COVERING SLOPES AND BANKS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23685, 17 December 1938, Page 26

COVERING SLOPES AND BANKS

WORTH WHILE SUGGESTIONS Steep banks and gentle slopes both lend variety and interest to a garden, however large or small, and it is a pity that they are so frequently regarded as a necessary evil, to be held in place by a rockery or dry wall, and occasionally by being turfed over. There are many ways other than these in which a bank may be made a feature of the garden, instead of merely a means of descending from a higher to a lower level. For those who admire a dry wall, but would like to be a little more original than their neighbours, there is the fascinating hobby of collecting one type of plant, choosing a kind suitable for growing in a wall. Plants which are most effective for this purpose, and should be more often seen, are the rock pinks, of which there are a very large number—i.e., Dianthus deltoides and alpinus in variety, and the great range of the dainty Allwoodi alpinus. This is a very small cushiony race of rock pinks which flower from spring to autumn, and, like their larger relations, clothe the wall with silvery tufts of foliage the year round. Another race of plants worthy of collection are the mossy saxifrages, which flower, according to variety, over a fairly long period, and never grow untidy, but remain a bright and mossy green throughout the year. DWARF SHRUBS FOR BANKS For those who, while appreciating the cool, green smoothness of a grass bank, quail at the thought of keeping it cut, and do not wish to have either a rockery or a wall, there is a number of dwarf shrubs with roots which will hold the soil if they are planted fairly close together. These, if chosen with care, will keep up a succession of bloom, which, if not as brilliant as a flower border, at least lends a little colour, and, once planted, they are little further trouble.

For this purpose may be mentioned Berberis Darwini nana. Fuchsia Riccartoni (kept clipped), Andromeda polifolia, Potentilla fruticosa Veitchi, and Veronicas Hectori and buxifolia.

Again, a collection of one family may be made, with, perhaps, springflowering bulbs planted between, and for this purpose nothing could be more colourful than the azalea family; the Ghent and Mollis and the Japanese azaleas, when flowering, setting the whole bank on fire: HEATH OR ERICAS Yet another collection might be made of the heath family, selecting the low-growing varieties, but not forgetting Mensiesia polifolia, with its large, bell-shaped flowers; these can be chosen to flower very nearly all the year round, and remain green throughout the winter. Possibly it is necessary to cover the slope with something flat, not more tnan six inches high, or, if the bank is very steep, something with underground stems, which will bind the soil together to form a dense mat. Good plants for this purpose are Hyper; cum calycinum with its large golden rlowers; Phalaris arunctinaria vauegata, a bright variegated grass, sometimes called Gardener's Garters "; or another variegated grass, an ally of couch or twitch—the onion couch. For ihe lover of rambler roses, whose garden is too exposed and wind-swept to enable him to grow them successfully on arches and pergolas, pegged down plants on a bank will give an exquisite mass display of colour. Actually, ramblers can be seen to much better advantage when the observer ir able to look down on them, instead of up into the sun. They should be trained over a light trellis olaced parallel with the bank, but raised £.bout a foot from its surface on short posts. This enables a Dutch hoe to be used underneath when necessarv The trellis should be made with large mesh; actually, it should be only a thin skeleton trellis, on account of the pruning and tying period, when it will be necessary to place at least one foot on the bank to reach over. If this method of clothing is adopted, where the slope is a steep one it will be advisable to hold up the bank with stacked brick, as the re ses do not in, any way retain the soil - . , Nothing could be better for clothing a bank in the wild garden than Polygonum affine, This plant rapidly grows a dense mat of tough underground stems, and bears graceful plumes of creamy-white flowers in summer. Spring bulbs will help to lighten its naked winter stems. If the position is rather shady, bracken rhizomes may be inserted in short lengths in the bank with bluebells or early spring bulbs, whichever is desired. Like most wild plants, however, the bracken will take a little while to settle down, and must be planted in winter, and as firmly as possible. HERB-COVERED BANKS

" I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows " must, of course, apply to the descent into the kitchen garden, where gold or silver thyme may be planted instead of the ordinary green variety. All the thymes have a dense rooting-system, and, if shoots are pegged down, they will quickly root. In this way a solid mass of thyme soon covers the bank, and the occasional application 'of shears will keep it thick and preen. Sage may be treated in the same wav - ~ -j j Mint will bind any soil, provided it is reasonably moist, and, grown ii. this way, need not occupy valuable space in the kitchen garden beds. One of the prettiest banks I have ever seen was clothed entirely in gold and silver thyme, with chives in full flower between. —G. R. in Amateur Gardening.