ROCK CLIMBING & CAVING

Divisions and focal points

The phrase ‘vertical dimension’ is a rather sterile but all-embracing term for a wide range of animate and inanimate garden structures, many of great beauty. The dimension includes the categories of hard and soft landscaping, living materials as well as manmade and natural ones, and both solid structures and more open or see-through ones.
Rigid lines may be created by the use of brick or stone walls; some hedges have a similar appearance to walls while others create soft lines in sympathy with other plantings. A fence gives a solid, but thin and light impression in a garden, but a see-through trellis will be lighter still and may be partially camouflaged with climbing plants. Iron railings denote a garden division or boundary often so subtle that from a distance they prove invisible, which is ideal where fine views or good architecture are concerned and should not be obscured.
Pergolas and arches may, and should, be delicateiooking structures, whether they are free-standing or fixed to a garden wall or building. They are useful devices for merging heavy, dense walls into the satden, acting as a transitional structure from the solid to the soft, especially if they are clad with wining and climbing plants.
Small buildings such as a summer house, a gazebo, a pavilion or even just a bower Gin temper a very natural-looking garden, reassuring the visitor that civilization has touched here. They usually have some architectural merit in themselves and also help to give a human scale to the garden. More is written about these buildings in the chapter on structural features.
Last and what, quite conceivably, should have been first, there are trees and shrubs which, between them, will probably account for more vertical diversions than all the other categories put together. For creating an informal barrier or a statuesque focal point, a natural-looking screening or a formal evergreen shape, there is little to compare with well selected plant material.

When deciding upon a form of garden boundary, it is important to recognize what you are shutting the garden off from, and act accordingly. It may be neighbours or animals -from the next-door cat or dog to perhaps sheep or cattle from neighbouringfarmland. Traffic noise, or the sounds emanating from a neighbour’s swimming pool, may be baffled by the use of good boundary hedging. Strong winds may be reduced in their ferocity by planting windbreak trees and hedges or the use of certain forms offencing and trellis. Some boundaries may create problems rather than solving them. A solid wall or even a dense, evergreen hedge may trap cold, freezing air ifplaced along the base ofa hill, creating a frost trap or pocket where frost lingers all day. A more open structure will permit the cold air to roll on down and out of the garden.

About the Author

http://www.sos-gardening.com——————– Sos gardening provides an one stop gardening service in Leatherhead, Surrey with Our UK Partners from Electricians, Landscaping Services, Plumbers, Grass Cutting Services to Garden Waste Removals.

Creeping Fig Vine Ground Cover

A Field Guide to Trees and Shrubs: Northeastern and north-central United States and southeastern and south-centralCanada (Peterson Field Guides) $9.74 All the wild trees, shrubs, and woody vines in the area north to Newfoundland, south to North Carolina and Tennessee, and west to the Dakotas and Kansas are described in detail. Accounts of 646 species include shape and arrangement of leaves, height, color, bark texture, flowering season, and fruit. Clear, accurate drawings illustrate leaves, flowers, buds, tree silhouettes, and other characterist…

Broad-Leaved Evergreens: Trees, Shrubs & Climbers $6.97 Dripping with berries, festooned with flowers, and bedecked with leaves: broad-leaved evergreens keep gardens vibrant year-round. Perfect for hedging and screening, and often low-maintenance, their graceful structure enhances any landscape. A renowned botanist, horticulturist, and photographer shows you how to grow and take maximum advantage of these species. A range of plants appear by foliage, f…