Ornamental plants are usually cultivated for their stunning flowers and provide a significant source of appeal for numerous gardens. Various ornamental gardens require a broad selection of flowers to ensure that the garden stays always blooming throughout the monsoon, spring, summer, and winter.
Ornamental plants can be flowers, shrubs, trees, lianas, or creepers, aquatic and terrestrial in habit. They may have been cultivated in a myriad of habitats that represent different types of ecosystems and habitats.
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Ornamental Plants Examples
Various ornamental plants are recognized for their stunning beauty like gardenias, pansies, bougainvilleas, daisies, narcissus, roses, petunias, dahlias, chrysanthemum, gerbera and cosmos, aster, gladiolus and sunflowers, pansy, a variety of lilies orchids with vibrant flowers and even aroids.
Alongside the usual assortment of trees, plants, and shrubs, mini plants, succulents, bonsai, cacti or bonsai are also ornamental plants. Realizing that ornamental plants aren’t restricted to only stunning flowers is crucial.
The idea of an ornamental plant is also dynamic. Thus, a weed found in one region of a continent may be ornamental on another part of the same or distant continent. A food, industrial or commercial plant with stunning flowers or foliage in a specific region or continent can be seen as an ornamental plant in a different location.
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Many farmers prefer ornamental plants that have a particular focus on food production. It is nevertheless possible to combine the production of fruit and flowers in the growing regions by selecting certain plants. For instance, plants such as Runner Beans, Ruby Chard, or Globe Artichokes can easily find their way into the wall of your flowering garden designed for decorative plants. It is up to the gardener to decide on the benefits of including these plants in their garden ornaments since they could give a fresh look to their flower landscapes, lawns, and parks.
Uses of Ornamental Plants
An ornamental plant is cultivated to decorate, not food or other waste products. Ornamental plants are often cultivated in a flowerbed, shaped into a hedge, or even placed in a sunny window of the apartment. They are typically designed to look attractive; however, a plant that grows naturally and enriches the beauty of the landscape can be considered ornamental.
Although the primary application for ornamental plant species is to create an aesthetic effect, they also serve other motives.
Beautification
Ornamental plants can be used in landscaping and around the house to enhance the surrounding. A huge tropical plant in the living room adds a splash of color and softens hard lines created by furniture and architectural designs. Vibrant flowers bring out the greens and browns that naturally happen outdoors. A huge dogwood tree in the middle of the yard’s front re-emerges with bright white or pink flowers that fill the lawn with vibrant color in the spring.
Attract Wildlife
Ornamental plants are a source of nutrition and shelter for a wide range of wildlife species. While certain species of wildlife can cause havoc to well-planned landscapes, other plants are involved in pollination and propagation, which is why this attraction is essential for the ecology. Selecting native plants ensures that plants in your garden are adapted to attract wildlife native to the area. The plants that produce fruit and berries draw birds and other small animals.
Ornamental plants that yield fruits include crabapple, hawthorn, native plants like the baneberry, and Pacific madrone. Gardens of ornamentals are frequently devoted to attracting butterflies. Purple coneflowers, coast angelica, coast buckwheat, and pipevine are the plants to consider for butterflies’ gardens. Twinberry is one of the native plants which provides food to birds and insects through its flowers. Its fruits are food for other birds.
Cleans the Air
Without plants, we wouldn’t breathe clean air since plants produce oxygen through photosynthesis. The plants absorb carbon dioxide for food, release oxygen into the air, and act as natural air purifiers. This is especially beneficial in indoor spaces in which air circulation is not as good as it is in comparison outdoors.
Adding ornamental plants to the house can enhance indoor air quality and remove smoking tobacco and volatile organic compounds, like benzene and formaldehyde. As per Washington State University, the most efficient plants include spider plants, peace lily, golden pothos, snake plants, and a variety of species of dracaena and philodendron. The healthier a plant appears, the more efficient it is at eliminating harmful contaminants in the air.
Fragrance
Many ornamental plants are picked because they appeal to tgrhe senses and have aesthetic attractiveness. The popularity of lavender is due to its appealing scent. Despite being widely used to extract lavender oil, it’s frequently planted in gardens at home because of its aroma when it is in bloom. Roses are another kind of flower that is renowned for their pleasant scent. A stroll through a garden is certain to draw people to relax and take the scent of the flower bouquet.
Certain plants with a pleasant scent effectively repel outdoor pests like mosquitoes, ants and insects like flies. One of the most popular ornamental plants is the citronella plant, a species with the scent of lemon. The fuzzy blooms of ageratum blooms produce coumarin, which is a natural repellent for mosquitoes.
