The Climbing Garden

Rating:
Summary: Upward in the garden....
Review: You don't have to have a small work area to develop a vertical garden, but Cathy Barash, author of THE CLIMBING GARDEN wrote her book to address the needs of those who work with limited spaces. She says she grew up in an area of New York where folks had postage sized lots and were constantly seeking ways to ensure privacy without resorting to 20 foot walls. Her book is the result of a lifetime of gardening on the vertical, a practice that has proved so popular that owners of large lots now create small intimate vertical enclosures.

Barash's book is beautiful, over 100 pages of color photos, many of them taken in her own garden. She's a knowledgeable gardener too. She knows her "Vines and Climbers" (former title of the book). For example, she writes that Ivy can destroy masonry, Wisteria can destroy walls, and Porcelain Berry has become an invasive weed in some places (Zone 7-8). She recommends the three lobed Boston Ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata) or the five-leaved Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) in place of English Ivy (Hedera helix). The Parthenocissus vines have little suction cups that support their tendrils, unlike the invasive rootlets of Hedera that insinuate themselves into the cracks of the masonry and work it away grain by grain.

Barash says if you live in a temparate area (or maybe any area in the U.S. except the desert) resist the urge to plant Porcelain Berry (Ampelopsis brevipedunculata). This invasive native of Asia, along with it's cousins, Kudzu, Wisteria, and Honeysuckle, has nearly strangled the life from U.S. native plants. One of the saddest sights in the Washington D.C. "natural" areas (nature preserves, parkland, bike trails, etc.) is the sight of English Ivy, Honeysuckle, Porcelain Berry, and Wisteria strangling native trees.

THE CLIMBING GARDEN contains a nice section on climbing plants, both annuals and perennials and woody plants. Roses are considered climbing vines, and Barash provides some information on climbing roses but not the sort of detail a rosarian would seek. She also discusses the architecture of the garden, trellises, pergolas, and other structural supports for vines. You don't have to have an ancient retaining wall to plant climbers. She provides a section of 5-6 pages on various planting designs in the back of the book.

I bought the book to generate ideas about how I might block out the areas beyond my garden fences, including my neighbors deck. I've seen ideas about vertical screens here and there in the various gardening magazines, but this book brings all the ideas together in one volume.