome from the day the trowel hits the soil—by shrinking the amount of “floor” space needed and focusing on climbing plants that are less prone to insects, diseases, and animal pests.
Notable author and gardener Derek Fell has tried and tested thousands of varieties of vegetables, flowers, and fruits and recommends the best plants for space-saving vertical gardening. His grow-up, grow-down system also shows which ground-level plants make good companions underneath and alongside climbing plants. Best of all, many of Fell’s greatest climbers and mutually beneficial plants are available in seed packets in every local garden center.
With a mix of DIY and commercially available string supports, trellises, pergolas, raised beds, skyscraper gardens, and topsy-turvy planters, the vertical garden system reduces work, increases yields, makes harvesting easier, and can be practiced in spaces as small as a container or a one-by-four-foot strip. Vertical Gardening features 100 color photos of the author’s own vertical methods and showcases beautiful, troublefree perennials, shrubs, vegetables, annuals, and fruit perfect for this new, rewarding way to garden.
From the inventor of the vertical garden, here are the secrets of plants that cling, grip and climb.
Patrick Blanc, an artist with green fingers, has created dozens of his admired botanical tapestries in public and private spaces around the world, including the Marithé & François Girbaud boutique in Manhattan; the Jean Nouvel-designed Quai Branly Museum in Paris; the aquarium in Genoa; the Siam Paragon mall in Bangkok; and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan. In this luscious, oversize, all-colour book, he explains how to create plant walls using more than one thousand plants, drawing on his observation of natural milieus, his technique of growing on vertical surfaces, his savoir faire and his passion for plants.
No comments:
Post a Comment