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Index : Landscaping Design
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- 15. Create Your Own Backyard Wall Garden - Top
- Walls and fences are truly an important part of home gardens and landscapes. Property walls and fences surround many backyards and define garden areas. However, we seldom think of these vertical spaces as garden places; but they are! There is a wealth of gardening that can be pursued on and along walls and fences. Vines, espaliered trees and shrubs, climbing roses,
vining vegetables, and plants in half-pots all can be grown on wall and fence gardens.
Think of the number of plants that need to climb, or benefit from support. Sprawling shrubs such as cape honeysuckle, bougainvillea, Tombstone and climbing roses, and euonymus benefit from growing close to a wall for support.
Some plants can be trained and pruned flat against a wall, in the style known as espalier (pronounced "es-PAL-yer"). Many fruit trees grow well in espalier form including; fig, pomegranate, apple, pear and plum. Some ornamental plants easy to train in this manner are crape myrtle, flowering plum, Japanese privet, yew podocarpus, photinia, and pyracantha. Pruning handbooks detail the methods of creating espaliers.
Vines of all types are available to cover walls and fences with beautiful foliage and flowers. There are some that need nothing to tie them to the surface. These include creeping fig and the many types of ivy. Ivies need a shady wall, but creeping fig can be grown in sun or shade. Ivies have tiny rootlets that grow from the stems and attach themselves to masonry surfaces. Creeping fig has a type of suction pad that glues itself to the wall. In either case, plan on these plants as being permanent attachments to the wall. It is very difficult to remove them once attached.
Many vines grow by twining around, or clinging onto supports with tendrils. Some of the best for Tucson include; purple hardenbergia, lavender wisteria, Carolina yellow jasmine, yellow primrose jasmine, white star jasmine, and the coral flowered queen's wreath. All will grow on open-weaved fencing, such as ocotillo, wood-slat, bamboo or chain-link. If you have a solid wall, you can affix wires along the wall for vines to wrap around. A less complicated way to affix vines to walls is to hang them from glue-on masonry hooks, available at garden centers and hardware stores.
The same fencing and trellising for the growth of ornamental vines can also be employed for training peas, beans, cucumbers and other vining veggies. Some of the best varieties of peas include; Sugar Snap, Mammoth Melting Sugar, Blue Bantam and Little Sweetie. When your winter crop of peas are finally picked-out in the spring, plant a crop of climbing pole beans, such as Blue Lake or Kentucky Blue.
Cucumbers also work well grown on trellises and walls. Choose a location that is shaded in the afternoon to prevent sun scorch of the fruit. Even with protection, cucumbers will stop producing with Summer heat. The vines will continue to grow. The variety Armenian is best for our desert conditions.
Half-pots in all sizes with flat sides for wall mounting, can also be used to dress-up walls and fences. These are best situated on walls facing north or east. Pots hanging from walls exposed to direct afternoon Summer sun heat up and dry out too fast. Regardless, you will need to have an automatic watering system to your posts. Drip emitters or spray stakes can be used to water individual pots.
Pots positioned on-top of walls can be used to provide a crowning effect of greenery and color. Plants with cascading growth are best used to create these "hanging gardens". Hardiest of these are trailing rosemary, cascading petunia, hearts and flowers, portulaca, trailing periwinkle, and
In addition to plants; wall plaques, fountains, and colorful paint can be used to enhance the appearance of your wall garden.
Wall gardening is a great for enhancing the appearance of bare walls and fences. It's also a fun and creative way to extend your gardening to a new plane; the vertical one!
Make plans to attend the 1st Annual School Garden Tour, sponsored by the Pima County Master Gardeners and participating Tucson Schools. The tour will be held on Saturday, March 24 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Tickets are $2.00 per person and are available from participating schools including; Drachman Primary, Harelson Winifred Elementary, Lawrence Elementary, Miles Exploratory Learning Center, Ochoa Elementary, and Pueblo Gardens Elementary.
Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with U.S. Department of Agriculture, James A. Christenson, Director, Cooperative Extension, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the University of Arizona.
The University of Arizona college of Agriculture and Life Sciences is an Equal Opportunity employer authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function without regard to sex, race, religion, color, national origin, age, Vietnam Era Veteran's status, or disability - Updated: April 23, 2001
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