What’s the best way to maximize outdoor spaces, hide eyesores and create drama in your garden? Consider vertical gardening. A recently released book called Garden Up! shows you how.
Recently, I spoke with the authors to learn more about this popular gardening trend. Come take a peek…
Photo copyright Garden Up!
Garden Up! (Cool Springs Press, Feb. 2011) is the brainchild of California designers and vertical garden experts Susan Morrison and Rebecca Sweet.
I’ve known both of these landscape designers for a few years now, and I’m often impressed by the clever garden designs these women create for their clients, or uncover by other gardeners.
Succulents grow on repurposed shutters. Photo copyright Sophie deLignerolless
With space at a premium for many gardeners, many homeowners are looking for new ways to garden, according to Rebecca. “As houses are getting bigger, gardens are getting smaller,” she explains. “Often the only places left to garden are on fences, patios or courtyard walls.”
Skinny spaces offer opportunities for beauty. Photo copyright Garden Up!
“With smaller lots, traditional planting beds are giving way to skinny spaces,” continues Rebecca. “The need to cover up eyesores seems to be something everyone contends with in their garden, whether it’s large or small. Vertical gardening is the answer to all of these gardening challenges.”
A charming use of vertical space. Photo copyright Jenny Peterson.
Despite its popularity, there are plenty of misconceptions about vertical gardening out there, according to Susan.
“The number one misconception is that vertical gardening is synonymous with living walls,” she explains. “Living walls are great, but there are all kinds of wonderful ways for innovative gardeners to add vertical elements to their gardens.”
Watering cans create drama on wall. Photo copyright Garden Up!
“Creatively layering plants in narrow beds (see below), designing an outdoor focal point wall (see above) and making over an under-utilized side yard are a few examples,” says Susan of innovative vertical gardens.
Wall art and creative layering of plants. Photo copyright Garden Up!
When I asked Rebecca what surprised her the most when writing Garden Up!, she said it was “the sheer amount of creativity” shown by gardeners around the country. One of her favorite gardens is in San Francisco, where the gardener turned a small cement-covered shared space into a lush garden by planting on her fences.
This is despite the fact that she only had 6 inches of planting space along her fence, and a cement patio in the center filled with the other tenants’ motorcycle, BBQ, dog and other items.
Re-purposed file cabinets as pots for herbs. Photo copyright Garden Up!
“With a ton of creativity and very little money,” says Rebecca, “she turned this hum-drum utilitarian area into a garden and gathering spot for the tenants of the building. She re-purposed file cabinet drawers attached to the fence to grow herbs (see above), made a strawberry tower of PVC pipes (see below), made her own ‘shoe-rack’ of sorts to grow lettuce, and had many trellises for climbing peas and beans.”
Strawberry towers of PVC pipes. Photo copyright Garden Up!
Throughout this photo-packed book is a good blend of vertical garden inspiration and practical how-to help. What I like the best about Garden Up! is that it makes these high-impact design ideas look rather simple to duplicate with charts and pull-out tips. You don’t need to be an expert gardener to recreate many of the looks found in this book.
Containers at different levels. Photo copyright Garden Up!
In Garden Up!, the authors walk you around the garden and point out where you could be creating focal points, softening spaces, disguising unwanted elements, designing intimate corners, maximizing space and growing more food.
From edible living walls to climbing vines, they cover nearly every possible aspect of using vertical space efficiently in the garden.
Woolly Pockets on doorsteps. Photo copyright Garden Up!
“We hope we’ve inspired gardeners to look at their gardens through fresh eyes,” says Susan. “Whether you are a beginning gardener or an experienced one, with a giant backyard or a tiny courtyard, taking advantage of vertical spaces is a wonderful way to breathe new life into a garden.”
Visit Morrison-Sweet.com for more information on the authors and book. Buy this book.
Disclosure: I was provided a review copy of this book, but my opinions are my own.
{ 6 comments }
Teresa, thank you for such a lovely review! You really captured what the book is about.
Susan, my pleasure. This book really got me thinking in new ways about my garden.
Love the pictures, great view, with a book like that it is pretty easy I would suspect!
Ann. You are so right. You don’t have to be an expert gardener to recreate these looks. You just need to think differently about your garden space. Thanks for dropping by! Teresa
Great review, Teresa! What I love about this book is that it’s so full of ideas for people with all different sizes of gardens–because even people with acreage have small or tight spaces to deal with. This coming year, I’ll be moving from my 150-square foot balcony garden to an entire acre to garden on, and I will still use many of the ideas in Garden Up!
That’s a good point. Even the largest gardens have small spaces to design. Loved the photo of your charming balcony in the book. You really used your tight space well, Jenny.
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