Gardens are these days no mere gardens. They are outdoor rooms. As such, they should be treated in the same way. Meaning that their design should echo an indoor room; there should be floors, walls and ceilings. It’s easy to forget about the garden ceiling. Unless it’s an obvious undercover space of course. Here I mean ceiling as in tall trees or structures such as plant supports.
Trees is the usual way of adding height. The options are endless as trees come in an large variety of height and shape (this can also be tweaked by hand). There’s also an array of shrubs to consider. As hedges they may create both ceilings and walls. High plants can be placed as groups and solitaires depending on your design preferences.
Personally I’m a big fan of plant supports. These also come in a variety of designs. Having said that, in essence I find them rather similar. Supersizing them is an option. Which only works if the space is large enough, but still, could be worth bearing in mind.
Plant supports can take on different appearances depending on the plant you want to support. Roses are pretty much everyone’s favourite. Which is understandable, roses in bloom is a view to die for. But there are other options, such as various types of vines (Boston Ivy/Virginia Creeper, China fleece vine, clematis, Dutchman’s pipe) and climbing hydrangea. As a person into the evergreen look, I like English Ivy ….
