Rock Garden Quarterly Summer 2012 - (Page 201)

Expanding Panayoti's Axioms I much enjoyed Panayoti Kelaidis's A�ioms article in the last issue of the Quarterly (Spring 2012). Being a seasoned rock 1. Match plant selection to gardener I can't say how many times site I have lived Panayoti's unheralded 2. put plants with siMilar axioms in my own garden; countless, likely. I'd struggle to come up with water needs together. a very different set of axioms as the 3. avoid plants that do not author suggests I might, but there is self prune one that Panayoti may have missed due to his perspective: he has his 4. don't forget BulBs & entire garden set up in rock gardens. annuals I applaud this aim but for many of us it's a smaller rock garden, probably 5. do not disdain easy plants in the lawn somewhere: defendable borders are required. Make well6. plant plants with siMilar considered use of paths, edging growth rates materials, walls, slabs, and stone 7. propagate, collect seed, mulch, to keep ramifying weeds and share and grasses out of the rock garden. It is easier to defend a circle against crawling weeds than it is to defend a long narrow rectangle, easier still if a building is used as a rampart. I would like to make mention here of perhaps the least understood edging material: that 4-inch wide black plastic strip that comes in a coil. I know: cursed stuff! Now, not so fast. It really works quite well, notwithstanding that mine is the only garden where I have seen it properly installed, of course. One side usually has a double plastic ridge at the base. This seems designed to catch grass roots near the limit of where they grow in a mown lawn. The roots hold the strip in place. The very top of the strip must be set so that it is just barely above the level of the soil from which the grass is growing. Most important of all, the material must be installed vertically along its entire length. If it is leaning towards the garden, or the lawn, when all backfilling is done, it will ride up on the first frosts of winter every time, and lie recklessly strewn by the side of the garden come spring. I see this everywhere! Install it in spring so roots can anchor it well before the frost. The roots of plants in the garden will pin down the other side of the strip. Success will be less likely if there are no roots involved; however, I've used crushed stone to effectively secure the garden side. A larger size, say#2, seems to work great. This can be topped with pea stone which is "defendable" in that it is easy to scuff weedlings if they should get Michael Peden Panayoti's Seven Expanding Panayoti's Axioms 201

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rock Garden Quarterly Summer 2012

Digital Quarterly
Expanding Panayoti's Axioms
Photo Contest 2012
Photographing Alpine Plants: A Landscape Point of View
NARGS 2013 Election Timetable
Rock Gardening from Scratch - Seeds
Kim Blaxland and the Violets of North America
Viola pedata
Violas, Kim, and Us - A Celebration
Cooking Native Japanese Plants
Carl Gehenio Memorial Trough Show
Fire in the Hole: Phlox across Colorado
Rebuilding a Rock Garden in Pittsburgh
A Remarkable Garden: David Douglas and the Shrub-steppe of the Columbia Plateau
Bookshelf - Reviews
Swedish Dreams
Treasurer's Report
Bulletin Board
2012 - Eastern Study Weekend: October, Pittsburgh

Rock Garden Quarterly Summer 2012