Ideas please for bare wall
Lizzie27
Posts: 12,494
I've just cut all the ivy off this wall as it was taking over and climbing into the cherry trees.
These are in our back garden, which is on a upwards slope, faces south (cherries face east) heavy poor quality clay soil. There are five of these left, about 30 cms apart (originally there were 12!). 2nd from left is dead anyway. The cherries are prunus cerasifera, the purple leafed one (max height abt 8m). OH prunes them down to about 5m each year. They are in front of the neighbours garage (on higher ground) which has a path between it and the wall (not used much at present)
The retaining wall is a very unlovely breeze block one (we covered the rest of it to the left with trellis panels and climbing plants). Short wall is 98 cm h x 1.42 m w, tall wall is 1.37 m h x 1.37 m w (3ft x 4ft 9) and 4ft 6 h x 4ft 7 w in old money!).
I'd quite like all 5 removed on the grounds the roots are sucking moisture from surrounding soil, they're quite dark in the summer and I don't really want the bother of continually cutting them down and disposing of debris as we're getting older. OH isn't keen on removal - probably because he'd have to do all the work!
Opposite however, there is an enormous 50 year old Norwegian Maple (not ours), probably 50-60ft high. My query is, do the cherry trees offset the big Maple from a design point of view and would the garden look lopsided if we took them out?
I'm thinking I could perhaps grow Euronymus fortunei 'Emerald Gaiety' up the walls to hide them and possibly another rose.
Any ideas? What would you do?
Posts
..Hi Lizzie.... I wouldn't put one in a pot... nothing but hard work and maintenance.. you would be watering it every day and will soon need attention... by the time you've prepared a pot, compost and all, you could have dug a nice hole ready for a rose, and if you get the right sort, it could look after itself mostly...
..that's if you want to go down that route.. age often dictates and we're not getting any younger...
I'm not a landscaper, so not the best person to advise on that subject, but if you want to keep the trees, and they do offer a richness of colour, looks purple to me..?, then I would be able to manipulate a planting hole there, in between, and train a vigorous rose [thorns are preferred for this purpose], right and left to scramble through those trunks, up to at least the lower levels of the branch framework... I wouldn't see that as too much of a problem, and not much maintenance, as once planted and some training of the canes to where you want them to go, they will hook on to the trunk branches and just get on with it.. I wouldn't even bother worrying too much about pruning, shaping or feeding either. You don't need to do that with roses grown up trees.. once every few years you could have a clear out of old growth..
To go with the colour of those trees, I think the yellow repeat flowering rambler Malvern Hills would do for this purpose.. there are others but I just think that colour would complement what you have.. it throws out long flexible canes, with sufficient thorns to grab and cling.. good plentiful and healthy foliage... an alternative repeater and one I like very much is 'Phyllis Bide'..
I would dig a hole just to the right of what looks like short stumpy dead trunks I can see in your first photo, that's the one I'm going on.. about there, near the corner..
But if you prefer a pot, then choice is yours.. but they do need work to keep going, to look good every year...
'Phyllis Bide'...
Roses that I have that I think would do the job are Malvern Hills, Kew Rambler and Felicité Perpetué.
I hadn't thought of rambler roses and like the colours of Phyllis Bide more than Malvern Hills (pretty though that is) as they would go better with my nearby Penelope rose (to the left and out of sight in the 1st photo). I'll have a look at the others as well.
However, I'm rather worried though that rambler roses might be too much maintenance in the future which I'm keen to cut down on in my old age! I'm afraid also it might overhang the fence into our neighbours property which would be undesirable. I think I only want something the height of the wall, which is why I was thinking of a potted rose but again I'm hesitant, as Marlorena pointed out quite rightly, would require lots of maintenance. I could always try a potted rose as a temporary measure, I suppose.
I think I'll ask our landscaper to cut down every other tree at least to give me more space in between and give it lots more thought.
...sorry Lizzie, I totally misunderstood,.. I thought you wanted a rambling rose there..
ok.. for the wall I like your idea of the Euonymous... I used to have one of those, photo below.. in my windy area I did have to tie it as the tentacles were not strong enough to grasp the wall.. I grew it between roses [well I would]..
I think this is Emerald n' Gaiety, not sure..
...rose in the way..
...do you like Ivy?..
some nice variegated ones... I've had Hedera helix 'Goldheart' which has gorgeous tiny foliage, and clings really well.. I've also grown the larger Hedera colchica 'Dentata Variegata'... large growing, big leaves.. but easily controlled..
..just some ideas... or if you do want a rose in a pot, most of David Austin's do reasonably well in shadier sites.. avoid Hybrid Teas...
@Marlorena - I really like your euronymus with that rose, I might well go with that combo as I've several small plants already waiting for a home. I think they might tolerate the very poor soil rather more than the roses. Thanks for posting those pics.
@Blue Onion, thanks for that suggestion. Unfortunately Echinacea don't like it here!