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Patio Planting

DFWDFW Posts: 27
in Garden design
All,

I have added a small border around my patio which I intend to plant some climbers into. Now I know they're not wide (before anybody states the obvious), BUT they are deep and all I intend to do on the right hand side is plant a couple of jasmine and let them climb up the trellis.  Against the house of the wall I simply intend to play some Portugese laurel and let them reach the height of the garden wall before keeping them in check.

My challenge/question is....what should I put in the corner?  The area dosn't look big in the picture, but I can tell you it's very deep and it took a hell of a lot of soil to fill it!
I was thinking of a Japanese Shania Acer as it's relatively upright and will add some colour to procedings, but what do you think?  Any alternative suggestions?

Whatever I plant will be very well looked after so they'll get the best chance to thrive, but am really interested to get your expert opinions.  The wall with the Trellis is south facing and gets the sun from when it rises to around 1pm.  The house wall faces east and just get the early morning sun.

Look forward to hearing from you all.



Posts

  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    Hi, DFW. I'm not an expert but my comment will move your question back up to the top! My worry is that you have not taken account of the fact that roots don't just go down, they run along just under the surface, too, so they need open earth around the stem. When you plant against a wall, you usually leave a gap of between around 18 to 30 inches between the plant and the wall and train shoots towards the wall. Also, even an upright tree will need space behind to spread its branches and for air to circulate. So, see what others say, but if that were my garden, I would concentrate on containers and put smaller annuals in the borders.
  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    They will be in the rain shadow so just make sure that you keep them watered until they are well established and an eye in them in very dry periods.
    If you are planting a couple of jasmines they will soon cover the area including the corner if allowed. 
    I wouldn’t use a tree because of possible damage to your patio and walls from the roots. Tree roots will spread as wide as the mature canopy and do not all go deep.

    Some tall ornamental grasses might cope better with the restrictions, maybe something like miscanthus. These givea long g period of interest and would contrast with your evergreens.

    But on a practical note have you got enough room to actually plant against the house wall and fence as I’m assuming your patio edge has footings? I only ask because these often project out a good 15-20cm so your rootballs might need to be quite small. Just something to bear in mind when buying your plants.
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
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