Before + After: Living Garden Wall
Back in February, we revamped the front half of the Cottage garden with the landscape design team at Big Red Sun. One of the most notable changes of the makeover was the addition of a 5-foot wide by 6-foot high garden wall at the entrance to our property.
The Cottage is surrounded by an old wooden fence. From late spring and throughout the summer, it’s masked by cascading grapevine tendrils and leaves. But during the other half of the year, the fence feels barren and looks pretty worn after years of water and termite damage. It’s not in our budget to replace it right now, but we can’t dress it up with planters either as it’s not strong enough in all areas to support the weight.
When the creative minds at Big Red Sun suggested beautifying the fence with a custom garden panel, I was thrilled. I’d seen examples in their shop before (shown below), and while I couldn’t picture exactly how one might look at our lil’ home, I knew it’d be the perfect spot for hanging pots, training plants to climb from the ground, and even buttressing part of the heavy grapevine canopy. (And any vertical design such as this is great for a small space.)
Above: A custom panel by/at Big Red Sun.
The custom steel panel was woven with brushwood by the BRS team on-site, and then braced by wooden posted that were cemented into the ground. See the before/during/after in the following image carousel:
Beyond making the entrance to our home more lively, the wall also saves space by allowing us to grow select plants off the ground, leaving those extra inches of garden floor for our son and dogs to enjoy when playing outside.
Sweet StanLee, in particular, likes to nestle deep into the bushes when he sits outside, and he’s killed quite a few plants in the process. It’s been nice to have some greenery up on the wall and immune to his actions.
The planters are simply suspended with heavy-duty zip ties. They’re brimming with succulents, nasturtium, strawberries, and more.
I added a round garden mirror to amplify the light and visually enlarge the space, we well as some ceramic air-plant hangers to layer up the wall.
Thank you, Big Red Sun, for such a unique and beneficial addition to our home. The panel and plants bring us joy. (More photos below!)
