Friday, May 18, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
LANDSCAPE GARDENING.
Landscape gardening has often been likened to the painting of a picture.
Your art-work teacher has doubtless told you that a good picture should
have a point of chief interest, and the rest of the points simply go to
make more beautiful the central idea, or to form a fine setting for it.
So in landscape gardening there must be in the gardener's mind a picture
of what he desires the whole to be when he completes his work.
From this study we shall be able to work out a little theory of landscape
gardening.
Let us go to the lawn. A good extent of open lawn space is always beautiful.
It is restful. It adds a feeling of space to even small grounds. So we might
generalize and say that it is well to keep open lawn spaces. If one covers
his lawn space with many trees, with little flower beds here and there, the
general effect is choppy and fussy. It is a bit like an over-dressed person. One's grounds lose all individuality
thus treated. A single tree or a small group is not a bad arrangement on the
lawn. Do not centre the tree or trees. Let them drop a bit into the background.
Make a pleasing side feature of them. In choosing trees one must keep in mind
a number of things. You should not choose an overpowering tree; the tree should
be one of good shape, with something interesting about its bark, leaves, flowers
or fruit.
While the poplar is a rapid grower, it
sheds its leaves early and so is left standing, bare and ugly,
before
the fall is old. Mind you, there are places where a row or double row
of Lombardy poplars
is very effective. But I think you'll agree with
me that one lone poplar is not. The catalpa is quite
lovely by
itself. Its leaves are broad, its flowers attractive, the seed pods
which cling to the tree
until away into the winter, add a bit of
picture squeness. The bright berries of the ash, the brilliant
foliage of the sugar maple, the blossoms of the tulip tree, the bark
of the white birch, and the leaves of the copper beech all these are
beauty points to consider.
Place makes a difference in the selection of a tree. Suppose the lower portion of the
grounds is a bit low and moist, then the spot is ideal for a willow. Don't group trees
together which look awkward. A long-looking poplar does not go with a nice rather rounded
little tulip tree. A juniper, so neat and prim, would look silly beside a spreading
chestnut. One must keep proportion and suitability in mind.
I'd never advise the planting of a group of evergreens close to a house, and in the front
yard. The effect is very gloomy indeed. Houses thus surrounded are overcapped by such
trees and are not only gloomy to live in, but truly unhealthful. The chief requisite
inside a house is sunlight and plenty of it.
As trees are chosen because of certain good points, so shrubs should be. In a clump I
should wish some which bloomed early, some which bloomed late, some for the beauty of
their fall foliage, some for the colour of their bark and others for the fruit. Some
spireas and the forsythia bloom early. The red bark of the dogwood makes a bit of
colour all winter, and the red berries of the barberry cling to the shrub well into the
winter.
Certain shrubs are good to use for hedge purposes. A hedge is rather prettier usually
than a fence. The Californian privet is excellent for this purpose. Osage orange, Japan
barberry, buckthorn, Japan quince, and Van Houtte's spirea are other shrubs which make
good hedges.
I forgot to say that in tree and shrub selection it is usually better to choose those of
the locality one lives in. Unusual and foreign plants do less well, and often harmonize
but poorly with their new setting.
Landscape gardening may follow along very formal lines or along informal lines. The first
would have straight paths, straight rows in stiff beds, everything, as the name tells,
perfectly formal. The other method is, of course, the exact opposite. There are danger
points in each.
The formal arrangement is likely to look too stiff; the informal, too fussy, too wiggly.
As far as paths go, keep this in mind, that a path should always lead somewhere. That is
its business to direct one to a definite place. Now, straight, even paths are not
unpleasing if the effect is to be that of a formal garden. The danger in the curved path
is an abrupt curve, a whirligig effect. It is far better for you to stick to straight
paths unless you can make a really beautiful curve. No one can tell you how to do this.
Friday, April 13, 2012
A Hobby Greenhouse Will Get You Growing!
For people who would like to do more gardening but live in a
short growing
season area, a hobby greenhouse is the answer. A hobby
greenhouse is not
large enough to produce vegetables or flowers on a
commercial basis. It
will, however, give you a place for a tomato plant or
two and some fresh
greens even if you live in the northern regions.
Greenhouse enthusiasts
even have their own association, called the Hobby
Greenhouse Association,
which publishes a quarterly magazine. The organization
also sponsers
events and helps individuals connect to get help with the
aspect of
gardening that they are interested in, whether it's growing
cacti or saving seeds.
If you are in the market for a hobby greenhouse, there
are several
types on the market. The smallest type is not large
enough to walk
into and must be accessed from the outside.
It resembles an
old-fashioned phone booth made all of glass
and outfitted with shelves.
This type is designed to fit as many plants as
possible in as small a
place as possible. The shelves are made of glass
to allow as much light
as possible to reach plants on the lower shelves.
Another inexpensive
version of this sort of hobby greenhouse is shelving
covered with a
zippered tent of clear plastic. This sort of arrangement
is great for the
small-scale hobby gardener wanting a place to keep her
flowers or houseplant starts.
There are a variety of designs of hobby greenhouse
that are large enough to walk
into but made entirely of clear glass or plastic. They are
often about the
same size as a small storage building. Some independent builders
have started
making these to sell locally. Among national brands, one of
the nicest is called
the "Solar Prism." It is called this because of it's unique
construction.
This hobby greenhouse is made of a single piece of durable
clear plastic which
is designed to work like tiny prisms side by side. They
trap the rays of the
sun and shoot them back into the greenhouse at all angles.
For this reason,
these little greenhouses are said to glow when the
weather is cloudy.
Better hobby greenhouses are equipped with automatic
sensors that open vents
which allow ventilation and keep the interior temperatures
from getting too high.
These are a great labor saver, but can get expensive. Another
benefit sometimes
found in nicer greenhouses is a built in irrigation or misting
system.
Members of the Hobby Greenhouse Association, or HGA, have
invented many interesting
designs of greenhouses.
If gardening is your hobby, greenhouse growing will
interest you. With a greenhouse,
you can have the earliest tomatoes and salad greens all
year. You can also start
seedlings for the main garden early in the spring when
outdoor temperatures would
kill them. A hobby greenhouse can be a good investment.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Acai Berry a natural wonder.
What can the Acai berry do for weight loss? According to this allot--http://mhlnk.com/1BFFD720
Acai berry
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Home Hobby Farming: Green Houses For Fun & Profit
Home Hobby Farming: Green Houses For Fun & Profit: Green House Gardening Tips and Tricks Green House Gardening Tips and Tricks Green House Gardening Tips and Tricks by Percy Troughto...
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Nopelea from the Nopal Cactus
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)