скачать книгу бесплатно
Bedding for sustainable growing
Viola
Violas Perennials
Mat-forming perennials with compact foliage and a constant succession of flowers, many of which are marked with face-like features. Garden violas are almost constantly in bloom with colours similar in range to pansies with many being bicoloured, plain or picotee. Varieties include ‘Ardross Gem’, ‘Irish Molly’ and ‘Martin’. Seed series include ‘Baby Face’, ‘Gemini Twins’ and ‘Sorbet’.
Soil preference: Any, well-drained, not too dry
Aspect: Sun or part shade
Season of interest: Year round
Height and spread: Up to 20cm × 30cm (8in × 1ft)
Companion plants: Universally loved and useful almost anywhere. New seed series of small flowered violas are superseding bigger flowered pansies because they can bloom throughout the year. Violas and pansies look good with almost any other garden plant.
Geranium pratense
Meadow Cranesbill Perennial
Raise from seed sown in autumn to provide flowers the following summer. Decorative foliage is divided with first flower stems developing in early summer producing bright blue flowers. Cut hard back to provide a second flush in late summer. There is a pure white form, and ‘Mrs Kendall Clark’ has pale slate-blue flowers.
Soil preference: Any
Aspect: Sun
Season of interest: Summer and autumn
Height and spread: 1m × 60cm (3ft 3in × 2ft)
Companion plants: Wild bedding is an unusual but exciting concept. Try this cranesbill with ox eye daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare) and with annual grasses such as Briza maxima or Lagurus ovata for a soft, meadow effect.
Aquilegia
Granny’s Bonnets, Columbine Perennials
Sustainable bedding. Seed series of big, showy columbines are popular as bedding plants. Sown in spring, they will produce plenty of flower the following year and can be planted in situ in autumn. The ‘Songbird series’ have big, long-spurred blooms in red, blue, yellow and creamy white, which also make good container plants and can even be used for early conservatory displays.
Soil preference: Any, preferably fertile
Aspect: Sun, part-shade
Season of interest: Spring, early summer
Height and spread: Variable from dwarf to 1m (3ft 3in)
Companion plants: Best on their own in a bedding scheme, but beautiful if dotted among perennials or shrubs in a mixed border, or grown in containers.
Bedding for attracting wildlife (#ulink_e67c6e19-c58e-50f9-b885-89e52e783936)
Verbena bonariensis
Purple Top, Tall Verbena Short-lived, marginally hardy perennial
Tall stems, sparsely furnished with narrow, dark green leaves are topped, through summer, by dense bunches of tiny bright purple blooms. The stems are so thin and the leaves so few that the flowers seem suspended by invisible supports. Attractive to butterflies and a wide range of insects. A prolific self-seeder.
Soil preference: Any, even very dry
Aspect: Full sun
Season of interest: Summer, autumn.
Height and spread: 2m × 30cm (6ft 6in × 1ft)
Companion plants: Most effective when used to create an extra, ephemeral layer of bedding above more moderately sized plants such as bedding dahlias, pelargoniums or petunias.
Gaillardia hybrids
Blanket Flower; Fire Wheel Hardy perennials
Brilliantly coloured, daisy flowers with hot coloured outer rays and raised, furry central ‘cones’ are produced throughout summer. Typical flower colours are red and yellow, as in the old variety ‘Kobold’; ‘Burgunder’ is red and ‘Dazzler’, a shorter-stemmed variety. Divide or propagate from root cuttings frequently, since these perennials are short-lived. Loved by butterflies and bees.
Soil preference: Any free-draining
Aspect: Sun
Season of interest: Summer, autumn
Height and spread: Variable from dwarf to 60cm × 75cm (2ft × 2ft 6in)
Companion plants: For a hot effect, gaillardias mix well with annual varieties of Rudbeckia, such as ‘Marmalade’ or ‘Rustic Dwarfs’, whose flowers will continue long into autumn. Besides bedding, they also work well in mixed or herbaceous borders.
Nicotiana x sanderae
Tobacco Plant Half hardy annual
Bold perennial with large, oval, sticky leaves and branched stems bearing narrow-necked, trumpet-shaped flowers. Blooms on scented varieties wilt by day, but perk up at dusk and produce a rich fragrance. Best scented varieties are ‘Fragrant Cloud’ or ‘Evening Fragrance Mixed’. Decorative, non-scented kinds include ‘Domino’ and ‘Nikki’ series in pastel pink hues, and red, pink, cream or white. Particularly attractive to bees and moths.
Soil preference: Any
Aspect: Sun or part shade
Season of interest: Summer
Height and spread: Variable to 1m × 75cm (3ft 3in × 2ft 6in)
Companion plants: Coloured varieties call for strong foliage contrasts from silvery plants such as Centaurea cineraria or a filigree-leaved Artemisia. Scented kinds are good with the huge Nicotiana sylvestris.
Bedding for containers
Torenia
Wishbone Flower Tender perennial
Bushy or slowly spreading perennials with toothed leaves and a long succession of lipped, trumpet flowers with dark petal edges and contrastingly pale throats. Good varieties for containers include ‘Amethyst’, ‘Blue Panda’ (royal blue and pale violet blue) and ‘Duchess Series’, which comes in two-tone blue, white and pink or white and blue.
Soil preference: Any, not too dry
Aspect: Sun or part shade
Season of interest: Summer
Height and spread: 25cm × 30cm (10in × 12in)
Companion plants: Best co-ordinated with attractive foliage plants, particularly with silvery or grey leaves. Trailing plants such as Sutera, Dichondra argentea ‘Silver Falls’ and the very silvery Lotus berthelotii would make fine companions.
Calibrachoa ‘Million Bells’
Tender perennial
Close relative of the petunia, producing masses of long, trailing stems, richly furnished with flattened, flared, trumpet flowers up to about 3cm (1in) across. One of the best trailing plants for hanging baskets or large containers. ‘Million Bells’ series has flowers in pink, mauve, dusky yellow, white and terracotta.
Soil preference: Any well-drained
Aspect: Sun
Season of interest: Summer
Height and spread: 15cm (6in) high, trailing 1m (3ft 3in) stems
Companion plants: Teams will with such trailing foliage plants as Lotus berthelotii or Helichrysum petiolare ‘Variegatum’ but also excellent when grown alone.
Felicia amelloides
Blue Daisy, African Blue Daisy Tender perennial
Bushy or slowly trailing perennial with rounded, deep green, slightly pubescent leaves and masses of yellow-centred, bright blue daily flowers held on thin, erect stems. The form ‘Santa Anita’ is the toughest, sometimes surviving a touch of frost, and flowers throughout summer.
Soil preference: Any free-draining
Aspect: Sun
Season of interest: Summer, early autumn
Height and spread: 40cm × 60cm (1ft 4in × 2ft)
Companion plants: Magnificent if contrasted with bright yellow or orange flowers. Tagetes, especially clear yellow varieties, blend sweetly as does Bidens ferulifolia.
Nemesia denticulata and allies
Tender perennial
Mound-forming perennial with thin, easily snapped stems, which are quick to regenerate, and generous, long-lasting sprays of sometimes fragrant flowers shaped like small, open snapdragons. Colours range from white to pastel lilac, purple and pink tones.
Soil preference: Any, not too dry
Aspect: Sun or part shade
Season of interest: Summer
Height and spread: 30cm × 40cm (1ft × 1ft 4in)
Companion plants: Best grown on its own, especially in a large pot or hanging basket.
Bidens ferulifolia
Bidens, Beggarticks Tender perennial
Lax perennial, whose much branched stems trail elegantly among other vegetation. The deeply divided foliage makes a pretty foil for the big, golden, honey-scented blooms which are produced constantly through summer. A classic and drought-tolerant basket plant, but also fine in a border, where it can sprawl among other perennials.
Soil preference: Any
Aspect: Sun
Season of interest: Summer
Height and spread: Up to 45cm (1ft 6in) trailing
Companion plants: Lovely with silver foliage of trailing Helichrysum or trailing Plectranthus. Superb when making a startling contrast with the vigorous Verbena ‘Homestead Purple’.
Sutera (syn. Bacopa)
Tender annuals or perennials
South African plants with bushy but trailing or sprawling habit and slightly toothed triangular or rounded leaves. The flowers are tiny – forget-me-not sized – but are produced in profusion through much of summer. Pastel shaded cultivars include ‘Blue Showers’, ‘Lilac Showers’ and ‘Pink Domino’. White forms include ‘Snowstorm’, ‘Snowflake’ and Sutera cordata ‘Blizzard’.
Soil preference: Any
Aspect: Sun
Season of interest: Summer
Height and spread: 10cm × 45cm (4in × 1ft 6in)
Companion plants: Suteras have become standard basket and window box plants and will mix with practically anything. They are ideal for softening edges and disguising pot sides, making excellent companions for erect varieties of pelargonium and fuchsias.
Other good bedding plants
