The article will talk about what is vertical gardening, why it is useful, what functions in the garden performs, with the help of what structures it can be formed on the plot, what plants to choose for this. Designers share useful tips, photos and videos clearly demonstrate the versatility of the described element of landscape design.
What is useful for vertical gardening
The described method – the most popular element of landscape design. With its help today you can solve several problems at once: disguise ugly walls on the site, highlight a certain functional area, place the right accents in the implementation of the chosen stylistic concept.
Especially good works vertical gardening where there is little space for the organization of a full garden. Planted along the steep surfaces greenery simultaneously decorate, protect from overheating and keep away from street noise, will give a cool in a hot time. Lush growing climbing plants always look very beautiful, so vertical gardening in landscape design as a decorative element is used very often.
With it experienced craftsmen create hedges, green backgrounds and walls of flowers. They separate individual parts of the landscape from each other, form an additional protection of the garden from wind, dust and sun.
Different ways of vertical gardening and structures for its formation
In order to make a steep green wall, it is necessary to first think through and install a support, on which the climbing plants will be held. For the designated purposes, you can use different structural elements. The most popular are the following elements.
Pergolas
In classic form, they consist of four supporting poles. On top of them is supported by an open grid. When making such a construction for vertical landscaping, preference is usually given to wood. This is a very warm material, it fits well in different stylistic concepts, its texture combines well with the leaves and trunks of climbing plants.
Using pergolas designers combine different parts of the decorative garden, decorate the front door to the house, disguise unsightly buildings, creating shady corners, which then organized a cozy sitting area. The minimum height of a pergola is 250 cm, the width of the structure must be necessarily greater than the height. Otherwise, the overall element of the decor will not look very organic. Plant plants only at one support or two, the rest should remain free. Then the decor used will look easy. Transparency is the main sign of proper decoration.
Rope tensioning
It has two supporting elements, they are dug into the ground or concreted, between the supports is stretched wire, string ropes or chains. Underneath the tension, a climbing rose or maiden vine is planted. One bush grows to three, three and a half meters in a year, both plants are highly creeping, they can independently attach to any surface (even glass). Over time, the plants grow well and in some places completely cover the support grid. This creates a very interesting green composition, through which the rays of the sun shine through. Due to this, it looks very light, airy and elegant. You can see such elements of decoration in Bagatelle Gardens (Paris) and Regent’s Park (London).
Metal trellis
This is a type of rope stretching. It is used to hide unsightly boundaries of the adjacent territory, to separate functional areas. It can be attached directly to the fence, to a steep wall. With the help of a metal lattice you can connect the neighboring supports of the pergola. Along them, vines are planted, which, growing, allow to form a continuous green barrier.
Natural hedge
The basis for its creation is a fence or screen. Climbing vines (Ivy, wild grapes) can be trailed along it. The result is a solid green wall, which helps to hide the site from prying eyes, contain street dust and not allow it to penetrate deep into the territory of the yard.
Arch
In landscape design, this element is represented as a slab connecting the upper points of two supports. It can be made with different materials, create from stone and concrete, brick and wood. Using arches, designers often connect two parts of the garden, form a transition from one area to another.
The place for the installation of the arch is chosen with special care. It looks beautiful if something spacious or unusual (a lake, a pond, a fountain, a lush flowering bush) opens behind it. The height of the arch is determined by the following criteria: a man passing through it, should not touch the upper arch with his head, plants, twining the arch, should not their shoots cling to his clothes and hair.
There are techniques that help visually change the perception of the area. If you set a few arches at an equal distance from each other, border them straight path, going into the depth of the yard, the site will visually seem much longer. Near the arches it is better to plant honeysuckle, morning glory or clematis. Clematis has large bright flowers that bloom from late spring to fall. The plant does not require special care, it does not need to be trimmed. It is able to “conquer” any space on the site, but when planting it, it is necessary to remember that this clematis is sure to be the king of the garden.
Suspended containers
To create them, containers of different shapes, different sizes are used. They are suspended from mounts with chains or ropes, filled with soil, in which mineral fertilizers have been premixed. For planting, choose plants that can easily withstand heat and drought, to be wind-resistant. All of these qualities have petunias.
Flower containers
They are used where there is no possibility to organize conventional flower beds. Often, this method is decorated with outdoor terraces, the front entrance to the house, creating mini compositions that complement the robusta or mixborders, linking the floral design into a single whole. This creates a migratory landscaping, which helps to make a change of scenery, if necessary.
Flower containers used to create vertical landscaping create the impression of a dynamic garden. If owners want to decorate a corner of the garden in a special way when guests arrive, they can take the containers with flowers and hang them over a pergola. Such a technique helps to quickly decorate the most hopeless corner of the dacha. The pots themselves play a style-making role. This is the element of decor, with which you can easily emphasize the chosen thematic concept or support it by filling in the empty spaces.
Choosing the right plants
To create vertical landscaping designers like to use annuals and perennials. For the end result could please, it is necessary when choosing flowers, shrubs and lianas to adhere to general rules:
- Before you create a composition, you need to clearly imagine in your head how the finished picture will look like. This will help to understand where and what plants to plant, how to make the formed composition looked harmoniously.
- It is important to correctly select the flowers, to use the most successful options for the neighborhood in terms of the timing of flowering and the color scheme itself. It is necessary to understand that it is useful to use some plants to create arches, and others to decorate the pergola.
- To create a vertical, you need a support, its shape and variety should fit perfectly into the chosen stylistic concept.
It is useful to plant plants taking into account the sides of the world. For example, on the northern side, camellia and ivy, chubushnik and capuchin feel well. On the west side, it is better to plant magnolia large-flowered and wisteria, cannabis and Californian carpenteria. On the south side and on the east warmest side are excellent climbing roses, honeysuckle, pyracantha, hydrangea and Chinese lemongrass. Lemongrass is not only an ornamental plant. If you brew its berries or seeds, you get a very useful tonic drink.
Three rules of vertical gardening
From all of the above, it can be seen that vertical gardening is the most affordable and effective way to carry out the improvement of the adjacent territory. In order to do everything correctly, it is necessary to adhere to the following recommendations.
It is important to clearly formulate and imagine the final goal. Visualize expectations helps schematic drawing. If you do everything chaotically, very soon the site will be covered with thick, green, but not controlled vegetation, which will try to survive other plants. To prevent this, you need a clear understanding of what, where and how to plant.
It is important to choose the right plants. The choice depends on the specific tasks set: to create a hedge you need to choose some plants, to form a vertical screen others. In the first case, you need something that gives lush greenery, in the second – flowers of extraordinary beauty.
It is recommended to clearly observe the technology of creating vertical landscaping. It is very simple: plants are planted as close as possible to the supports, at the initial stage are suspended from them on ropes, and then they need to help properly wind fences, arches, pergolas. As they grow, experts recommend pruning the shoots, cutting off excess leaves. Only a human hand is able to give the structure the right outline and make the element of decor look neat and attractive.