Garden bloggers design workshop-walls and fences

Starting with a close up of the concrete block of which the main wall is composed. Each of these blocks weigh eighty pounds. It was professionally built, by a man called ‘dead eye’. He could tell if something was level with uncanny accuracy. He had large, muscular helpers to carry and cut the blocks. They were artists.

A ‘money shot’, this is to show a close look at the concrete wall behind the main house. It is a workhorse of a wall, holding back a major amount of earth as this area is a very steep slope. The photos below will show you what I am talking about. You have to be a mountain goat to garden here. The flowers are hyacinth Jan Bos with blue violas.

A narrow space under the garage deck with a wall of smaller concrete block. Now it is planted with astilbe below and a row of japanese painted fern above. These walls are home to large numbers of voles who eat or dislodge most plantings. These plants are surviving this treatment for now.
Another close look at the main wall with a homemade trough with erica westwood yellow and a mini heuchera surrounded by moss.
This fence corner is overwintering a myrtis communis, bronzed up for the winter but green later. In front is a hydrangea mariesii, hoping for bloom next year, zapped this year by late frost.
Long shot of the split rail fence in the area called the knot garden. There is a chain link fence behind the tea olive hedge behind the fence I am trying to cover up.

This shows the wall with fence at the end and the gravel in between. Yellow pear tomatoes self sow each year inside the wire cage at the right. I like to have all my containers here to give them the care they deserve.
Professionally installed rock wall and stone facing on the foundation at the front of the house. Raised beds have great drainage and your own chosen soil composition. Lots of sand is in here because it was left over from the masonry work. This bed is filled with bulbs; daffodils, tulips, fall crocus and asiatic lilies. I can sit on the edge and weed and plants and prune. A great spot.
This counts as a wall too doesn’t it? The deck is less than a foot off the ground but animals could still get under there. This was a DIY project that gave us new respect for the stone masons that did the rock on the front of the house. It’s not easy to get that mortaring right.

The concrete block wall makes a lovely backdrop for all the containers. In the winter the moss is greener. It provides a warmer environment for plants and is easy access to water and tend things because the distance from house to wall is only nine feet.

This rose is the rootstock of an Iceburg rose that bit the dust. It has been moved several times and is presently in the shade of some dogwood seedlings that are now fifteen feet high. The rose has stretched to get to the light. It is by the central air unit at the side of the house and is seldom seen or it would have been upgraded some time ago. It may still after looking at this photo.

The split rail fence was originally placed to keep a row of zebra grass from flopping over when blooming. It was so much work cutting down the grass in late winter that it was replaced with the osmanthus fragrans, Russian Tea Olive, in background. The tree peony in bud is protected and showcased with the wood fence and evergreen background.

These pictures are sort of not in a rational order. Sorry for that. I am still working on this type of composition thing. It will get better as more posts are published I hope.

Frances

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