Читать книгу Home Gardener's Propagation (UK Only) - David Squire - Страница 4

Author’s foreword

The desire to increase plants is a passion within most gardeners and many methods of propagation are easy and do not need expensive or specialized equipment. Indeed, creating a hardy annual flower border requires only a few packets of seeds, a rake, a draw hoe and a garden line. Layering a low-growing stem from a shrub is also easy, while dividing herbaceous perennials instantly produces several new plants.

A few houseplants are easily and unusually increased, and perhaps none more so than Chlorophytum comosum (Spider Plant) and Saxifraga stolonifera (Mother of Thousands, Strawberry Geranium), which have plantlets attached to long stems that you can peg into pots of compost. Other houseplants have small plantlets growing on their leaves; you can detach these and press them into compost to encourage the development of roots.

Many plants can be increased in several ways; some are complicated, while others are straightforward, although the development of new plants may not be rapid. Layering, for example, is easy, but rooting takes several months. Throughout this book, where possible the easiest way to increase specific plants is explained.

Part of this practical, all-colour book encompasses an A–Z of popular garden and indoor plants and the ways in which they can be increased. It is arranged alphabetically by current botanical name, but earlier botanical names are included. There is also information about each plant’s growth habit – whether annual, biennial, herbaceous, shrub, tree or climber – to enable you to gain a greater understanding as to why a plant is increased in a particular way. The common names index will help you find the right plant quickly. With this easy-to-follow book at your elbow, it becomes possible to increase most plants growing in gardens or indoors.

About the author

David Squire has a lifetime’s experience with plants, both cultivated and native types. Throughout his gardening and journalistic careers, David has written more than 80 books on plants and gardening, including 14 books in this Specialist Guide series. He also has a wide interest in the uses of native plants, whether for eating and survival, or for their historical roles in medicine, folklore and customs.

Measurements

Both metric and imperial measurements are given in this book – for example, 1.8 m (6 ft).

SEASONS

Throughout this book, advice is given about the times of the year to raise new plants. Because of global and even regional variations in climate and temperature, the four main seasons have been used, with each subdivided into ‘early’, ‘mid-’ and ‘late’ – for example, ‘early spring’, ‘mid-spring’ and ‘late spring’. If you find it helps, these 12 divisions of the year can be applied to the appropriate calendar months in your area.

PLANT NAMES

Currently recommended botanical names for plants are given throughout this book. Where earlier and perhaps better-known botanical names are still used, however, these are included so that you will instantly know the plants being discussed. Common names for plants are also given.