Learn 'from plant behaviour'

17:04:20 1st April 2008

Gardeners could learn a great deal about their plants from their behaviour, it has been asserted.

Dan Pearson makes his comments in the Observer, suggesting that flora will be affected by a range of different factors, including location and proximity to other plants.

He explains that he established a garden filled with Stipa tenuissima and worked it throughout the space to ensure that it caught the wind and looked dramatic.

"What I didn't know at that point was that the Stipa hated the competition and very quickly self-seeded to the edges of the planting where they were happiest in the limboland between bed and path," he adds.

Mr Pearson adds that a number of other plants in the garden moved from where they were originally planted, thrived more than was initially thought possible or were overwhelmed by other blooms.

The BBC explains that Stipa tenuissima's stems reache heights of around two feet tall.