Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Some groundcovers such as Arctotis can
benefit from gentler handling, not that they
mind the rough stuff! Cutting back every
single flower stem individually, and pruning
to side shoots is a slow process; however, there
is less aesthetic down-time from a landscape
point of view (see Figure 4.15).
Grassesandtuftyplants
This broad heading includes all those plants
that only have an apical bud at the end of
each leaf, no axillary buds (see page 3,
'Apical buds', and page 4, 'Axillary buds').
Once the tip of the leaf is damaged, it will
not regrow. It cannot grow sideways like a
woody plant as there are no axillary buds.
These plants are all monocots, or plants that
have only one seed leaf and are characterised
by having parallel veining in their leaf or
stems. Palms and bamboos are also part of
this botanical group but their pruning
needs are minimal, requiring only the
removal of dead leaves and/or fruits.
Bamboo may require the canes thinned by
removing the entire cane at ground level. If
the cane is pruned below the side leaves, it
will not regrow.
Figure 4.16 Grasses are made up of a fibrous root system,
a hollow stem leading to an intercalary meristem, then the
blade.
regenerate quickly. When the intercalary
meristem is damaged by overgrazing,
mowing the lawn too close or cutting
back an ornamental grass too severely,
the plant will die as there is no point from
which the leaf blades can be replaced.
Bulbous plants with a similar growth habit
such as Knifophia are horticulturally treated
in the same manner, though many of these
plants can regenerate from their bulbous
root systems. The same theory applies to
stoloniferous grasses such as kikuyu,
buffalo and couch.
Grass-like species and many evergreen
bulbous plants require more attention. These
plants have a different source of growth than
woody trees and shrubs.
Grassy leaves emerge from an intercalary
meristem. This is a point of growth above the
root system that gives rise to the actual leaf
blade, reeling out more leaf even if the tip of
the leaf is damaged (see Figure 4.16).
It is this structure that allows for animals to
graze or humans to mow and the plant to
Search WWH ::




Custom Search