I have a small retaining wall, about 15 inches high, running alongside my driveway. One the other side (the side that’s not driveway) is a large tree, and because of the roots of said tree it’s hard to get anything to grow.
The retainint wall was painted white, a long time ago, otherwise concrete, and it’s really ugly.
I am envisioning something green that I can plant on one side and it will eventually, hopefully pretty quickly, grow long enough to spill over the side and hang down.
It could be leafy (ivy?) or grassy, as long as it will spill over the side and hang down. It’s under a tree so it’s in partial shade most of the day, but gets about 3 hours of full sun at midday. Low water requirement would be better (I’m in Denver). Also a plus if I don’t have to replant it every year.
Any suggestions? Any good places to go for ideas? Thanks in advance.
I would suggest one of the varieties of rosemary that are reclining…most forms grow into upright shrubs, but if you look around you should be able to find the right form.
Rosemary is really tough. Pretty low water requirements, will tolerate poor soils heat…don’t know where you garden, so be sure to check the temperature range.
For a similar situation where I once lived, I planted Thorndale Ivy. I planted a relatively small number of plants, but within two years it had spread nicely.
For a situation like that, beside a driveway and in low water conditions, I might go with something like a spreading juniper. As you can tell from the name, Juniperus horizontalis, this juniper grows out, not up. It is truly a no-maintenance plant, and will cover the ugly year round. My only concern would be if it would get enough sun there, but junipers are pretty adaptable, and three hours of midday sun would probably be enough.
I wonder if you can sort of make beds along the wall for the spreading plants - get into the soil and loosen it up, add some topsoil and peat, give the plants you want to plant some breathing room. I’m going to start working on my new yard this spring, and my first step will be conditioning my beds - everything works better with good beds.
I like the idea of painting the wall first, then planting over it to get a really nice contrast. Hey, if you wanted to get real fancy, paint a stone pattern on it, then have cascading plants over it - that would look awesome!
ETA: That ivy is really nice, too. How about three or four junipers, and ivy between them?
Okay, I really like the juniper, but isn’t juniper kind of slow?
The ivy is really nice, too.
I had thought about painting faux rocks on the wall (in fact I had thought about glueing actual rocks onto it–we have lots of rocks), but I’m kind of lazy!
My husband would like to knock this wall down, but I think then we’d have to cut down the tree.
One problem is that, because of the tree roots, I can’t get very deep into the soil. I can add about an inch of compost/topsoil, and there’s a small gap where the tree roots are pushing the wall out of plumb (which is why he wants to take it down). Un-amended, the soil is pretty much clay.
Well, juniper is a shrub rather than a perennial, so it does take a little longer, but you get such nice results with junipers - we had one in our front yard that was absolutely gorgeous; big and bushy and emerald green year round.
Not having any room amongst the roots and having really clay-ey soil is a bit worrisome, though. Do you think you’d have enough room for a few perennials like the ivy?
Some other options - virginia creeper or creeping jenny. That’s the fall colour of the virginia creeper in the picture - it goes flaming red in fall. Creeping jenny isn’t technically evergreen, I don’t believe, but it does stay green a very long time.
well you have the worst of all possible locations in mind. little to no soil, dry cause its under a tree and fairly low light. I wouldnt try to grow anything in the soil, If I really really want something there maybe containers built along the top and wave petunias or vines. here is a site for denver plants http://www.denverplants.com, might be idea’s there.
well crap cat already said the container bit! anyway sounds like a bad spot to do anything
