Forum home› Problem solving
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

How to create an evergreen arch in pots?

Mariam_86Mariam_86 Posts: 79
edited July 2021 in Problem solving
Hello,

I’d like to create an evergreen arch to place at the top of some garden stairs.

I want to create this for privacy, to add some green to the garden and to detract attention from the large shed at the end of the garden.

I don’t particularly like arches but I thought it might look ok given that it is actually ‘leading’ to somewhere ie the rest of the garden. Any thoughts in this regard are welcome… 

There’s no planting areas on the stairs so I will have to create the arch in pots. 

What plant would you recommend?

I thought about using a privet hedge? I know this will need pruning twice a year but that should be fine. If I used privet, could I create the arch without using a metal support? I’ve seen some hedge arches without metal supports but not sure if they were started off without the supports.

Alternatively I thought about planting ivy (hedera helix?) on a metal arch support.

Photo with proposed arch - it was raining when I took the photo but hopefully the idea is clear.


Posts

  • KeenOnGreenKeenOnGreen Posts: 1,831
    Hi @Mariam_86  This is a very nice idea, and one that we thought of doing, as we have some similar stairs at the heart of our garden, but in practice it would be very difficult to achieve.

    In order to support the weight of an arch, you would need very large planters indeed, and this would be easier if the ground was your base.  On stairs as narrow as yours are, I think you would find it impossible to get pots/troughs big enough.  Any arch, an and the weight of the plants it supports, would need to be very well anchored against strong winds.

    An alternative would be to grow plants on obelisks/trellis in the largest pots that the stairs can hold, and place these on either side of the steps.  You could grow climbers up them, but Privet won't work, as it is not a climber.  You would be better with Ivy, Jasmine or perhaps Clematis.  

    We have tried different plants to give height on our stairs.  Below you can see two Euonymus Bravo standards in pots, although it's an old photo and they are now in the ground.



    Currently, we have two different Ivy's, trained up obelisks (just bamboo canes)


    Tall grasses would be a quick way to get height and movement.  You can see below some Calamagrostis Karl Foerster in pots. they are about 5ft high.


    Hope this helps give you some ideas that might work for you.
  • edhelkaedhelka Posts: 2,351
    It would be very unstable in strong winds. To make it stable, the pots would need to be very heavy, big and tall. 50-60cm diameter a minimum, 60cm tall, stable base (pot not narrowing at all) and the legs of the arch would need to go all the way down to the bottom of the pot. I don't think you have space for that there. Some really good ideas in the post above if you decide to reconsider.
  • Mariam_86Mariam_86 Posts: 79
    edited July 2021
    Thank you @KeenOnGreen for that helpful reply and suggestions. Based on what you and @edhelka advise, it sounds like it’s best to shelve the arch idea… which is a shame but I’m glad I posted it here before pursuing it further.

    I love the way you have used shrubs in your garden, both pots and in the ground. 

    I think I will try using evergreen potted shrubs/standards to give some height and detract from the shed. The potted euonymus are a great suggestion: could they last permanently in pots? I would expect they could since I understand they have a shallow root system but I am unsure.

    Do you have any other suggestions for evergreen shrubs /standards that could grow in pots? Would bay trees work? 

    The stairs themselves do not have enough depth to hold large pots but I could potentially fit two largish troughs or pots on the top of the stairs. Though I think anything larger than 40cm width may look a little odd.


  • Blue OnionBlue Onion Posts: 2,995
    You can make some pots from wood that would fit over two or three steps.. the top would be level, but the bottom would be staggered to fit each step.. if that makes sense.  
    Utah, USA.
  • KeenOnGreenKeenOnGreen Posts: 1,831
    @Mariam_86  I tend to find that smaller leaved evergreens are better for pots and troughs, as they look neater when trimmed (which you have to do more frequently with shrubs in pots, as you need to limit their size a bit more).  

    Other shrubs to consider are Pittosporums, but be aware they are not hardy in all of the UK.  There is a particularly compact variety called P. Golf Ball.

    Lonicera nitida (there is a lovely compact version call Maigrun), looks very similar to Box , can be pruned to very precise shapes.

    Euonymus are good in pots, but I find they grow a bit too vigorously, and the leaves are quite large.  The exception is Euonymus Green Spire, which is a small, columnar variety, and it looks very much like Box, and can be pruned similarly to shape.

    We do grow Privet (the variegated variety) in a trough, which works well, but I think Privet would generally be too vigorous for smaller pots.

    Ilex (Japanese Holly), Abelia, Choisya, there are many others shrubs that could be grown in pots, the larger the pot the better.
  • Mariam_86Mariam_86 Posts: 79
    Blue Onion said:
    You can make some pots from wood that would fit over two or three steps.. the top would be level, but the bottom would be staggered to fit each step.. if that makes sense.  
    It makes sense. Thanks for the suggestion. But don’t think this will solve the issue since the size of the pot (from wood or otherwise) will still be determined by the size/depth of the steps which are not very big.
  • Mariam_86Mariam_86 Posts: 79
    Thanks for all these suggestions @KeenOnGreen.

    I came across quite a few in the GC today (Pittosporum Golf Ball is particularly nice). I’ll be choosing some suitable ones soon. 

    I think I may also try and grow an evergreen climber up the shed eg Star Jasmine, so the shed blends in more and has less dominance in the garden.
Sign In or Register to comment.