Plant User Handbook: A Guide to Effective Specifying

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 392
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Professional landscapers and all those involved in creating green spaces have long been in need of a book that is a guide to plant specification, but also makes sense of plants and their cultivation.

Plant User Handbook is for practitioners who are professionally engaged in the use of plants in public, commercial and institutional landscapes. Planting schemes are undertaken on the basis of a binding contract – generally between the client (who owns or leases the landscape) and the implementer (the landscape contractor), with the designer acting both as specifier and contract administrator. Within this contractual relationship, planting schemes must be implemented to an agreed timetable. To manage this procedure efficiently, landscape designers and managers need quick access to the factual and scientific background for practical planting design and its implementation through specification writing and contracts.

The book covers over 20 well defined topics, and is written by leading experts in the industry. It is arranged into five sections:

• Preliminaries to plant use and the landscape
  
• Managing plant growth on landscape sites
  
• Establishment and management of trees
  
• Establishment and management of smaller woody plants
  
• Establishment and management of herbaceous plants

Carefully illustrated with diagrams, black and white photographs and colour plates, this handbook provides a unique resource for professionals wanting to improve their specification skills, as well as to explore creative approaches to design and practical implementation.Content:
Chapter 1 Introduction to Plant Use in the Landscape (pages 3–6): James Hitchmough and Peter Thoday
Chapter 2 Selecting Plant Species, Cultivars and Nursery Products (pages 7–24): James Hitchmough
Chapter 3 Procuring Plants for Landscape Projects (pages 25–43): Nick Coslett, Tom La Dell, James Wilson, Mike Smith, Mike Browell and John Parker
Chapter 4 Amelioration of Underperforming Soils (pages 47–62): Tony Kendle and Bob Sherman
Chapter 5 Soil Drainage (pages 63–73): Gordon Spoor
Chapter 6 Weed Control in Amenity Landscapes (pages 74–88): Bob Froud?Williams
Chapter 7 The Long?term Health of Plants (pages 89–92): Tony Kendle
Chapter 8 Establishment of Planted Nursery Stock (pages 95–112): James Hitchmough
Chapter 9 Tree Roots and Buildings (pages 113–127): Glynn Percival
Chapter 10 Semi?mature Trees (pages 128–142): James Wilson, Caroline Swann and Peter Thoday
Chapter 11 Trees in Paving (pages 143–151): Tony Edwards and Tim Gale
Chapter 12 Creating Urban Woodlands (pages 152–161): Nerys Jones
Chapter 13 Shrub Mosaics and Woodland Edge: ‘Natural’ Models for Shrub Planting (pages 165–174): Nigel Dunnett
Chapter 14 Ground Cover (pages 175–183): Peter Thoday
Chapter 15 Hedges and their Management (pages 184–193): Tom Wright, Terence Henry and Jed Bultitude
Chapter 16 Pruning Shrubs (pages 194–210): Tom La Dell
Chapter 17 Climbing Plants (pages 211–220): Tom La Dell
Chapter 18 Roof Gardens (pages 221–244): Steve Scrivens
Chapter 19 Wildflowers in Rural Landscapes (pages 247–257): Neil Bayfield
Chapter 20 Wildflower Landscapes in the Urban Environment (pages 258–266): Richard Scott
Chapter 21 Aquatic Planting (pages 267–282): Kevin Patrick
Chapter 22 Direct?sown Annual Meadows (pages 283–291): Nigel Dunnett
Chapter 23 Bedding Plants (pages 292–309): Richard Bisgrove
Chapter 24 Bulbous Plants for Use in Designed Landscapes (pages 310–324): Fergus Garrett and Rory Dusoir
Chapter 25 Herbaceous Perennials (pages 325–342): James Hitchmough
Chapter 26 Amenity and Sports Turf Seed (pages 343–353): John Hacker
Chapter 27 The Management of Amenity Grasslands (pages 354–370): Andy Boorman