Whether you are fed up of being surrounded by six foot high wooden fences or want to create a vertical masterpiece to make the most of your patch of turf, Diamuid explains how to decide on the right type of plants.
One of the first steps when you are creating a new garden is to disguise boundaries. This is especially so when you are dealing with ugly fences or concrete walls and it’s a job that you can do in your garden at the earliest stages even when you haven’t made big plans for an overall design or when the garden will be given over to the children for a few years as a football field or trampoline carrier.
Climbing plants are the first thing in vertical gardening - they help to melt the architecture of your home into your plot. They soften unsightly features and create a super environment for wildlife. However they can take a bit of time and patience to get established.
Start off by considering what you want the plant to do. Would you go for something like an ivy that is dependable, that will take all sorts of abuse and will grow even in dry area and won’t be bothered by shade or do you want something like a beautiful rose to adorn the outside of your Victorian cottage? There’s a vast amount of choice – evergreen, deciduous, as well as flowering and fruiting. But the trick is to understand the type of conditions that they love.
Often climbers will be panted as the base of a wall where the concrete and foundations suck in any available water. Be aware of this and remember that a new plant going into the ground is going to be a bit stressed. It’s coming to you from perfect nursery conditions where its every needs are tended to and your environment might be in some way inhospitable. Rather than planting right up against the wall, lead your new plant in on a bamboo cane from about eight inches. Taking time to prepare the soil is important no matter what you are planting - dig in plenty of good organic manure if possible. And water liberally in the first month especially if you are planting at this time of the year.
My own favourite climbers include an ivy called buttercup which is a small almost golden yellow leaf, lilac wisteria, abutilon which is more of a wall shrub and of course that wonderful woodland escapee, honeysuckle.
DG
Take a peek at the family friendly communal garden Diarmuid designed for Park SW20 in Raynes Park here.
