All too often boundaries and space divisions in gardens are made of materials whose only apparent virtue is cheapness, giving an air of meanness to the garden which no amount of subsequent care and planting can ever dispel. Nor are they cheap in the long term, as flimsy woven or wattle panels are impermanent and require frequent replacement, while trellis, the garden fence and rustic work last just long enough to become covered with climbing plants before collapsing in a tangle of broken wood work and earwigs.
Much better, if these structures are to be expressed visually, or even used as supports for climbing plants, to construct them properly with appropriate materials at the outset, even if the cost means delaying completion of other parts of the garden for a year or two.
You will be able to enjoy your best garden decor ideas if you are clever with the strategies you apply to outdoor space divisions. Walls are best made of brick or stone to match your house, although given really solid foundations and suitable design, either in staggered panels or with sufficient piers to give support, the brickwork need only be four and a half inches instead of the normal nine inches thickness, which will help to keep down the cost. Different types of wall have different characteristics. A run of wall with a flush face emphasizes length, walls of staggered shape or with frequent piers, especially if these are related to the ground plan, can make a narrow plot seem wider. Pierced walls, or those made of open concrete blocks, can suggest distance and depth, but such openwork elements are best used in short lengths or as panels framed in solid walling, as used alone in any quantity they can seem to dominate and have a rather irritating effect.
Painted walls in the garden, though sometimes necessary to relate to a painted house, create problems because they become quickly streaked with dirt and climbers make repainting difficult. It is better to give them a broad coping to throw off the rain, and to use them as a background to bold groups of foliage plants rather than plant directly against them.
Walls built solely as a background and support for climbers can be made of inexpensive concrete blocks, possibly with a brick coping to match the adjoining building. But remember that you will have to plant combers on both sides of such walls if they are to be suitably concealed!
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