In this final post in the series from our visit to Powis Castle I’m sharing how the terraces and walls have inspired me, and how I’m hoping to repeat (in the loosest sense) what I saw here at home. We have the original farmyard wall as the back boundary of our garden, and it’s one that’s full of character that I want to make the most of, to enhance but not to cover entirely.
I have two climbing roses, my pink Gertrude Jekyll and the cream Claire Austin and my long term plan has been to grow these up the wall, so whenever we visit a walled garden I’m always looking out for how they grow plants along their walls. It’s no surprise that most use a tensioned wire, but it’s always good to check the fixings and distances used. I mean, these guys are professional gardeners and there’s plenty I can learn from them.
What I noticed, and liked, at Powis was how they were growing their apple trees. Instead of espalier plants, where branches are trained horizontally these were tall and thin, and growing three in a group gave impact in much the same way as grouping things in threes.
Though of course I won’t quite have that much height and I definitely won’t have a castle in the distance!
It’s likely though that I will have tensioned wires similar to this, which pleases me greatly.
Though my ceanothus are much more unruly than these, and it isn’t a plant that I’ll even be attempting to grow in such a way.
And if I’m lucky, I’ll also get a robin (or other small garden bird - our regulars are wrens and wagtails) to enjoy it just as much as I’m sure I will.
