Plant recommendations for Vertical Garden project

[Frusc]

Bit of a gardening novice and could do with some advice on a vertical wall garden I'm creating.

I spotted the following pots on clearance for £3 at Homebase and have perhaps gone a little overboard

https://whitesgroup.com.au/garden-up...r-details.html





I took one into our local Garden centre and was advised drainage and watering may be an issue. So based on that i've started adding an irrigation system, which you can see on one of the pictures.



For Drainage I'm thinking (may be going overboard):

1) Drill 4 extra holes in the bottom of the pots.
2) Superglue geotextile (I have some left over from drive way) over the holes to prevent soil leakage.
3) Add around 1-2cm of gravel to the base of the pots to provide a drainage resevoir
4) Another layer of Geotextile to prevent soil getting into the drainage layer
5) Add some Westland water saving gel to the soil to provide reservoir for the plants whilst preventing soil from becoming waterlogged.

In terms of planting y wife really likes the idea of herbs/etc. We visited our Garden Centre and she picked out (haven't bought yet):

1) Ajuga Catlins Giant
2) Lithodora
3) Rosmarinus officianalis prostratus
4) Seneco "Angel Wings" - probably not suitable for these pots, but would love something similar
5) Thymus Serpillum
6) Heuchera Carnival Electra
7) Hebe Magic Summer
8) Lavender

Please be gentle if these are bad choices and not suitable for this type of pot/installation We took a pot in with us and and asked what would be viable to plant in them and then shortlisted what we liked. With a mixture of upright plants for the centres and those that will cascade down for the edges. The idea being to mask the actually planters as much as possible (I sprayed them to match the wall as closely as possible to help).

We have a beautiful red mini acer which looks stunning against the blue walls. So any suggestions for something that sort of colour or a bright yellow would be very welcome. Unfortunately we couldnt find anything in the garden centre.

[Frusc]

I should have mentioned the wall is south facing and gets direct sun from mid-day onwards (after the Sun passes the house).

Also one of the criteria for plant selection was primarily evergreens. Whilst the pots easily hook of the wall, they are all interlinked. So you need to remove from top to bottom. Given the number of pots we wanted to avoid doing this several times a year, hence trying to avoid seasonal plants if possible.

[Nicos]

Hi there' and welcome to the Vine!
You'll need to make a few more posts before you can show your own pictures.
Have a quick natter , maybe introduce yourself in another thread etc etc.....

[Frusc]

Just noticed the links to the pictures don't seem to be working, here are the direct links:

Picture of Pots 1

Picture of Pots 2

Picture of inside of pot

[Frusc]

Hi there' and welcome to the Vine!
You'll need to make a few more posts before you can show your own pictures.
Have a quick natter , maybe introduce yourself in another thread etc etc.....

Ahhh, was wondering why they weren't showing. Will the links in my subsequent post be ok?

Thanks for the welcome

[veggiechicken]

Hi and welcome!
I've not seen this system and can't get a feeling for how large each pot is. However, my amateur attempts at growing in vertical planters (made from pallets, each layer lined with an old compost bag, punctured in many places for drainage) showed that plants that trail tend to shade the plants on the lower level. That water drips off the leaves and onto the lower plants and the same from the drainage holes.
The plants on the top thrived, the ones below didn't.
In the White's photo you can see how they've planted theirs - with upright plants at the top, bushy ones in the middle and trailing strawberries on the bottom.

[nickdub]

Speaking generally a South facing on vertical wall will be very dry, so if you want to minimize watering, then plants which grow naturally in dry mountain climates might be easiest.

Lavender and rosemary certainly - seaside plants like thrift and possibly Hottentot fig - rather depends too on the sort of look you want to create - sometimes less is more, so if there is a succulent you like, say Mesembryanthemum - then growing a whole wodge from seed and planting up a raft of them, might give more oomph than a patchwork would.

[Frusc]

Hi and welcome!
I've not seen this system and can't get a feeling for how large each pot is. However, my amateur attempts at growing in vertical planters (made from pallets, each layer lined with an old compost bag, punctured in many places for drainage) showed that plants that trail tend to shade the plants on the lower level. That water drips off the leaves and onto the lower plants and the same from the drainage holes.
The plants on the top thrived, the ones below didn't.
In the White's photo you can see how they've planted theirs - with upright plants at the top, bushy ones in the middle and trailing strawberries on the bottom.

Here are some more pics with a 12.5cm x 10cm pot for reference.

Picture 1 with 12.5cm pot

Picture 2 with 12.5cm pot inside

Picture of inside of pots

They are designed so you can either fill them with soil, or use 12.5cm pots. If you use 12.5cm pots, they sit in a water reservoir. The idea being you fill the top row of pots and once the fervour fills theres an overflow hole which cascades water down to the next row.

The Garden centre said it was probably better to fill them to have as much soil as possible. So I've installed the irrigation system instead of using the reservoir system of the planters.

Looking again at the White's picture I see your point. So I guess the middle pots should predominantly be upright/bushy plants. The lowest level trailing plants. And the edges probably trailing as the offset means there isnt a pot directly below. But I'd need to manage these to stop them hanging to towards the centre too much.

Thank you for the welcome and advice.

[Frusc]

Speaking generally a South facing on vertical wall will be very dry, so if you want to minimize watering, then plants which grow naturally in dry mountain climates might be easiest.

Lavender and rosemary certainly - seaside plants like thrift and possibly Hottentot fig - rather depends too on the sort of look you want to create - sometimes less is more, so if there is a succulent you like, say Mesembryanthemum - then growing a whole wodge from seed and planting up a raft of them, might give more oomph than a patchwork would.

Lavender and Rosemary definitely tick our boxes in terms of aroma, colour, texture. There is a large bi-fold adjacent to the wall, so we like the idea of the scent wafting in through the house.

Personally I like the idea of some symmetry and also the texture/appearance of succulents. My wife on the other hand likes a little bit of chaos and in particular growing her own herbs.

I was hoping the irrigation system would address the watering issue. Currently looking for a suitable timer.

It's a town house with a typically smallish garden (~90m^2). Also it is on a steep incline (2m from front to back) so we've had to raise it to the house level. This has meant it's half decked and half artificial grass (where there is a sub structure shed). The walls have therefore also had to come up on all three sides. Along the back border we've built a 7m brick planter, to add some life. We also have some large pots dotted around with Ferns and acers. But we still wanted some more planting and to break up the walls, which was what prompted me to grab these.

My wife would happily cash in and move up the road a couple of miles so she could get a few acres and have chickens and a mini farm

[nickdub]

Try a few things and see would be my best advice - most plants are relatively easy to propagate yourself once you have one, and you can save a load of cash that way with a little patience.

I'm voting for your wife's plan of moving, longer term BTW :-)

[veggiechicken]

I'm with your wife's plan too - and the chaos and herbs.

There are plenty of trailing herbs that might suit you - thymes are good and will bush and trail without becoming overwhelming. They come in a range of colours like yellow, variegated, silver and green. Oregano and marjoram are the same. The bees love the flowers too. Maybe trailing rosemary on the lowest level and some lavender at the top.
Some mint to the sides, kept short by using it. Curled parsley also.
Bay trees in pots below which you could clip into balls or some shape.

[veggiechicken]

You could also grow a couple of trailing tomatoes like Tumbling Tom, strawberries and nasturtiums.
Or cut and come again salad leaves , basil and chives............

I'll stop now, I'm getting carried away

[Frusc]

Thanks for the suggestions. Exactly what I need. I'm fine with the DIY side, but we're really not sure what will work plant wise.

I should really propagate and save some money. But now I've got the pots up I'm eager to see the results And therefore don't want to make potentially expensive mistakes. Currently we've agreed we'll spend some money to get ~half the pots looking good and then add to the rest with cuttings/home cultivated plants.

I was going to send the link to this thread to my wife so she could go through the recommendations. But now some of your have sided with her moving idea, I think I will have to act as a relay with filter

[nickdub]

I was going to send the link to this thread to my wife so she could go through the recommendations. But now some of your have sided with her moving idea, I think I will have to act as a filter with filter

Don't underestimate our powers - VC has ways of finding things out unknown to regular people - email addresses included :-)


Happy gardening.