Wall Plants for Every Aspect May 2015

Berberidopsis corallina A beautiful Chilean Wall plants evergreen plant, rare and possibly extinct in the wild. Although for every aspect described as a climber, it’s more an enthusiastic Garden writer Helen Dillon selects some of her scrambler, which, over 30 years in my garden, favourite plants from her walled garden in Dublin has managed to weave itself into nearby plants, six metres along the wall Itea ilicifolia ne glance at a bare wall romping everywhere (should before planting something and you get clues as to where to in both directions. It has Glossy evergreen leaves Augustine Henry, who and we immediately think you be so lucky) or nearly dead. recommended below. plant something just by finding clusters of bright-red, and luminous lime-green discovered it in China Oabout climbers. However, You may have an ugly cement ‘Right plant, right place’ may out where it comes from. dangling flowers in late tassels of flower in August, in 1886, and who used the foot of a warm wall is also a wall that needs to be covered have been said so often that we And it’s not just walls and summer, and has never with a heavenly evening to live next door to my precious place for tender plants – with ivy, a hedge of yew, beech don’t think about it much. But for fences. Obelisks, pergolas, arches been such a nuisance that scent that carries on the home in Dublin. Although shrubs, small trees and bulbs that or hornbeam or, in mild gardens, me, ‘which aspect?’ is the most and even eyesores such as the I’ve had to cut it back. air and lasts until morning. recommended for full sun, fail to thrive elsewhere in the Trachelospermum jasminoides important question to ask yourself garden shed are opportunities for Height x spread: 5 x 5m I’ve grown this beside it flourishes here in shade. garden. An example is Romneya ‘Variegatum’. Or you might like when deciding where to position accommodating some interesting Soil: acid to neutral, a north-facing wall for 20 Height x spread: 4 x 3m coulteri, a dream of a plant, which to clothe the wall in wooden a plant. Even a small garden and beautiful plants. We highlight preferably moist years or more in honour of Soil: well drained has two modes of existence: trellis first, to disguise it, contains various different climates, some of them below. Euonymus fortunei Camellia japonica ‘Lavinia Maggi’ ‘Silver Queen’ Even without acidic soil, It could also be worth A reliable, slow-growing plant, which camellias are so happy building a 60cm-high North-facing Hydrangea can make the gloomiest day seem on northern aspects that raised bed filled with A north-facing aspect could be anomala cheerful with its brightly variegated they are worth growing in ericaceous compost to anything from a 1.5m wall, which green-and-white leaves. It’s excellent on a large pot of ericaceous further increase your would get considerable sun in subsp. a shady wall (and withstands windswept compost. With an options, if you don’t like summer (particularly for climbers petiolaris coastal conditions to boot). It can be unbroken chain of regular the idea of growing it in draping themselves over the This is your classic a favourite of vine weevil beetles, which waterings (you practically a pot. Underplant with top), to a three-storey building self-clinging climber like to nibble its leaves, but the beetle’s have to be married to wood anemones. in total shade all year. Excellent for shade, which can bites are camouflaged by the variegated your camellia), it will Height x spread: 3 x 2m conditions for woodland plants, be unsettlingly slow foliage. Grown here up the railings of thrive for many years. Soil: acidic though it can be very dry directly to get going, and may the front steps, it looks very pretty with under the wall in summer. even be reluctant to blue Clematis alpina ‘Frances Rivis’ attach itself to the wall rambling through it. at first. What really Height x spread: 2.5 x 1.5m Daphne bholua pays off is thorough Soil: any fertile soil If the front of your house faces preparation of the north, this Himalayan shrub soil, with copious is irreplaceable – beside your helpings of well-rotted front door to greet you on manure and compost a winter’s day with its highly before planting, fragrant, deep-pink or white followed by regular flowers. You don’t have to have drenchings of liquid the sometimes hard-to-find fertiliser. In a few cultivar ‘Jacqueline Postill’, as years it will whizz any Daphne bholua is priceless. up the wall covered Depending on the altitude in creamy flowers. they come from, they can be Height x spread: evergreen or almost deciduous. 12 x 12m Underplant with Cyclamen coum. Soil: fertile, Height x spread: 2.5 x 1.5m well drained Soil: acidic to neutral 46 | May 2015 which.co.uk/gardening which.co.uk/gardening May 2015 | 47 Wall plants East-facing West-facing In spring, early in the morning, thus damaging the buds. But A west-facing aspect is in plots facing south, and this aspect could allow sun rays it’s considered excellent for the most gentle. Plants it’s a good position for to reach frozen buds on plants roses because early sun dries and people enjoy the woodland plants in drier such as camellias, so you get off the dew quickly, therefore Rosa long summer evenings it gardens, as shrubs with a kind of burst-radiator effect, discouraging fungus diseases. xanthina provides, the soil doesn’t vulnerable buds won’t ‘Canary Bird’ dry out too fast, as it might suffer from frost. This tall, graceful rose is usually in bloom by early April, with single yellow flowers and especially delicate foliage, on which I’ve never seen a hint of pest or disease. Easily trained, it doesn’t Trachelospermum jasminoides matter whether or not ‘Variegatum’ you prune it, except Out of my five different mauritanicus. If you had a if you may want to varieties of Trachelospermum mild garden and an unsightly remove weak twiggy jasminoides, this 40-year-old cement-block wall, this would bits occasionally. I love variegated form, with pale make ideal cover. I do have this rose. Furthermore, green-and-cream leaves to get a tall ladder to unpick I reckon it would do flushed with pink, was the the twining stems from my on every aspect as it’s Ribes speciosum only one to survive winter gutters, though. such an obliging plant. This is the grandest of all superb burglar deterrent and 2010/2011, growing on Height x spread: 4 x 8m Height x spread: flowering currants, remarkably a safe hiding place from cats for an east wall underplanted Soil: very well drained, 2.5 x 2.5m similar to a fuchsia, with glossy birds. Here it grows in a west- with blue Convolvulus preferably neutral Soil: humus-rich, dry leaves that drop during summer facing corner in part shade and when dry (but quickly recover), needs no watering, spraying, and shining-red pendulous pruning or feeding. Buddleja agathosma blooms in late winter and spring. Height x spread: 2 x 2m Argyrocytisus Small violet flowers in March are Viciously thorny, it’s both a Soil: any well-drained soil battandieri followed by soft, velvet-like silver The pineapple broom, leaves, which become increasingly a large shrub or small handsome and irresistible to touch tree from Morocco, likes as summer goes on. Pruning hard Solanum crispum shelter but seems hardier every year, just leaving most of ‘Glasnevin’ than previously thought. the main stems, keeps it within Named after the Botanical It has fruity-scented bounds. Mine makes a lively Gardens in Dublin, this is flowers and silky, silvery contrast with a red-brick wall, a much heftier plant than leaves. It’s great for a large specimen of Beschorneria Solanum laxum ‘Album’. It breaking the line of yuccoides sheltering beneath, and has terrific purple-blue flowers Solanum laxum ‘Album’ a wall by introducing a small white species clematis with bright-yellow middles in Ceanothus ‘Puget Blue’ I never tire of this plant. It seems to fit something tall and wandering up through it. early summer. The stems are The especially deep-blue flowers in in everywhere, it’s in flower for months tree-like, but very Height x spread: 3 x 3m easily trained, and you can still early summer from this Californian shrub on a sunny wall, and it’s a wonderful see-through, casting Soil: any well-drained soil have a wonderful show even (more suitable for smaller gardens than mixer with nearby plants. In cold little shade and giving a if you’ve pruned it quite hard some others) make this well worth seeking gardens, don’t prune until late spring, lovely, light effect. Older (this should be done after out at the garden centre. You can give as the old stems protect the lower wood should be reduced flowering). Consider that all it a clip after flowering, but don’t cut hard ones. If you want a light, easy, non- regularly. It’s popular solanums are poisonous. Easy because ceanothus won’t regenerate from thuggish climber, there’s no better with snails. Underplant to grow from cuttings made old wood. They can be short-lived, so don’t plant. Also look out for the original with pink nerines. in summer to early autumn. be upset if it dies after eight years or so. species, S. laxum, in delicate pale blue.

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