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254. TIBETAN LANDSCAPE GARDENING Article
TIBETAN LANDSCAPE GARDENING
from:Think of the name Tibet, and the images that come to mind are dramatic: the highest mountains in the world, ancient Buddhist monasteries perched upon craggy precipices, and centuries-old villages clustered in isolated valleys. But Tibet is also a land of thousands of species of exotic flora. Perhaps you cannot travel to Tibet, but through Tibetan landscape gardening you can bring some of the atmosphere of that mysterious country at the roof of the world to your own garden.
Tibetan landscape gardening offers many plants with which to beautify your garden. One is the buddleia, a large deciduous shrub. This plant’s flowers are lilac coloured and very fragrant. The slender leaves are a grey-green colour. The buddleia can reach a height of fifteen feet.
Another beauty of Tibetan landscape gardening is the cotoneaster, a shrub that has pinkish-white flowers in summer, followed by a bright red fruit. Sometimes the fruit is black. The round, dark green leaves turn orange in the autumn. The cotoneaster can reach six to eight feet in height and spread.
A close relative is the rockspray cotoneaster. The plant is flat, with herringbone branches. It is one of the most widely grown of the cotoneasters. It blooms with small pink flowers. In fall the foliage turns from dark green to bright red. This plant will grow to a height of two to five feet, and will spread over ten feet.
The creeping cotoneaster is not as hardy as some of its relatives, but it is a good plant for groundcover. It has small pink and white flowers and grows to a height of one foot.
The liliaceae is one of Tibet’s most famous plants. It has pea sized white bulbs that are believed to have medicinal properties, and are dried for export to China.
A favourite plant of Tibetan landscape gardening is the goji berry plant, which is sometimes confused with the wolfberry. The fruit of the goji berry is sweet, while that of the wolfberry is bitter. The goji berry plant grows well in almost any kind of soil, including medium loamy, light sandy, and clay. It does best in well-drained soil. Once the goji berry plant establishes its root system, it stands up well to dry conditions. However, it does not grow well in wet conditions. This plant likes lots of sun, but can tolerate some shade. The goji berry plant can grow up to ten feet tall, and its vines can reach twelve feet. Its trumpet shaped flowers are purple and white. The plant provides its sweet, juicy berries in late summer. This special plant from Tibetan landscape gardening also makes a good indoor houseplant.