The Bamboo, Grass and Palm Specialist: The Essential Guide to Selecting, Growing and Raising Bamboos, Grasses and Palms

by David Squire, Alan Bridgewater (Editor), Gill Bridgewater (Editor)

Overview

Bamboos, grasses, and palms: these versatile, easy-to-maintain plants include a huge range of textures, forms, sizes, colors, and flowering times. With literally hundreds to choose from, there is one suitable for every garden and climate. Starting with the basics of plant identification, this guide also provides buying tips, planting information, cultivation, propagation, and displays. Invaluable lists of the most useful and easily grown plants are here. Whether you want to create a Japanese-style bamboo garden, or simply make a focal point out of ornamental grasses in a terracotta pot, this is an essential handbook of ideas to spice up your gardening.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781845374839
Publisher:	New Holland Publishers, Limited UK
Publication date:	02/01/2007
Series:	Specialist Series
Pages:	80
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

David Squire has worked for many years as a gardening writer and editor. He has contributed to numerous gardening magazines and is the author (or co-author) of more than 80 gardening and plant-related books. His books include four titles in the new Home Gardener's Specialist Guide series (Fox Chapel Publishing) plus The Scented Garden (Orion) which won the “Quill and Trowel Award” of the Garden Writers of America. David trained as a horticulturist at the Hertfordshire College of Agriculture and at the Royal Horticultural Society, where he was awarded the Wisley Diploma in Horticulture. He was awarded an N.K. Gould Memorial Prize for his collection of herbarium specimens of native British plants. In 2005, this collection of plants was accepted by the Booth Museum of Natural History to become library and museum exhibits. He has a passionate interest in the uses of native plants, whether for eating and survival, or for their historical roles in medicine, folklore and customs.

Table of Contents

Author's foreword     2
Getting Started
What are bamboos, grasses and palms?     3
Using bamboos in gardens     4
Using ornamental grasses in gardens     6
Using palms in gardens     8
Using palms and cycads indoors     9
Bamboos
Bamboos for all gardens     10
Bamboos in containers     12
Creating a Japanese-style bamboo garden     14
Bamboos as feature plants     16
Creating a Mediterranean aura     7
Windbreaks, hedges and screens     18
Bamboos for ground cover     20
Bamboos with colourful canes     22
Bamboos with colourful leaves     23
Invasive bamboos     24
How high do bamboos grow?     26
Planting bamboos     28
Looking after and increasing bamboos     30
A-Z of bamboos     32
Ornamental Grasses and Sedges
Grasses and sedges to consider     56
Grasses in containers     58
Raising and looking after ornamental grasses     60
A-Z of ornamental grasses and sedges     62
Palms
Buying, looking after and increasing palms     72
Palms for temperate climates     74
A-Z of Indoor palms     76
Glossary     78
Index     79