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When plants aren't in flower
suzanne11
Posts: 3
It's all very well being seduced by the gorgeous colours and shapes of flowers in books and magazines. But what you don't see clearly - if at all - is the form and texture of the whole plant, without the blooms.
I designed my own garden recently, buying a lot of the plants online (it's difficult for me to visit garden centres or nurseries). In some areas, where the early summer blooms have gone, I can only see foliage and it's very 'samey'.
Does anyone know of a book or website that shows the form and texture of a plant - with and without its flowers?
SoozB
0
Posts
Hi suzanne. All you have to do is to go onto Google. Type in the name of the plant you want to look at - always type'uk' after your topic or you'll usually get diverted to an American site. Look for the RHS website as that is a good starting point. You can go back to your search box after looking on the RHS and type something like 'Helenium leaves images uk' and you will get pictures of the Helenium leaves. You can do similar for flowers - just substitute flowers for leaves in your search. 90% of the time this will be a big help. Happy searching!
The RHS website can be useful but not always.
I have often typed the plant name into Google and come up with pictures but they often just show the flowers themselves. It is also helpful to see what form and shape the whole plant makes.
'You must have some bread with it me duck!'
Thank you both. I appreciate how useful google searches are but, as you say, it's the overall form and texture that would be good to see, next to pictures of the plant when in flower. I'm surprised that there isn't a one-stop-shop for this information, as I'm sure all serious amateur gardeners, and garden designers, would find it very useful. That's a nice project for someone!
Suzanne
i have 3 Big Blue sea hollies in my boarders. One has bloomed beautifully the other 2 have lots of folliage but no flowers as yet. The leaves of the plant are beautiful in themselves but how I wish the other 2 would flower soon
Yip. RHS Gardners' Encyclopedia for me. It shows size, shape, colour, conditions...hard to beat.