A vertical garden is a fantastic way to bring the natural world into your home, especially if you are trying to maximise a small outdoor space. They’re relatively easy to maintain, water-wise, and can offer you a creative outlet for your garden ideas.
Already have a vertical garden but feel a bit bored with the look and feel, or feel it needs a complete overhaul?
Consider these 5 tips for revitalising your vertical garden, making it a stunning feature that will delight you every time you look at it:
1. Introduce new elements
Maybe your vertical garden isn’t that bad or untended. Maybe you’re just bored with the design or the plants. Then it’s time to shake things up a bit. Keep the basic structure of the garden in place but add to it – new plants or seasonal flowering plants can change the look and feel almost instantly. Or try garden ornaments or small pieces of art that will catch the viewer’s eye. You can go even further by introducing furniture into the structure, allowing the plants to spread from their vertical base on to an old chair, table, or wooden picture frame that eventually becomes part of the vertical garden. In no time, you’ll have a unique and interesting feature.
2. Make it about food:
Your vertical garden doesn’t have to be purely decorative or just about flowering plants. You can turn it into a vegetable garden or introduce edible herbs such as thyme and vine fruits such as strawberries. This will ensure that the garden is both attractive and functional. There’s nothing better than fresh food straight from your own backyard!
3. Go local:
Using indigenous plants and succulents has become an established trend in SA gardening. Not only is local ‘lekker’, using indigenous plants is cost-effective, water-wise, and low maintenance. Indigenous plants look stunning and they attract a wide variety of bird and butterfly life, a wonderful addition to any garden.
4. Change direction:
Who says a vertical garden has to be built from the ground up? Take the plants you have in your current vertical structure and hang them from an atrium ceiling or high branches so that they hang above the ground (and are free to sway). A hanging vertical garden saves even more space than one that sits on the ground and can have a stunning visual impact.
5. Start again:
Sometimes an overhaul is needed. Has your vertical garden been neglected or damaged by harsh weather? Are the pots cracked or the gutters you’ve been using looking shabby? It might be time to think about starting again. Taking what is left of your vertical garden down and replacing it might seem like a challenge but it can also be fun – a chance to try out all those creative ideas you’ve seen online. You could replace your trellis with a repurposed pallet, your pots with recycled bottles or your plants with different, more appropriate options. Or simply paint or move the structure. The possibilities are endless!
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