LANDSCAPE USE AND AESTHETICAL VALUE OF SURVEYED WOODY ORNAMENTAL PLANTS IN CAIRO FESTIVAL CITY - CAIRO - EGYPT IN LANDSCAPE GARDENING

Sustainability and successful utilize of plants in gardens and landscape will be achieved by using proper plant in the right place. Hence landscape uses and aesthetical values of plants must be determined. Therefore, the present study were conducted to survey woody ornamental plants located in Cairo Festival City gardens, CairoGovernorate, Egypt through 2018 and 2019 as well as to determine their uses and values in terms of landscaping. Form beauty, ornamental foliage, ornamental fruit, ornamental flowers, and fragrance were took as aesthetical values parameters while landscape uses were recorded by the existing uses and potential uses of each plant. As a result of the study, totally 83 woody plant species belong to 33 families were recorded and they follow trees (40%), palms (12%), shrubs (41%), and vines (7%). Moreover, it has been found that Schinus molle, Plumeria alba, and Duranta erecta are attractive for four parameters of aesthetical value and the most of species are attractive for their ornamental foliage (32%). Also, Tecoma capensis, Cupressus sempervirens, Ficus benjamina, Plumbago auriculataare detected to be in nine different landscape uses and the most of species are recommended to be used as a specimen (68 species).

Galling Damage to Woody Ornamentals: Diagnosis and Potential Causes

Galling or witch’s broom damage on the newly expanding buds and leaves of woody ornamental plants has become increasingly common. Diagnosing this damage can be difficult because the most common causes are obscure or occur well before damage symptoms appear. This -page fact sheet written by and published by the UF/IFAS is intended to help landscape managers, nursery growers, and pest control professionals diagnose characteristic galling damage, mitigate damage that occurs, and, when possible, prevent it from occurring.

Landscape Performance, Flowering, and Female Fertility of Eight Trailing Lantana Varieties Grown in Central and Northern Florida

Trailing lantana [Lantana montevidensis (Spreng.) Briq.] is a low-growing, woody ornamental valued for its heat and drought tolerance and repeat blooming of purple or white flowers throughout much of the year. In 2011, trailing lantana was predicted to have high invasion risk by the UF-IFAS’s assessment of non-native plants in Florida, and therefore it was no longer recommended for use. All cultivars fall under this designation unless proven otherwise. Eight trailing lantana varieties were obtained from wholesale growers or naturalized populations found in Texas and Australia. Plants were propagated vegetatively, finished in 4-inch pots, and planted in field trials located in central (Balm) and northern (Citra) Florida. Throughout the 24-week study from June to November, mean plant quality was between 4.4 and 4.7 (on a 1 to 5 scale) for U.S. varieties and 3.9 for the Australian form. Mean flowering was between 4.1 and 4.5 (on a 1 to 5 scale) for U.S. trailing lantana varieties and 3.5 for Australian trailing lantana. Australian trailing lantana differed from other U.S. varieties tested, being smaller in size, more sensitive to cold, and having a high female fertility index (producing abundant fruit with viable seed per peduncle). Our findings indicate that some U.S. varieties of trailing lantana are unlikely to present an ecological threat and merit consideration for production and use.