glass tiled garden wall
If I gave out awards to my neighbors for beautifying their public spaces, this house would definitely win one of them.
This is their garden wall right next to the front sidewalk. It’s topped with attractive latticework, but what’s special is the tile below. Gray field tiles give way to a central area of colorful glass mosaics. Glass tile has been catching on for indoor use, but it can make a most excellent statement outdoors.
If there’s a down-side to this project, it’s the disconnect between the hardscape and the green materials. You can see that the horsetails have already started to spread throughout the strip. Within just a few years you won’t be able to see the glass tiles. And that cute little agave planted up against the wall. Yikes! That’ll be a big monster before you know it, fighting it out with the horsetails in a mess of planting.
My advice? Lose the agave. It’s a beaucoup spectacular plant, especially when it blooms. But this is just about the wrongest place to put it. And lose the horsetails, too. Their upright geometry has always appealed to me, but they spread like syrup on a pancake.
Southern-hemisphere restios are starting to become more commonly available, and they have a striking vertical architecture that would be a worthy replacement for the horsetails—visually between a grass and a horsetail in appearence, depending on the species. A couple clumps of it in front of the wall would let you see around and through the plants, and the plants wouldn’t stray far from the base of the leaves.
Two good choices for this spot in the three-foot range: Chondropetalum tectorum and Thamnochortus bachmannii. The first is getting to be available many places. (The photo to the left is from San Marcos Growers, who distributes it to nurseries.) The second…well, I’m growing some from seed right now as I write this…
February 17 2009 06:52 am | Categories: gardening • landscape design | Tags: equisetum • garden walls • glass tile • hardscape • horsetails • restios
out of doors on 17 Feb 2009 at 11:51 am #
Mmm. Native Juncus or Ephedra (joint fir, a favorite of mine for combined vertical-moundy quality) could be good too…those horsetails are amazing plants, but unless you want lots of them everywhere, they really do need containing. Is it a lack of demonstration planting in nurseries, a lack of information on plant labels? You always read about the importance of choosing a tree for it’s mature size. True of all plants, and yet…
lostlandscape on 17 Feb 2009 at 7:43 pm #
Outofdoors, good ideas! I have some of the basic J. patens that is surprisingly tolerant of not being watered. There are taller versions that would work nicely in this neighbor’s space. Maybe a little more water, but the plants are gorgeous. I like the texture of the ephedra—a little more moundy, but still maybe transparent enough to be able to see the wall behind it. Another native (if you consider Baja part of California and I do) is the baja bush snapdragon, Galvezia juncea, which is more stem than leaf, and really architectural—and requires less water than the rushes.
Jan on 18 Feb 2009 at 3:31 am #
That certainly is a nice fence. It would be nice if everyone put a little more thought into their fences.
Jan
Always Growing
Sunita on 18 Feb 2009 at 8:37 pm #
I wish our public spaces in Mumbai were kept half as nicely. Some do, but most dont. I really like that fence but I dont think anything like that mosaic-work would work here … too much dust.
lostlandscape on 19 Feb 2009 at 11:49 am #
Jan, especially for a front fence, I’m appreciative they put some thought and care and creativity into this!
Sunita, I suppose the wall might look nice a third of the year when you get the rains, but I suppose dust could also become mud with a little moisture applied!