Gardening On A Vertical

Plants love a good challenge... I admire the way they seem to survive thrive in the most death defying situations. You find plants growing in such diverse conditions - from Polar Bear hangouts right through to Desert furnaces. I've seen plants surviving on nothing but air, just clinging to rock faces. In the plethora of conditions that our amazing planet seems to dish out, plants seem to love to rise to any challenge.

Terramesh Wall Halfway Up

Cities pose their fair share of challenges to plants. Green Walls and Vertical Gardens have become 'the new thing' as people try to invite nature back into our inhospitable cities. They are an elegant solution to the stark walls and inert atmosphere of the places that we humans seem to flock to.

Several years ago, I built a green wall on a south-east facing, windswept balcony. Its been interesting to watch the evolutionary growth of the green wall, and I've used it as a proving ground for different plants to see which of them were best suited to this type of environment.

Some plants - particularly ferns seem to reproduce to the point of trying to suffocate everything else. Others, like a small aloe, and several different types of orchids have grown quietly and unassumingly before bursting into surprising flower. You can watch a video of how I built it here.

Green Terramesh being installed

An ongoing project (Romead Business Park) that we have been working on for quite some time, has posed several challenging situations which I hope to elaborate on in the future. One of the challenges, was the lack of space at the main entrance to the Park. We had some large banks that were held in place by a beautifully designed concrete curved wall. But the wall could only be so big before it would start compromising the design of the main entrance.

The final solution was to use a product called Terramesh from Maccaferri. This is woven wire mesh which is back filled and compacted with soil. Plants are then planted into the face, which in time forms a dense groundcover, and should prevent any long term erosion.

Just after planting

We planted up the wall, using a succulent called Crassula multicava. Its a plant with a happy disposition - content to grow on a South facing wall (no sun), and it seeds itself quite readily, and will even survive dry periods and still look very good. It has a pretty pink flower all through the year.

Before

After

Almost Successful Minimalist Front Garden

I'd been waiting in anticipation when I saw the bones of this landscape being formed. I was looking forward to how it would turn out, because it looked like it would be something different to the usual front verge on Essenwood road.

As it turned out, it was different. But to tell you the truth, I was disappointed. Where it had great potential was in its basic structure, but it was let down from that point on.

Everybody has their own opinion on what makes a beautiful design, but there are some basic fundamental things that make a good concept into a good design. And only a good design can be beautiful.

To play with an old saying by St Augustine - In all things sensible compulsory, in all things aesthetic freedom, but in all things passion.

I appreciate the minimalist simplicity of the design, and it probably looked good on paper. Breaking the bank up using terraces was a good practical idea, and the curve gave it something fresh. The huge rocks emboldened the design. The use of Aloes gives a different feel, they're low maintenance, and when they flower, will look amazing.

But the positives can only carry it so far. The first and biggest flaw, is using grass that has to be constantly cut, more than a metre off the ground. Why not use a simple ground-cover, even something as over-used in South African gardens as Mondo grass would have been better from a maintenance point of view. Who wants to lug a lawnmower up onto a terrace?

Why do people over-use white pebbles? Gardeners that use them remind me of magpies that are just attracted to shiny and sparkly things, thinking that the garden will somehow be improved by them. As a general rule, use white pebbles sparingly. They seldom stay white anyway.

You should always be careful using contrast in a garden. There is a very fine line between contrast and kitsch. I believe the design would have been better if the pebbles used had picked up on another colour in the design - whether the rock that they are spread around, the plants used or even the colour of the walls.

In a situation like this, where the rocks themselves are the focus of the design, they should be chosen and positioned deliberately. Japanese garden design has very precise ancient guidelines for using rocks, and while this is not an oriental garden - those guidelines are built around good aesthetics, and should be followed more often than not if you want rock to work well in a design. But that's probably a post for another day. In this case, the third rock looked completely out of place - it was flat and didn't have the presence that the other rocks had.

Another basic mistake made, was not hiding the water valve (it was at least hidden in the standard municipal cover). The design could have been easily adjusted to obscure the box, while still giving access to the meter. It was painted the same colour as the wall, which helps to make it less noticeable.

The choice of Pachpodium as the main feature plant (although it is small it will get a nice size in a few years) for the back of the planting looks slightly out of place - but that's probably just my personal preference rather than any design flaw.

Some of these mistakes are basic, and some might seem nit-picky, but I think this little garden could have been very successful had the person who designed it paid that extra attention to detail, instead I think its been left a little short-changed.

Gardening on a Balcony

After 20 years of gardening, I'm amazed that I'm still amazed by the effect that plants have on a space. I don't often get to appreciate this first-hand, because I usually have to leave my gardens behind when I go home.

Michelle and I bought a flat a little over a year ago, and one of the things that really appealed to us was the big balcony, which in Durban is a great asset for enjoying our sweltering hot summers.

Its taken us a while, because up until now we've had other priorities, but we've finally gotten round to tackling the balcony.

The cage over the succulents is to keep our
vegetarian cat from munching

The catalyst was a pair of old pots that I had laying around from an old show that I did a few years back. After several coats of charcoal coloured paint to cover their awful green colour, and a quick trip down to the nursery, we had the impetus we needed to really get stuck in to planning and fixing up the area. Which up till now has become a bit of a dumping ground for all the stuff that has nowhere else to go.
A terracotta pot that we've tried quite unsuccessfully to grow herbs in, is now the home for all the succulents that I haven't been able to resist buying when I've been shopping for plants for clients.

Sitting down and appreciating the balcony with the plants, a cup of tea and Michelle's fresh baked biscuits this afternoon, it finally felt like a space that I can enjoy.

Now to figure out the furniture...

Designing a Family Courtyard

I've given a few options to a friend/client of mine who is looking for ideas in the renovation of this beautiful old house. Aside from the obvious need to revitalize the house, the family that stay in the house need an area where they can entertain and spend time with friends and family.
The existing layout of the courtyard is messy, and has several levels, all of which make it less used than it could be.

The first step is to raise the courtyard level, to bring it level with the house. This along with enlarging the doorways, will make the transition between the inside and outside easier.
The area was also quite exposed to the neighbouring property, and the road, and therefore creating privacy was essential.

In the first option, the water feature was a little too large, so it was scaled down, and a built in seat was added instead. A gas braai/bbq was added to the North wall. The necessary privacy would be created from strategic planting in the garden.

The urn water feature, creates a perfect focal point from the path, and from inside the house and is a simple, elegant, but cost effective way of creating the soothing sound of water. It can be easily made child-safe, by filling the reservoir with pebbles or covering with a grid.

Indigenous Beauties : Cross Berry

Its easy to find plants to admire this time of the year, when everything is looking so lush and green, and every plant is bursting with extravagant flowers.

Grewia occidentalis
Cross Berry

The Cross Berry (Grewia occidentalis) though, is one of those plants that seem to be easily over-looked. Its never one for histrionics. The flowers which start in Summer, are never showy, but are always pretty. Birds and butterflies are not superficial however, and know a Grewia's real value and will often be found eating the 4-lobed fruit from which it derives its name.

It ranges in height from 2-5m, and will grow in Sun or Shade. It is semi-deciduous - in optimum conditions it won't lose too many leaves. Its a great tree for a small garden, and will often form more than one stem. It looks even better when planted to form a grove of Cross Berries.

If you're looking for other small trees for small gardens, check this previous post.

Behind The Scenes - Long Narrow Garden

About 10 years ago, there was nothing but grass and weeds around this old church building. We used to mow mainly weeds every couple of weeks in order to keep the place tidy, but it never did ever really look tidy.

The church was growing, and so were their needs. This meant that they needed some places to flow out into: for kids to have Sunday school and play, as well as a place to have tea and chat after the service. The existing paving was inadequate, and boring.

Initially we talked about extending the paved areas around the back of the building, but to do this as cost effectively as possible we needed to re-use the existing brick pavers. We bought some basic concrete flagstones, and used the brick pavers to add some detail. The large squares created, helped to reduce the scale and minimise the feeling of narrowness of the area down the side.

The next area that we tackled, was the weedy area on the other side of the building. The plan was to convert it into a low maintenance garden. The church building created a little bit of a problem, as it sheltered the area from the prevailing winds and therefore the rain. To solve this, we sloped waterproof sheeting into the areas that tended to remain dry. This would in effect, cause rainwater to run into the areas that would not get much natural rain.

We cut holes in the sheeting, and planted up the area with succulents, and other low maintenance indigenous plants. To hide the sheeting we spread decomposed granite over the top, and in between the plants.



The last requirement was an area for the children to play in. We considered planting grass, but this would have required weekly cutting, and in such a small area, the likelihood is that the grass would never have looked very good. Eventually a fine gravel was spread over the relatively small area. This was not the ideal solution either, as the children took great delight in using the small stones to block up the drains, and spread them around. It was also not the softest landing for children if they fell, but in lieu of anything better this was the option we stuck with.

This last week we returned to the garden to do a bit of a spruce-up, and to replace the gravel with artificial grass. It looks amazingly real, needs no water or maintenance, and can be played on without dying off in patches. This seems to be the ideal solution for this area.

Indigenous Trees for Small Gardens

I get quite a bit of traffic on this site from people searching for indigenous trees for small gardens. I think its an indicator of the fact that people are moving from larger gardens to smaller more manageable gardens. Its also a great sign that people are moving towards planting indigenous trees. I'm also encouraged by the fact that people are taking the time to research before visiting nurseries or just planting trees that are unsuitable, or will get too big for the space available.

Ochna serrulata

The advantages of using indigenous as opposed to exotic trees, is that you'll be creating the natural habitat for all kinds of birds, bats, butterflies and other creatures. Also, very often indigenous trees are less prone to disease, and require less water.

I've placed the spotlight on a few trees that would be great in a small garden in previous posts. Some of my favourites are the Tabernaemontana or Toad Tree, and the Halleria lucida.

But there is an amazing variety of trees to choose from. These trees would be easy rivals to most exotic trees that are established first choice plants:

Aloe Barbarae - Tree Aloe - Majestic and statuesque

Brachylaena discolor - Silver Oak - Great coastal shrub/ small tree with silvery foliage

Cussonia species - Most Cabbage trees are great for small gardens, as they don't take up a lot of space, or create too much shade. Beware of the roots though!

Dichrostachys cinerea - not easy to find in most nurseries, but worth the search.

Dombeya species - there are several Dombeyas that are perfect for small gardens.

Heteropyxis natalensis - Fragrant and pretty.

Millettia grandis - attractive purple flowers and reddish pods.

Ochna serrulata - is covered in bright yellow flowers, and then red and black fruits. Is slow growing though. (Photo above)

Olea species - great for a mediterranean style garden, very neat looking, can be easily trimmed to shape.

Trema orientalis - commonly called a Pigeonwood because birds love the berries and use it to nest in. Very fast growing, but relatively short-lived. A little untidy though.

Turraea floribunda - attracts an abundance of birds and insects to its beautiful flowers.

Xylotheca kraussiana - Slow, but worth the wait...

I will expand on some of these trees in posts to follow, but check out Plantzafrica for details on each of them in the meantime. You can also check out other posts on indigenous plants for South Africa.

Indigenous Beauties - Bird attracting garden

My team and I are busy with the tidying of the garden of a beautiful old Durban home. It has a well established indigenous garden, with some exceptional plants.

Halleria lucida - Tree Fuschia

The Tree Fuschia is a great plant for attracting birds. Sunbirds in particular love the nectar that they get from the tubular flowers that sprout profusely from the Halleria's stem. Fruit loving birds also love the green berries that appear in Spring.
Its an excellent plant when you're looking for fast growth, and it grows to a height of anything from about 3m to about 15m. It will grow in full sun or semi-shade, but will look better in a slightly sheltered spot.
It has been used medicinally for skin and ear problems.

Carissa bispinosa

The Carissa, or amatungulu is a very useful plant. It has attractive white flowers, which appear in Summer, followed by bright red fruit, which are high in vitamin C. The fruit are used to make a delicious jam.
It grows in Sun or Semi-shade, and does quite well on windswept dunes. It is often grown as an impenetrable hedge, as it is covered in painfully sharp forked spines.
It is relatively fast-growing once established, but takes a while to get going. It will reach about 3m in height if left, but looks better when cut back into a dense shrub.

Schotia brachypetala

The Schotia is also known as the Weeping Boer-boon (Farmers Bean) . It has been given this name because of the huge amounts of nectar that drip from the beautiful bright-red flowers, and because its pods are shaped like beans. Because of the dripping nectar, its best not to plant it too close to paved areas, or near parked cars. Nectar-loving birds are frequent visitors to this tree. Its relatively fast growing, and reaches about 15-20m high and wide.

Some of the other well-established bird-attracting plants were Aloes, Cussonia, Indigofera, Polygala, and a Toad Tree. One plant I couldn't identify, which had an amazing sweet scent was this little shrub (1.5-2m high):

Any ideas as to what it is?

Is the grass greener on the artificial side?

After years of mockery, belittling and ridicule of the fake plant brigade, I'm going over to the dark side. Ok, I'm not going over all the way. I'm just going over to admire the artificial grass.

I've always been adamant that there is no proper place for fake in gardening - gardens are one of the few places that are real in the high-tech, modern lives we lead. (There is little place for gnomes in my gardens... unless they are real of course).

But lately I've found myself looking at artificial grass in a different light. Its got a lot going for it that I couldn't see when I couldn't see past the word "artificial":

1. It doesn't need any water. In our water conserving times, this is a big plus. Anything that stays green, and doesn't need to be watered twice a week deserves a little recognition.

2. It's durable. It will take a fair amount of traffic without looking untidy or worn.

3. It doesn't need to be trimmed. For those of you who find the process of mowing lawns cathartic, you can close your eyes for this one. But the costs in time, labour and resources in keeping a lawn in perfect condition can be a strong argument against lawns.

4. It seems to be much improved from the strange green colour and texture that it used to have. There seems to be better and more choices these days.

5. There is also the argument that large areas of grass are artificial anyway, and do little for the environment anyway.

I'm not arguing that artificial grass is on an equal footing with grass - it isn't. For one thing, that feeling of walking barefoot on cool grass can't be replaced.
I think the place for artificial grass is for areas where the look of a lawn is what's needed, but for any number of reasons it won't grow without undue amounts of work to keep it looking at its best.

Will you be going over to the dark side?

Green With Envy Garden Show Pics

I've really enjoyed doing this show - the challenges are what appeals to me most. Trying to make a garden in a too small space, having 3 mainly rainy days to create something that looks like its been there for a while, and of course - a very tight budget.















This show has also confirmed some of my landscape leanings. I've realised that I love contrast. If I was to get philosophical I'd say it's because I live in an amazing country with such stark contrasts, and obvious beauty. But its really that I think the beauty of one plant/ texture/ colour/ material is hardly appreciated without something to contrast it with.





The theme was "The French Courtyard" which I've assumed was a very loose one. But I decided to take some of the aspects that are typical French garden (statuary, clipped hedges and Lavender), and plant wild-looking indigenous Euphorbias and Aloes alongside. In the process, I think, the individual qualities of the plants are enhanced.








The design was based around three inter-linking circles, with different materials, textures, styles, and plants in each. Even with my use of hard materials - I've used rough natural stone and smooth Tuscany cobblestones.

I've always had a tendency towards a more contemporary style of garden, but when designing for others, and specific sites, I'm wary of over-riding other peoples tastes with my own.

Garden Show Planning

Today is a public holiday in South Africa - Youth Day. It commemorates the start of the Soweto Uprising in 1976, when school children were protesting against being taught in Afrikaans. The police opened fire on them and several children were killed and injured. This is the photo by Sam Nzima of the dying 12 year old Hector Pieterson, which became an iconic image of that day:

On a less serious note, I'm sitting down today to plan my stand at the Green With Envy Garden Show. The theme is "The French Courtyard". Fortunately thats a fairly open theme I think?

French Gardens are typically formal with topiary, ornate statuary, hedges and water features. But courtyards were generally less formal and were used for culinary purposes, for storing food plants and imported plants which could be given the extra attention they needed. So I think/hope there is a certain amount of freedom of interpretation.

This is my first sketch, the idea was meant to compare a more formal french style with a natural/indigenous style. They would be separated by a plant/moss filled crack. It didn't get the thumbs up from my wife (my best critic), so I'm moving on.

Behind The Scenes - Courtyard Garden

Don't be fooled, a small garden can be just as much work as a big garden. There have been several reasons, but this project has taken nearly 6 months to complete. Thats a long time for a space that is only 3m x 3m!

This was part 3 of a bigger garden project that we had completed about a year ago. My clients had a small courtyard built onto their bedroom, to give them their own private garden. The brief was quite straightforward:

1. A place to sit with a small table and chairs
2. A waterfeature - along the lines of a letterbox type water feature

We discussed a few options, looked at several books and magazines, and finally settled on a basic style. It would be quite a contemporary formal garden, with a touch of an oriental feel. We would lay a white concrete floor, with white pebbles around the border.
The budget was quite tight for what was needed, but provided everything went according to plan it would be fine.

This was the blank slate:

The work progressed in stages:
1. Subsurface preparation
We laid irrigation pipes and electrical conduit. The irrigation for the entire garden would be run from the unit on the wall in the left-hand corner.
The irrigation, lights and pumps would all need electricity. This created quite a few boxes in the corner that would need to be screened, but still with easy access to plugs and controls.

2. Adjusting of walls and steps
The existing step was too high, and was subsequently chipped away and re-built. Also, the pillar in the center of the facing wall would need to be removed for the water feature that would be installed in the center.

3. Laying the concrete base
Once the builders had finished in this area, we positioned boards around the edges of the soon-to-be concrete slab, and began pouring our concrete. This was then roughly levelled, and left for a few days to harden, before the boards were removed.

4. Building the water feature
The water feature wall was built from brick. The stainless steel chute which would form the sheet of water, had been made up a week before. This had to be installed perfectly level. Even if it is slightly out, the sheet of water coming out would very obviously be skew. The pipes were all joined up, and then connected to the reservoir below.
The test run with a hose pipe connected into the system is always an anxious moment, but the water feature worked according to plan. The top of the wall was then closed up, and plastered.

5. Screeding the surface
We used a combination of white cement and very light sand, so that the concrete screed would be as close to white as possible. Because of the amount of time needed to dry, and the fact that this was our rainy season, we had to wait until the weather man was predicting a dry couple of days. The first chance we got, we carefully screeded the whole surface, and left it over the weekend to dry.
Unfortunately, the final result was a little cloudy, and not entirely white. It did look quite a nice natural sandstone colour, but wouldn't give the necessary final white look that we were looking for.
We chipped it all up, and re-laid the screed. This time fortunately, the colour was a lot more even, so we let it harden for about 10 days before anyone was allowed to walk on it - not that the dogs agreed to that though!

6. Planting
Getting the planting right would be most important, in that I wanted to soften all the walls without closing down the space. I installed trellises on the sides to blur the boundaries of the courtyard a little, and in so doing, make it seem slightly bigger than it is.
I had 3 plants in mind from the start - Bamboo, Arum and Maple. These plants all suited the contemporary, slightly oriental feel, that I wanted to create. Alongside these, I planted Bergenia, Imperata Cylindrica (Red Baron Grass), Tulbaghia and Gardenia. I also planted Jasmine (Trachelospermum) to climb the trellis. Both the Gardenia and Jasmine have beautiful scents.
I planted the Maple in 2 pots on either side of the step - this would also help screen the electricity and irrigation boxes in the corner.

I wanted to add some statues into the courtyard, that wouldn't be too overpowering, and would suit the overall feel. I had seen these dog statues, right in the beginning of the project, which I thought would be perfect, showed a photo to my client, and she agreed. We placed these on pedestals on either side looking into the center of the garden.

After a few weeks, my client called to say that she was a bit disappointed that the concrete would go so dark when it was wet (which was most of the time due to the regular rain that we were having). After a bit of investigation, I discovered a sealer that could be applied to the concrete which would prevent this from happening. I was given the go ahead, and we rolled it onto the surface. It did lose some of the brightness, but at least the colour would remain constant regardless of whether the concrete was wet or dry.
A few days later, white patches began forming on the surface after any rain - the company which supplied the sealer were at a loss as to why this would happen, and suggested that I try waterproofing the surface with an epoxy. We took their advice only to find that it still appeared under the surface. It has improved slightly after a few weeks, but is still there.

Apart from one or two hiccups, the finished garden has turned out exactly how I had planned - the water feature wall was painted a burnt red to tie in with the bedrooms colours. This made all the difference in finishing off the garden.

Behind The Scenes

Recently, I went back to visit a garden that I completed about 9 months ago. This garden was a little tricky, in that it was a smallish garden with multiple uses. There were 3 main areas to the garden - a front garden with a pool and high walls, an old concrete driveway, and a grassy back garden with a patio area.

Before Photos

There were a couple of good points, that I felt we could use. There were some existing Eugenia hedges that would do a great job of breaking the height of the walls, but they were being cut too short to really make any impact. A medium-sized Leopard tree stood in the corner, which looked great, but possibly gave too much shade for the amount of traffic that the grass was subjected to. Also, there were some beautiful Icebergs growing around the edges of the grass.

The brief revolved mainly around updating the driveway, and improving the garden in general. The limiting factors were the need for parking and keeping an area for turning vehicles that come out of the garage.

I did some initial sketches with a couple of options to choose from, but my client was justifiably worried about losing too much space for parking and turning the cars. We settled on a comfortable balance between parking and aesthetics.

I kept the planting simple, using at the most 3-4 types of plants to an area, and removing the unwanted plants. I decided to keep the Eugenia hedge as a backdrop, with Duranta "Sheena's Gold" as a lower hedge in front, and then either Felicia, Agapanthus, or Plectranthus in the front.

We replaced the concrete on the driveway with Huguenot cobbles from Smartstone, and then planted Dietes grandiflora with Erigeron in between.

On the blank wall to the side, we attached wire to the wall and planted Trachelospermum (Star Jasmine) to climb up to form diamond shapes. This will make the wall seem less stark, and at the same time, spread the scent of Jasmine into the garden.

The triangle bed between the driveway and patio, was previously a blank grass area. This left the patio area exposed. We moved some of the roses from the shadier north part of the garden into this bed, and then planted Lavender at the back, with Erigeron in front. The wire that can be seen in front of the bed, was to keep Bella the boisterous rottweiler out of the new flower beds. It gives a minor shock when you touch it (I've tested it!). After a couple of times of being shocked, the animals stay out of the bed. At this point you can turn it off, and even remove it, and the animals still won't go back into the beds.

We installed an irrigation system throughout the garden. In the main grassy area, we used pop-ups. In the rest of the beds and along the driveway, because of their awkward shape, we used drip irrigation pipes. This would also keep evaporation to a minimum, and therefore save water. The drawback with these pipes seems to have been their tendency to come apart at the joins, unless the hose clamps are extremely tight.

Nearly a year after planting, I am very happy with the growth. Unfortunately, a caterpillar seems to have gotten into some of the Agapanthus, and eaten them. The hedges still need to fill out a bit, but are looking quite healthy. The drip pipe gives the odd bit of trouble, when the pressure is high. I'm looking forward to visiting this garden 2 years from now, when everything is more fully grown.