Open Association of Landscape Industries
Sustainable plants
Many plants grow quite happily without the need for
pesticides or fungicides or excessive watering. Quite a few
of the old shrub roses fall into this category, and often will
flower right through the season with wonderful scent.
The term sustainable plants usually refers to native plants,
but some introduced plants like Rosa rugosa could well be
considered, as they very rarely get black spot or other rose
diseases and in my experience hardly ever get greenfly or
blackfly problems. And the scent is just amazing, and it has the
added bonus of large orange rose hips.
What sustainable plants do you like ?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John on -
Just trying to broaden the LJN experience !
It is not all about making extra bucks....... Lol
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Claire Brown on -
I havn't heard easy to look after plants labelled as sustainable before, - but by your definition,
i.e plants that don't need watering, and will never get sprayed, (and don't need it as they don't have potential predators) plus are frost hardy and just need a once a year tidy up (mostly in Jan/feb)
Geranium Rozanne
Geranium Macrrohizum
Erigeron Karvinskianus
Most Bulbs
Sedum Matrona
Ceratostigma willmotianum
Brunnera microphylla Jack Frost
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Paul McNulty on -
Lleylandii?
Only joking! I do despair when people plant totally unsuitable plants, often advised by those who should know better. In the last year I've dealt with dead tree ferns & bouganvillia, had bullrushes to clear from a mill pond (which I refused!), and removed masses of bamboos and invasive ornamental grasses. All in gardens where they'd had so-called designers in; not proper garden designers, but interior designers who think they can give the client an aesthetically pleasing garden without ANY thought as to how it will last outside the first season.
Using the right plant in the right place is such a basic concept it should be obvious, and long-term sustainabilty must be the key to a good planting scheme. The Ground-Force-type designs should give way to more sympathetic schemes that suit the UK's climate, and the surrounding countryside.
Not a list of plants I like, more a rant about where I think gardens have gone wrong over recent decades!
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Permalink Reply by Jez Young on -
I agree with you John about rosa rugosa lovely Autumn colouring too
and Claire sedum matrona is great and gently self seeds
I love persicaria amplexicaulis in it`s varieties and Meconopsis cambrica is great here in wales
A great book is Dream plants for the natural garden by Henk Gerritsen and Piet Oudolf if you haven`t read it already.
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Pip Howard on -
Another great thread John - huge mileage with potential to list certain plants for certain functions: nitrogen fixing plants, EPV, Phytoremediators etc., sometimes all three (ALDER ALDER ALDER). As well as those which can pump carbon into the ground - the current fashion (or I am out of date) for ornamental grasses in urban municipal planting schemes is fantastic at this.
Not so hot on knowing the attributes of some perennials - but interested to see what else is suggested. I've read a report but can't find it now on Persicaria varieties, some remarkable properties to it if I remember rightly.
One I would always advocate and think everyone should drive around with some seed to spread whenever possible is Clover.
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Permalink Reply by John on
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Thanks Pip,
Here is an interesting link, a clover lawn :)
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/cloverlawn/
Pip Howard said:Another great thread John - huge mileage with potential to list certain plants for certain functions: nitrogen fixing plants, EPV, Phytoremediators etc., sometimes all three (ALDER ALDER ALDER). As well as those which can pump carbon into the ground - the current fashion (or I am out of date) for ornamental grasses in urban municipal planting schemes is fantastic at this.
Not so hot on knowing the attributes of some perennials - but interested to see what else is suggested. I've read a report but can't find it now on Persicaria varieties, some remarkable properties to it if I remember rightly.
One I would always advocate and think everyone should drive around with some seed to spread whenever possible is Clover.
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Permalink Reply by John on
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Another plant which should be planted by everyone is comfrey,
Symphytum officianale, the bees love it and poor soil will be
improved by it, and it can be used as a fertiliser.
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Permalink Reply by Geoffrey King North Yorkshire on -
Would not a sustainable plant, be one that reproduces naturally without man's assistance?
If so I nominate all the prominent weeds we get in UK gardens.
Dandelions, what a cheery flower, & good in a salad.
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Permalink Reply by Nicholas Boyes on -
Don't a lot of our popular garden plants come into this category ? Interestingly the only area I do spray against pests and disease is our rose garden which has a collection of pre 1911 shrub roses. A nightmare in this weather to keep looking good and too many of them suffer so badly from blackspot that they are almost leafless by the end of august.
A lot of garden plants without a bit of attention , including most of the above mentioned, would soon outgrow their place, cease flowering or simply not do the job they were originally planted for. Which is a good thing for those of us on here as that's how we earn our living
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Permalink Reply by John on
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Hi Jez,
I like Persicaria amplexicaulis too, it is also a great plant for those that
don't have tons of money to spend on plants, so easy to dig up in the winter
and divide into lots of new plants, and will grow in most places without
any problem. Might need supporting though with a bamboo cane.
Always like seeing poppies around.
Jez Young said:I agree with you John about rosa rugosa lovely Autumn colouring too
and Claire sedum matrona is great and gently self seeds
I love persicaria amplexicaulis in it`s varieties and Meconopsis cambrica is great here in wales
A great book is Dream plants for the natural garden by Henk Gerritsen and Piet Oudolf if you haven`t read it already.
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Permalink Reply by John on
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Had to check EPV on Google :) and found this blog on LJN
about Erosion Preventative Vegetation 2010
http://www.landscapejuicenetwork.com/profiles/blogs/erosion-prevent...
And a list of Phytoremediators - plants that slurp up nasties and
render them safe in one way or another, would be very useful.
I think some roots just create barriers and retain the problem in
this way as well.
Nasties - pesticides, metals, solvents, oil,
Full details http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytoremediation
Pip Howard said:Another great thread John - huge mileage with potential to list certain plants for certain functions: nitrogen fixing plants, EPV, Phytoremediators etc., sometimes all three (ALDER ALDER ALDER). As well as those which can pump carbon into the ground - the current fashion (or I am out of date) for ornamental grasses in urban municipal planting schemes is fantastic at this.
Not so hot on knowing the attributes of some perennials - but interested to see what else is suggested. I've read a report but can't find it now on Persicaria varieties, some remarkable properties to it if I remember rightly.
One I would always advocate and think everyone should drive around with some seed to spread whenever possible is Clover.
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