Encouraging landscapes to flow and ripple with vibrant color is a wonderful way to completely change the appearance of a home, office or any other building. Such a sea of living colour makes for spectacular driveways, building frontages and – being water and labour-wise – can be used to replace expensive and water-hungry lush green lawns.
Masses and masses of flowers- you can vary the species as the seasons change – provide a living tapestry of gorgeous hues, either in full sun or in the shade of existing trees. The soil preparation for this is simple. Weed and remove any debris or stones, dig up and add old, well-rotted , organic manure as necessary , rake to a fine tilth, plant easy to grow flower seeds, rake again , water them and then give light sprinkling of water every evening until the seeds germinate. After that, watering twice or thrice a week should suffice.
Seasonal flowers suitable for such landscaping include late summer or autumn sown coriopsis in dazzling yellow with chocolate or dark crimson eyes, and gailardia in browns, oranges and yellows.a. Similarly, autumn sown, sky-blue cornflowers, deep blue larkspur , a colourful range of dancing poppies and snow-white chamomile will create a bold impact.
Perennial flowers with which you can orchestrate a glorious symphony of colour include cosmos in claret , pale pink, scarlet, snow-white and yellow (being tall, they ripple beautifully in the slightest breeze); gerbera in eye-catching cream, lemons, oranges, reds, shocking pink and white; bold, sun-loving gazanias in as many variation of chocolate, crimson, orange, yellow and white as you can find; osteospernum in clear yellow, fire-engine red, royal purple, shell pink, violet and white are a prize indeed.
Perennial species, if you are landscaping acres, are best bought as seedlings, planted in soil (just like you sow seeds), and then sparingly watered every second evening.
Behold a low-maintenance, moving sea of colour!
By B. Khan