A concept I keyed onto when starting out in the horticultural industry is that of tall growing flower beds. Once discovered I couldn't believe that I had traditionally thought of flower beds as being low growing almost ground cover like installations. Tall growing beds in a semi large to large style garden area are great. They add a sense of scale to the garden as you are forced to either look through or around them in order to travel to the next part of the garden. Tall growing flowers / plants are something I associate with the 'prarie' style of garden. My experience with such plants is limited to those which I see at my current workplace in Parkville although I have propagated some of these plants by division and set them in place at my home in Macedon. I really think tall growing flowering plants can be used as a major show piece in even a small garden if strategically placed. The term 'herbaceous perennial' means a plant whose growth dies down annually but whose crowns, roots, bulbs or rhizomes survive the winter.
Anenome heupehensis (pink cultivar) makes an absolutely stunning group planting. Chop them down to the ground once spent and watch them grow back to 1.6m approx the next season. They are a warm season herbaceous perennial.
Close up of the flower
Masses of Helianthus angustifolius "swamp sunflower". These grow over 6 feet tall. Chop them to the ground in Winter and watch them shoot up in the warm seasons.
Close up of the flower
interesting post, Alex - herbacious perennials are spectacular. I am ambivalent about them because it means part of the year the garden having bare spots. But i guess it's the change that's so refreshing.
ReplyDeleteYes i have to admit that you will suffer a bare spot waiting for them to emerge. I suppose they may be more suited to larger gardens.
DeleteI've been trying to work on this in my garden, I want to grow castor plants in a group to separate an area this summer from the rest of the garden.
ReplyDeleteBoth of these plants are beautiful and in the large group even more beautiful.
If you can't tell I am loving your blog, so many beautiful flowers and learning too!
Thanks for the kind words Barb. I love your blog too.
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