Content
- What awaits plants in the city Limitation of land volume
- Environmental pollution
- Conifers
Peter Trimming / Personal archive
When we talk about plants for urban conditions , we mean exactly those plants that not only patiently tolerate environmental pollution, but successfully grow and develop in these conditions.
Names of herbs. Wild herbs: names. Medicinal herbs: names with photos
The flora of our planet is extremely diverse and beautiful. A huge number of different life forms of plants provide not only aesthetic pleasure, but also bring very tangible practical benefits: they are a source of nutrition, decorative elements, a supplier of medicines, a source of clean and fresh air filled with oxygen, etc.
Among all life forms of plants, a large place is given to herbs, both cultivated and wild. They occupy almost 50% of the total flora of the planet, so we will consider them.
What awaits plants in the city
- The main factors that make it difficult for plants to grow in the city are air pollution (toxic gases and dust) and soil salinity (highly alkaline soil).
- There is also a lack of moisture and nitrogen .
- The most difficult conditions are on major city streets and highways; The farther you are from them, the lower the impact of negative factors.
pixabay.com 1607767 / Personal archive
Land Volume Limitation
Even in the city, there are such unfavorable factors for plant growth as limited territory, lack of soil volume , which do not allow roots to develop and grow freely. How often do we see trees and shrubs on the streets, enclosed in the grip of concrete platforms or flower beds.
Blaine O'Neill / Flickr.com
Environmental pollution
In urban green areas, home gardens, flower beds and flower beds in our courtyards, the content of toxic substances is also very high. Many plant species either cannot tolerate such severe environmental pollution at all, or suffer greatly from it.
Main characteristics
In landscape design, there is a special class of herbs that either do not bloom at all or bloom unnoticed. These are ornamental herbaceous plants. Some look so impressive that it is no longer possible to imagine a modern flowerbed or front garden without them. There are a great many herbaceous plants in nature. There are about 18,000 of them in Russia alone. But of course, not all herbs can be classified as ornamental.
Herbaceous plants are plants that do not have perennial above-ground characteristics, they do not have woodiness of the stem, and at the end of the growing season they die off. Herbs form a root system and shoots: leaves, stem and flower part, if any.
Classification of herbaceous plants
Herbaceous plants are classified according to various criteria. But grouping plants by lifespan is considered the most convenient. Their examples:
- Annuals, after completing the growing season or flowering and fruiting, die off completely, without the possibility of resumption of growth. Such plants reproduce exclusively by seeds.
- Biennials complete their life cycle in two years. During the first season they develop shoots and roots. At the end of the growing season, their stem dies off in the same way as that of annuals, but the underground part survives to produce flowering shoots next year. Complete death occurs at the end of flowering.
- Perennials differ from biennials by the presence of rhizomes, bulbs or tubers, which have a longer renewal period. But their above-ground shoots die off in the same way when the growing season ends. After a year, under the influence of heat, new roots and young shoots sprout from living tissue.
Assortment of plants for the city
We will not consider those plants that “tolerate”, but rather those that, one might say, thrive in such conditions.
If the specified plant easily tolerates cramped and limited space , then in brackets after it there will be, for example, this icon ↔ . This means that the roots of the plant can be content with the piece of land that will be allocated to it.
Conifers
- The following coniferous trees will feel and grow wonderfully in urban conditions:
— single-color fir (most varieties), ginkgo biloba (↔), Japanese larch metasequoia ,
FD Richards / Flickr.com
— Engelmann spruce, spruce (except for dwarf varieties), spruce (silver-blue varieties),
Sten Porse / Personal archive
European pine pine and pine , pine and pine .
Choose these types of coniferous trees for planting in the city. It's better not to experiment with others.
- The list of coniferous shrubs that are suitable for the city is very small:
— Cossack juniper (most varieties),
- medium yew (varieties 'Farmen' , 'Hatfieldii' , 'Hicksii' , 'Hillii' ),
— pine (shrub form).
FD Richards / Flickr.com
Deciduous trees
avoid losses if you choose from the following plants :
— maple (almost all types and varieties), gray alder chestnut , birch (almost all types and varieties),
Sarah Macmillan / Flickr.com
- common hornbeam hawthorn (↔) and hawthorn (↔), hazel (↔),
- angustifolia oleaginous, European beech ash and ash ,
— magnolia (↔), apple tree (most varieties ↔), Spanish plane tree poplar and poplar ,
- aspen and bird cherry , spreading plum and pear , pear (↔),
- oak and pedunculate oak sumac , or vinegar tree, robinia pseudoacacia (↔), mountain ash (↔) and linden (all types and varieties).
- Such unusual “ exotics ” as ailanthus , or Chinese ash (↔), bignonia catalpa , Japanese scarlet, three-spined honey locust bearing liquidambar , tulip tree or liriodendron , elm and elm also feel good on city streets.
Hans / Personal archive
As you can see, the choice of trees is quite large and varied. Having chosen a particular tree that you want to plant, for example, in your yard, be sure to inquire about its frost resistance zone.
Deciduous shrubs
deciduous shrubs that grow wonderfully in the city, both beautifully flowering and decorative deciduous.
- This includes euonymus (most species and varieties), and caragana tree, and Japanese chaenomeles dogwood , hazel and cotoneaster (most species and varieties).
- Beauty Deutia graceful and Deutia hybrid, Exochorda grandiflora and Colquitia charming, as well as mock orange (all types and varieties) and ash .
Dinkum / Personal archive
- Spiraea of almost all types and varieties, snowberries , and common lilac grow wonderfully in the city Even weigela tolerates city conditions wonderfully.
For hedges
- Ideal for hedges within the city are barberry (almost all types and varieties), white or redwood grass intermediate forsythia privet and leaf .
Patrick Roper / Personal archive
- Such a fence will reduce the noise level and the amount of dust near your home or playground.
- A nice and cute free hedge or low border can be made from cinquefoil bush.
Olesya Buynitskaya / Personal archive
- Beautiful fruits will decorate our yards in winter and attract birds if you plant viburnum (almost all types and varieties), Canadian shadberry alpine currant elderberry .
Anemone123 / Personal archive
You can’t help but wonder why we can’t see all this on the streets of our city or in our own yard?
Decoration of the world
Decorative plantings are widely used to improve the landscape: near houses, grasses are displayed in flower beds and front gardens, they decorate squares and park areas in cities. Thematic compositions and modular flower beds, porters and borders are created from annuals, biennials and perennials.
Conventionally, ornamental plants are divided into deciduous and flowering:
- decorative deciduous - mosses, cereals and ferns;
- beautifully flowering - flowering plants and meadow grasses.
Today, the range of herbs is diverse, which makes the choice much more difficult. But the decision should be made based on more than just appearance. It is important to know the growing conditions and other characteristics, which may differ significantly depending on the type of plant.
Decorative deciduous grasses
Plants with decorative foliage delight the eye with splendor and variety from spring until the first frost.
Wormwood is a biennial or perennial herbaceous plant. There are many types of wormwood, and some are even listed in the Red Book of Russia.
Most types of wormwood grow up to 60-70 cm in height, but there are also those whose growth can exceed 1.5 m. The stems of the plant are straight and branched, pubescent. The leaves are elongated and pointed, silvery in color. The flowers are small, collected in inflorescences, usually white or yellow. Wormwood has a pleasant aroma with a slight bitterness.
To grow decorative wormwood, you need well-drained soil and a site located on the sunny side.
Mint is not only a healthy and fragrant herb, it also has decorative properties. Mint is a perennial plant with many species, but the most common are fragrant and peppermint.
The stems of fragrant mint reach a height of up to 40 cm, they are straight and stable. The leaves are green with a light edge, wrinkled, and exude a pleasant aroma.
Peppermint can reach a height of 120 cm. Its stems are straight, tetrahedral, branched, and well-leafed. The leaves are green with a purple edge, elongated-ovate, pointed and jagged.
Mint is an unpretentious plant, but it grows and reproduces better in fertile and well-moistened soil. More illuminated areas are optimal for growing.
Sheep fescue is an ornamental grass. The plant does not form a rhizome and differs from other fescue trees in its softer foliage.
Sheep fescue grows in a dense bush, growing from 20 to 140 cm in height. The leaves are bristly and can be different in shape: from wide to especially narrow. Fescue blooms with oblong panicles of light green spikelets.
It is recommended to grow sheep fescue in a bright and warm place with low humidity. It tolerates drought well and responds well to pruning.
Beautiful flowering plants
Beautifully flowering herbs will enliven and decorate any corner of the garden, and the name itself already speaks for itself.
Adonis is a flowering herbaceous plant; in summer, this beautiful flower can be found in the European part of Russia and Western Siberia. There are two types of Adonis: spring and summer.
A plant often has more than one stem; they can be simple or weakly branched, erect or deflected. They grow up to 40-50 cm in height. The leaves are very thin and stick out in different directions, because of this it seems that the stem of the flower is shaggy. Sunny places are preferred for growing.
Spring adonis is a perennial, so it is more popular than summer adonis. The flowers are solitary, bright yellow, quite large - up to 8 cm in diameter. Thanks to its early flowering, it looks very impressive against the background of coniferous plants.
Summer adonis is an annual that blooms all summer until September. It differs from its counterpart not only in the flowering period, but also in color. The flowers of summer adonis are fiery red with black spots. Outwardly it resembles a poppy.
Delphinium is a fast-growing and unpretentious herbaceous plant. But despite their exquisite appearance and stunning beauty, even wild species take root well in gardens and do not require special care.
There are many types of delphinium. From dwarfs, whose height does not exceed 20-30 cm, to giants, capable of growing up to 3-4 meters. The leaves are separate, dissected, slightly hairy. Inflorescences are in the form of panicles or racemes; only some species form single flowers. The color of delphiniums is often blue or purple, but the most popular flowers are red and yellow.
Delphiniums should be grown in shaded and windless areas with moderately moist soil. They respond well to organic fertilizers. Delphinium is resistant to drought and low temperatures; there is no need to cover them for the winter. Upon completion of flowering, it quickly loses its attractive appearance, so gardeners advise choosing neighbors with a long flowering period.
Iris is a perennial with large beautiful flowers of various colors and shades. Irises are a real decoration for any flower bed or alpine hill; they get along well and combine effectively with many other plants.
The growth of irises is from 40 to 60 cm. The leaves are flat, thin, sword-shaped. The flowers are solitary, of unusual shape. They usually bloom from May to July.
To date, 280 species of irises are known. Most of them are unpretentious and grow equally well in both shade and sunny areas. Irises do not tolerate excess moisture, so they should be watered sparingly. But they do not need frequent replanting and can grow in one place for more than five years.
Wild herbs of Russia
There are a lot of such representatives. Almost all wild herbs, names and photos of their representatives can be seen in any corresponding encyclopedia. Let's try to take a closer look at the diversity of Russian wild herbs.
More than 900 species are known only for medicinal purposes, and there are many others. Their distribution across climatic zones is uneven. It is known that most plants, including herbs, are located in the more southern, southeastern and eastern regions of our country. The northern, northwestern and western regions are densely populated, but not so diverse in species composition.
So, we can cite as an example the region of Siberia (Western and Eastern Siberia, the Far East, all nearby areas, up to Chukotka). Here the most common wild herbs, the names of which are as follows:
Due to good climatic conditions, the central zone of Russia is famous for its many medicinal species of herbs, which also create a beautiful summer, spring and autumn landscape with their flowers. These are such as fragrant roses, lily of the valley, young shoots, oak grass, common chamomile, nightshade, blueberry, jasmine, hawkweed and others.
We will dwell on mountainous areas and their various herbs in more detail later.
Which grass mixtures are definitely suitable for urban areas?
has been working in the field of landscaping for many years, during which time our specialists have developed many combinations of herbs that perform certain functions and have unique properties. Two of them are ideal for solving the problem:
1) "Urban".
Timothy grass and meadow fescue in this grass mixture are responsible for dense grass cover and rapid growth, and perennial ryegrass for color and decorativeness. Each of these lawn grasses in itself is not too fancy, but in combination they create a very beautiful lawn that is almost impossible to “kill” with bad weather or exposure to it (walks, active animal games). The correct percentage of seed in the grass mixture (30% timothy and ryegrass each and a little more fescue) helps maintain the aesthetics of the lawn in the most difficult conditions - gas pollution, not very frequent watering, infrequent fertilizing.
2) “Universal”.
This grass mixture was developed by specialists so that landscapers without specialized education, that is, simply lovers of spectacular design of the local area, can also create a beautiful lawn in not the most suitable conditions.
“Universal” contains meadow timothy and perennial ryegrass at 15% each, as well as red fescue at 20%. The main “array” of the grass mixture is meadow fescue - a beautiful, unpretentious, low grass.
This type of seed combination allows you to not mow the lawn often, rarely sow it, and not bother with daily watering. The lawn will be dark green, soft, fluffy, and low. “Universal” is ideal for urban lawns and large areas of greenery.
Mountain herbs
After all, the very air of this mountainous area seems to heal. Almost all plants grown on the rocky surfaces of Altai are medicinal. Animals that eat these herbs are the strongest and healthiest. People who use fees from these places for treatment have fewer chronic diseases than residents of other areas.
Some Altai herbs that have received national recognition and are most often used by humans:
Balms that combine several herbal components are very common. They help with a variety of problems: cleanse, soothe, tone, normalize blood pressure, restore sleep, relieve headaches and chronic fatigue, and so on. Such wild mountain herbs, the names of which were given above, are very valuable objects of medicine.
