Plantings to smother weeds

Press, 26 November 1981, Page 26

Plantings to smother weeds

A new publication released in Britain, and soon to be available in New Zealand, will be of great interest to New Zealand gardeners and those responsible for largescale planning and planting. It is a part of a publication from the British Standards Institute on ground cover plants, and specifies requirements for plants that are suitable to be transplanted and grown close enough together to produce a dense ground cover that will discourage weeds. The minimum plant and container sizes given relate to plants suitable for covering large areas. It is particularly useful for bulk buyers such as local authorities, landscape gardeners and architects, as well as for nurserymen. It will also be of interest to garden centres and to individuals wanting to reduce the amount of weeding in their own gardens — although when planting only a small area, or when larger or more mature plants are needed, the booklet on trees and shrubs published last year by the institute would be more relevant.

The booklet on ground cover plants is not intended to be a precise botanical specification; its aim is to reduce any misunderstanding which might arise when ground cover plants are bought and sold. Details of the minimum sizes of nearly 100 named plants are included in an appendix, with information about whether or not the plants may be sold

from open ground or in containers of specified minimum size, and whether plants are deciduous, evergreen, or herbaceous. (These requirements are based on British rates of growth.) Other publications being planned by the British Standards Institute include forest trees and poplars and willows for timber production. Those completed are available from the Standards Association library in Wellington.