Things Learned This Year

So now as the season is closing I want to share some of the things that I learned this year about The Vertical Garden. You may ask, what else could be learned about vertical gardening? Didn't you do the same as you did last year? Actually, no! We tried many new plants and designs this year and that is what I would like to focus on.

PLANTS:

Some of the new plants we tried were:

(* indicates it was a real winner!)

Nemesia

Kale, Red Chidori- Beautiful color! Goes to seed quicker than Redbor.

Impatiens*- This really turned out nicely. Nice and Compact.

Creeping Charlie*- Splended display! We chose the variegated and planted it on the end.

Bacopa*- beautiful! Really filled out with gorgeous color!

Mauve Thyme*- very compact and colorful

Bidens- Tended to be leggy and not very compact.

A few facts we learned:

1: When you are planting Pansies or Violas you need to be aware of what is planted directly above them. If it is something that will shade them you will end up with extremely leggy pansies.

2: Apply Slug Bait frequently! The slugs can be your worst enemy. Although we didn't have any issues the first year, this year we found they made their dwelling behind the typar, making our lovely plants their dinner!

3: Whatever you plant in the top of the wall must be draught tolerant. I have discovered that Nasturtium are very thirsty plants and while we consistently watered through the top of the wall we still ended up with very puny Nasturtium.

4: Sweet Peas are not the #1 choice for the arch. They are very prone to Powdery Mildew and don't keep their "prettiness" very long. I am hoping to research another option for our arch.

5: It's important to constantly check that plants are not shading their neighbors unnecessarily.

I am sure I will think of other learned concepts but this is what I have for now. Questions? Comments? Let me know.

(Photos courtesy of covegirl79.blogspot.com , Carolyn Pivarnik)