These are useful for a variety of site conditions and appearances. They can offer an attractive alternative to a simple expanse of turf and can also accommodate rock sites for which to grass requires much preparation. Legumes fix nitrogen from the air into the soil and so are useful to combine with grasses for self-fertilizing area. Ground covers vary from grass looking types to bright colourful fields of flowers.
Useful for
- Rock sites.
- Colourful appearance.
- Feature areas.
- Lowest maintenance.
- Nitrogen fixing.
- Some cover concrete retaining wall.
- An attractive relief from boring grass areas.
- Including types which are tiny leafed clover plants, creepers, small shrubs and trees, legumes are valuable for their ability to take nitrogen from the air and make it available in the soil for their own growth and green-ness and for companion grasses sown with them. A root node living bacteria in the legume plant performs this nitrogen fixing. There is a specific variety of bacteria which must be correctly selected for a particular legumes for efficient nitrogen fixing production in the soil. This selection is called "Inoculation" and is easily performed at the application time. Choice of legume is decided by desired appearance, area function, soil structure, amount of sun or shade, whether grass combined etc. Applied in the same way as the grasses, often at the same time.
- Many ground covers are legumes, many are not. Ground covers vary in type from small leafed plants, which can be mown like a lawn, to spreading creeping leafy plants with or without colourful flowers, to carpets of flowers with riot of colours. Many are very hardy indeed, surviving in deserts; others prefer moist shaded sites. They have special advantages for a variety of site conditions.
- Larger growing plants have much to offer in soil stabilisation, the root growth is wide and deep so holds a lot of soil in place. Good root depth adds drought and flood tolerance and the trees maintain subsoil water and salt levels. Worldwide research into barren areas continually urges all countries to plant more trees. Brunei is a small country. With the rest of Borneo removing it's trees at an alarming rate, added to the loss of trees due to man made calamities such as the present fires, the local trend of replacing original vegetation with grass will create the same serious climate and air quality problems seen in other developed nations, as well as remove valuable insect and animal life. Let us include trees and shrubs in appropriate areas for a more natural appearance and a more natural environment.