Perks of being a WALLFLOWER
Plug colourful succulents into gaps in brickwork or paths – and then watch them flourish
Back in 2005, I spent an idyllic week on the Isles of Scilly. My base was Hugh Town on the beautiful island of St Mary’s, where I enjoyed checking out the local front gardens. I was particularly impressed by their dry stone boundary walls adorned with aeoniums and other succulents.
On one walk, I stopped to quiz a resident about his exotic wall. He told me that some of the succulents had spread across its face through self-seeding but most had been given a helping hand – small shoots were snapped off a mother plant and pushed in between rocks in the structure to establish.
myThe Inspired by the tenacity of the islanders, I returned home with a plan to embellish a wall in own garden with tender succulents.
Cuttings were pushed into loose mortar, where some took root over summer. Alas, these softies hate it when temperatures fall below 10C and they’d all bitten the bullet by late autumn.
Despite the setback, I repeated the process the following year using hardier plants, such as houseleeks and alpine sedums. This time the plants prospered, anchoring themselves in the gaps and slowly spreading to form sizeable clumps that softened the brickwork and provided some vertical interest.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s worth plugging all sorts of nooks and crannies in the garden, whether in walls, paths, patios or steps.
Apart from adding beauty, it will make your life easier – ornamentals will take up gaps that might be colonised by weeds, reducing the need to hoick out unwanted plants.
Few desirable plants are likely to flourish in a crack on a wall without a little attention to improve growing conditions.
Prise out any loose bits of mortar with a screwdriver or old kitchen knife, and blow out loose dust to create a bigger planting space. Fill the void with some well-drained compost, such as John Innes No1.
If the wall enjoys a sunny aspect, try Sedum spathulifolium ‘Cape Blanco’, aubrietas and sempervivums, a group of hardy succulents that form rosettes of evergreen, fleshy leaves. Alpine strawberries, maidenhair spleenwort and Campanula portenschlagiana are ideal for shadier walls.
Don’t attempt to force a plant with a large rootball into a small hole. Use rooted seedlings and plug plants, or buy a pot of a clump forming species and divide into several smaller chunks. Help plants to establish by watering twice a week over summer – I find it easier with a hand-held spray gun.
Make the most of old garden paths, or newer ones with poor pointing, by filling the fissures with low-growing plants that can tolerate foot traffic. Some species will simply run along the route of the crevice, while others will bubble over the edges and spread to form large patches of colour that will soften the hard landscaping.
Your choice of plants largely depends on how busy the path gets. Among plants that can deal with heavy use are Leptinella squalida ‘Platt’s Black’ and blue star creeper (Pratia pedunculata). Carpet-forming thymes and several other herbs have aromatic leaves that will release their fragrance when crushed under foot.
Many species can tolerate light footfall, making them ideal for paths that are used infrequently. Euonymus fortunei ‘Kewensis’ and Sedum album ‘Coral Carpet’ are two winners.
Prepare gaps by gouging out debris and then brushing some soil-based compost into the cavity, firming it down with the end of a pencil. Set baby plants in and water. Another option is to sow seeds of your favourites. Once seedlings appear, water regularly.
You can also use low-growing, mat-forming plants to brighten up patios or paved areas where stones have come loose. If there are gaps around the edges of the space, consider tough plants that provide height, such as heucheras, Stipa tenuissima and Verbena bonariensis.