A bank of grease , whether natural or built of material taken from dig , may offer a difficult problem to the nurseryman , particularly if the soil is pitiable . Yet such a side can be made truly attractive ; it is often possible to metamorphose an ugly bleak bank into a charming sway or paries garden at slight expense .
Plants for Hot Dry Banks . If a bare bank has to be hide with botany at slight cost , even though the soil be piteous and gravelly , it can be done by the free habit of such plants as trailing Roses , creeping Phlox , Thymes , Sedums , Helianthemums , Snow - in - Summer , Achilleas , shrubby Pentstemons , low cotoneaster , prostrate Junipers , Day Lilies , and Bearberry . Minimum ground preparation consists of making a sizable hole for each industrial plant and fill up pretty good soil about its root .
For Shady Banks . choose such plant as Pachysandra , Vinca , English Ivy , Lily of the Valley , Epimedium , Ajuga , Ferns , Hosta , and Asarum .
A Rock Garden on a Bank . By undertaking limited planning much more can be done . What chance banks give forrock and wall gardens ! In the first dodge the bank provides a good understructure on which to build masses of rock , or selected pieces of brave Lucy Stone can be inserted here and there . If the coin bank is too neat to be pleasing it can be better by taking out bays , making depressions , and by introducing shelves of rock , taking maintenance while the work is in progress that desirable soil is brought in for the plants that are to be grown . For many of the common person plants the raw soil will likely be suitable .
scent path or stepping stones may be necessary on high savings bank to turn on the gardener to obtain a close scene of his plants and to put up commodious entree for solve among them . While the oeuvre is in progress a water supply should be laid in ; if this supply can be so fix up that by turn a faucet a okay atomiser of H2O is available from hidden pipe to reach all part of the bank , it will be a decide advantage , for rock garden formed on banks often get very dry and sear during a period of drouth .
flora for a Rock Bank . There is scarcely a limit to the number of flora that can be used in such a sway garden . Connoisseurs , by taking advantage of various aspects and introducing different status and soils , have the whole range of gnome , hardy plants to select from , whereas those with small-scale ambition can produce very colourful effect with groups of such common plants as Alyssum , Aubrieta , Iberis , Saxifrage , Sedum , Dianthus , Primula , Campanula and dwarf Phlox . To give height and color in winter there is the option of a broad scope of dwarf Conifers such as Spruce , Cypress , Juniper and many other variety , in addition to a number of dwarf leaf - losing trees or shrub , such as low - arise varieties of Nipponese Maple . In climates where they thrive , many of the newer nanus rhododendron are excellent for emplacement such as are afforded by rocky banks , and there are various suitable kinds of Daphne , Heather and other gnome - flowering shrubs .
Supporting bank with Tree Stumps . A modification of the rock-and-roll garden type of savings bank can be made by using large podium and roots of Tree partially embedded in the bank to organise bays and shelf occupy with rich soil in which Rambler pink wine can be planted . These should be allowed to educate of course with their branches fall over the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree roots . If the position be coolheaded and shaded , groups of Ferns and other woodland plants may be planted about the tree diagram butt with effective event .
Rock Retaining Walls . Should the owner ’s discernment deform to fence horticulture , a banking company offers an idealistic position for the purpose , for the coin bank can be terraced and the terraces held in berth by low walls of desirable rock and roll , soil being used alternatively of howitzer between the joints . A variety of other spring - bloom plants do well in such places , but the best effects are those provided by permanent plants such asSempervivum , Sedum , Saxifrage , Dianthus , Thyme , Aubrieta , Iberis and shadow Hypericum . If the soil is moist and there is not much sun , Ferns and audacious Primulas can be grow . The terraces may be laid down to grass or with random paving , in the crevices of which desirable dwarf plants can be grow . In such places , where the soil is ripe , an efficacious exhibit of the more attractive very dwarf annuals can be made .
A rough banksometimes occurs whereon there is little filth , but even in such a perspective it is potential to turn plants . Advantage should be taken of every nook and fissure that will hold in dirt , these being change and filled and seeds or small seedlings of rock - eff plants enter . Seedlings raised in this way often react much better than larger transplanted plants . From the very first they begin thrust their roots about in lookup of food material . It is not unusual to see flowering plants , such as Erinus , Sedum , Snapdragon , Foxglove , Mullein and others , thriving in such position .
On grassy mounds and gently sloping bank beneath marvellous leaf - lose trees , it is possible to see to it a charming display of flowers in the spring month by planting electric light in fall . Snowdrop , Crocus , Winter Aconite ( Eranthis hyemalis ) , Squill ( Scilla sibirica ) , and Glory of the Snow ( Chionodoxa ) are suitable to plant in such positions . There they will fly high and increase as the age go by . All these bulbs are of low increment and , as their leaves die in other summertime , they are not unsightly for very long after the heyday have faded . The leaves must not be thin until they have turn chicken or the bulbs will be de-escalate .
BANKSIA — AustralianHoneysuckle(Bank’sia ) . These tender evergreen shrubs and small trees from Australia go to the family Proteaceae , and are cultivated for their ornamental foliage . The undersides of the foliage are a silvery snowy and form a pleasing contrast to the green upper surfaces . The name commemorates Sir Joseph Banks , a former President of the Royal Horticultural Society of Great Britain .
Banksias , when grown in a nursery , require a minimal temperature of 50 level , and a compost of adequate parts loam and peat lightened with sand . Repotting is done in March , the pots being well drained . banksia are grown outdoors in southern California .
Propagation is effect by insert well - mature shoots in sand in a propagating case in the greenhouse in August — September .
The main variety are Banksia grandis , which has tumid , divided farewell ; B. integrifolia , which has oblong to lanceolate leaves ; and B. ericifolia , with very minute leave .
