My gardening dreams were way bigger than my actual space.” “We had a really tiny yard and I needed to pack as much as I could in there as possible. Gardener Kristen Raney became enamoured with vertical gardening in 2016, when she and her family lived in a small house on a small lot in Saskatoon.
However, the term has come to mean new things, as people embrace vertical gardening as a way to grow herbs, fruits, veggies and flowers in places – including balconies and even window sills – that might once have been deemed too small to support an abundance of plant life.
One of the hottest new trends, vertical gardening is also one of the oldest planting techniques: If you’ve ever grown a vine on a fence or a trellis, it’s basically the same thing. Image from Small Summer Gardens: 35 Bright and Beautiful Projects to Bring Color and Scent to Your Garden, by Emma Hardy. Other times, the supporters will fill in the gaps when the star is resting,” Pavord says. “Sometimes the supporting plants will perform at the same time as the star to deliver a grand-slam seasonal show. For instance, she might combine Iris sibirica ‘Flight of Butterflies’ with Casa Blanca lily and selinum wallichianum, a hardy perennial with bright-green foliage and lacy white flowers. In her book, Pavord identifies 60 “star” plants – showstoppers based on different criteria – and pairs each with a supporting cast of two plants that provide the best kind of companionship. Layering can be done in a small or large space. The goal is to have lots of stuff burgeoning around us to maximize colour – not just through flowers but also through foliage – so there is generous display through all seasons.” Many of us now garden in a looser, less controlling way than we used to.
“We are now much more aware than we used to be of the masses of creatures that need and use our gardens. Pavord says the trend has come about, in part, by a change in the way we look at our gardens. A maximalist style does not mean throwing plants together haphazardly it still adheres to the basic garden design principles of form, texture, proportion and scale. It is a fancy term for a trend that advocates for the artful layering of plants to produce depth, texture and pop, says England-based gardening author Anna Pavord, whose new book is The Seasonal Gardener: Creative Planting Combinations. “No matter what kinds of conditions you face – shade, dry soil, heavy clay or excess moisture – there’s a ground cover that will thrive and beautify your garden.” Allergy-friendly gardens Open this photo in gallery: Creeping thyme can be used to frame a garden sculpture, while Mexican feather grass fits nicely in tight spaces (it’s used between pavers at the High Line in New York).Īnother of Lewis’s favourites is the Himalayan maidenhair fern, beautifully textured, with fronds that come up a glowing copper in the spring. A plant such as golden creeping Jenny, for instance, is perfect for providing a burst of bright green and gold along a dark, shady path. They create a diverse landscape for native insects, birds and other wildlife.”Īs a finishing touch, ground covers unify a garden, knitting plants together, and provide a bridge between hardscapes (patios and walkways) and gardens. They can lower the carbon footprint in a garden because they use less water, fertilizer and pesticides. “They can be used as a sustainable alternative to lawns. “I feel like ground covers are the perfect plant for the moment we live in,” Lewis says. The Complete Book of Ground Covers, by Gary Lewis.
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