PARTICULAR plants provide perfect solutions. Here's a closer
look at some special shrubs you can plant now to solve your
garden problems.Firstly, herbs are the most useful little
plants you can grow.
A great fly repellant is Tansy. and if you have a problem
with ants plant Pennyroyal. It works.
To help keep those furry fiends at bay try the cat
repellant Rue.
Feverfew is an easy herb to grow. curing headaches and
Migraine, and for depression there is of course St.Johns
Wort (a form of Hypericum).
Just for relaxation there is the obvious Camomile, which
does not form a satisfactory lawn despite the rumours, but
does provide tea. Likewise, the easily grown Fennel.
Nasturiums and Bergamot (Monarda) are great in spicy salads.
Both flowers and foliage are safe to eat.
Secondly, for the garden pond or just for that
permanently sodden corner, there are some species that are
sold as garden plants which do well such as Joseph's Coat (Houttuniya
cordata) and the marsh marigold (Caltha palustris).
Grasses can look great in a pond too and these include
Acorus gramineus, with fresh shoots of green every year.
Really outstanding is the architectural curly-whirly sedge (Juncus
effusus'Spiralis') which speaks for itself.
Thirdly, more suggestions for planting those particularly
impossible areas.
A rather special plant is Leymus Arenarius. This little
delight is planted en-mass around the edges of African
deserts to hold back encroachment. It reaches 5ft tall and
has an indefinite spread.
An outstanding shrub, again invasive and ideal in that
area populated only by the worst kinds of weeds and used not
only by your dog as a toilet but by the dog next door and
their extended family is Aegopodium podagraria 'variegatum'.
Now, they say a weed is a plant in the wrong place and
how right they are, because this is a form of ground elder.
Yet in the right setting this is transformed from
pernicious weed to welcome wonder, capable even of surviving
in the dryest. stoniest soil under the densest tree canopy.
This looks great in a container: it's best in a restricted
border and has light foliage and white flowers.
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