Furniture Design Ideas

When openings have been left in walls, these are filled with soil, offering immediate growing opportunities for plants. On built walls without openings, the start for plants is slowest. The mortar has to be weathered to a certain extent before it is ready for plants, a process that may take many years. Once the environment […]

Whereas vegetation of organic and mineral soils have been dealt with in the preceding sections, this section is about more unusual substratums and soils, such as inorganic materials, like bricks or rocks that are found in many shapes—walls, broken rubble, lava, minestone and slate—and very shallow soils situated or created with the former as its […]

In other locations, vegetations of Calluna vulgaris, Erica tetralix or Andromeda polifolia that have become increasingly shaded are taken over by Empetrum nigrum, Vaccinium vitis-idaea or V. myrtillus. One vegetation aspect silently transforms into the next. On a spot where Vaccinium macrocarpus has been growing for over 30 years, with a mat of mosses and […]

Plants belonging to the heather family may be kept in good shape for years by the two elementary maintenance measures of weeding and trimming. In addition to weeding out unwanted species, annual trimming will keep the vegetation vigorous and will extend its vitality to a very long period. Without such maintenance measures, however, vegetation types […]

After suitable initial conditions have been created, one starts with a soil that is free from vegetative weeds—as usual, but even more important, in this particular case. Calluna vulgaris and Erica tetralix can be sown or planted out. Using a mixed method is generally successful, i. e. planting out a few plants that are allowed […]

Species of the heather family (Ericaceae) lend themselves perfectly to the creation of heath vegetations, which are more or less closed vegetations of dwarf shrubs taking on the role of the herbaceous layer, with a strong spatial impact in open areas. In it, members of the heather and crowberry (Empetraceae) families may be combined with […]

When this type of maintenance by mowing with a scythe is carefully and strictly adhered to, the reed will, in the long run, disappear completely, with the Sphagnum-Polytrichum vegetation, including the aforementioned species, transforming into a vegetation of dwarf shrubs from the heather family (Ericaceae). This anthropogenic vegetation is called ‘veenheide’. Its formation may be […]

Reedland that does not receive a steady supply of nutrients will display an increasingly thinner vegetation and will lose shape, with the vegetation becoming more open. Only at the waterside will the vegetation keep its height, since nutrients are provided via the water. Mowing in the long run has such a fertility reducing effect that […]

Reed vegetations growing in water do not require yearly mowing in order to remain in good shape. Especially in deeper water, they may survive for a long time without human intervention. Its charm and its natural value as a habitat for birds, mammals, etc., lies mainly in the rough, naturalistic impression it evokes. This is […]

One of the best-known marsh vegetations is reedland. In shallow (20-60 cm) water and on rich soils, reed (Phragmites australis) may provide simple but very characteristic and, on a larger scale, attractive vegetation with its own atmosphere and beauty. Creating a suitable habitat for reed is done as follows: the soil is dug down until, […]