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How to disguise a wall of clay?

Skylark001Skylark001 Posts: 75
in Plants
Beside our garage there's a wall of clay, south-facing.  (Previous owners took a slice out of the hillside to create space for the garage.)

We're 292 metres above sea-level on the Herefordshire/Welsh border, and so I counted on two well-rooted hardy ivies (Hedera colchica - Sulphur Heart) taking off this spring to cover the whole wall within a few years - to make it look attractive and to protect it from erosion.  I managed this easily at our previous house at a much lower altitude.

BUT each time the ivies produce a small new leaf (about 6" up the wall) the new leaves are eaten by slugs, and the ivies just can't get started.  Slug pellets haven't worked because these slugs can apparently scale a vertical surface and I can't pin pellets to the wall.

So for the moment I've placed three deciduous saplings in front of the wall, but I need a permanent solution.

As shown by its colour, the wall is mainly clay, shot through with bits of stone typical of this region. 

What would people recommend I grow in front of this wall, or even on this wall?  (Hopefully something evergreen.)




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Posts

  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    How about planting Ivies at the top and letting them trail down.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,630
    I'd put some wood structure in front of it - logs or planks, make a little bed at the bottom or large pot(s), and plant something like standard honeysuckle, and leave it for miner bees to burrow into. 😊
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I too would think it would need retaining.

     But I like the wall as is. Mining Bees etc will appreciate it, I should think. 
  • Chris-P-BaconChris-P-Bacon Posts: 943
    wild edges said:
    I'd be more worried about what will happen when that clay decides it doesn't want to be vertical anymore :/
    Quite..the first thing I'd want is a slope stability analysis. I'm surprised nobody has advised you of the potential of instability.

  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,630
    Well now.. our garden is a bit quirky in the way it was built (80s) - you have to come down steps from the side, but it was split originally  - with a 3ft high clay filled wall I presume. The wall is long gone and it's been a flower bed for about 20 years.. 3 years ago I took out the rotten log wall off the side and started to remove it (until I discovered the bees in there!) to build some steps - despite all that, and as I wasn't able to quite finish the wooden steps, the side is open and keeping itself perfectly vertical, even with a long piece of concrete embedded in the top. I also carved a wedge out the bottom of it, and it hasn't budged. So it could be there for a long time yet! 
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I wouldn't fancy planting anything there without getting some kind of retaining wall/structure to hold that up. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I totally agree with those who are concerned about the stability of that bank. 

    It won’t take many heavy rains to begin to seriously erode that clay and once that happens the weight of the soil behind it will begin to push at it. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ManderMander Posts: 349
    Just adding another voice to the "get that checked by a qualified person ASAP" chorus. 

    It looks like a great spot for a stone retaining wall though.
  • RedwingRedwing Posts: 1,511
    Slow-worm said:
    I'd put some wood structure in front of it - logs or planks, make a little bed at the bottom or large pot(s), and plant something like standard honeysuckle, and leave it for miner bees to burrow into. 😊
    I like that idea,  stack of logs against the clay bank and you could plant in the gaps.  Gradually the logs would rot away but it would take years.
    Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
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