Screens of Green
This month I turn my attention to garden boundaries and how they can extend the horizons of our plots. Most gardens have walls, fences or hedges to mark their physical limits. With a bit of imagination, these physical boundaries can be transformed into softer, more colourful barriers, often extending a garden's perspective.
In my own garden, three out of the four boundaries are composed of very ugly wooden planks or overlap fencing. I well remember when the old school house next door was knocked down to make way for a new development of flats. Apart from disturbing one or two sleeping tramps, this demolition also revealed a rich supply of oak floorboards. An opportunity not to be missed!
The next few weeks saw lots of humping, sawing and lots of muscle power, in an attempt to revamp my badly crumbling fences. I discovered that sawing oak wood is far from easy, but there was a silver lining to all my exertions. Oak weathers very well and takes a long time to rot.
Now, over twenty years on, the fencing is still standing and protected from the weather by a variety of climbing plants. The bulk of the cover is provided by varieties of ivy - 'Buttercup', 'English' and 'Irish'. These along with other evergreens provide good weatherproofing for the wooden fences beneath.
Whilst on the subject of growing ivies, I might as well dispose of the commonly held belief that ivy damages brickwork or brings down trees. Unless the brickwork is already in poor condition, it's not going to damage the wall in any way. In fact as already has been mentioned, it protects it from the weather. If growing up a house wall, it is wise to keep it off the roof tiles though. As for trees, the same really applies. A fit and reasonably healthy tree is quite able to support a generous growth of ivy. The only danger lies in excessive growth covering the tree canopy, which will deprive the tree of light.
Returning to growing boundaries. It goes without saying that any garden furnished with creepers, climbers or hedges is good news for the local wildlife, providing nesting areas and sources of food. They harbour beneficial insects, which use these 'screens of green' to breed and hibernate within, which is very important to the gardener in keeping down troublesome pests. They soften the appearance of bare fences and walls. All sorts of plants can be used to good effect, giving colour, fragrance and fruit.
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