By Helen Yoest
In most gardens there are corners, ells, edges and trees, all of which create areas that are tough to work with. Oftentimes, the smaller the spot the tougher it is to tame. Instead of ignoring those tough, tiny spaces, consider plantings that will enhance your garden by taking advantage of these available spaces.
Side Yards
Side yards, or space created by a new addition or any narrow strip near a building or a wall, can seem like a daunting gardening challenge. It takes acrobatics to dig the soil well, drainage is not always great and sometimes the sun in blocked. Instead of viewing the space as one long length, break up the area into small, intimate spaces with curves, seating arrangements or garden art. It can change tough and tiny into cozy and quaint.
If you’re working in a walled courtyard, often this space traps warmth, raising the hardiness zone with a new micro-climate, causing it to be warmer than out in the open. This gives you an opportunity to plant for the added heat and higher hardiness zone the area creates. Also given the confined space, be sure and consider scent. Planting roses and herbs, gardenias and jessamine gives you a heady aroma.
Vertical Gardening
Even the smallest patch of dirt can support the rise of plants to fill a vacant wall, frame a door or garage, cover an arbor or even train a vine up the ell of the house. Carolina jessamine, Clematis armandii or a fast-growing annual such as cypress vine (Ipomoea quamoclit) works well in these locations. Take advantage of limited planting space by gardening up.
One way to do this is with espalier. When only a dash of dirt is available by an empty wall space in need of a certain something, this ancient technique of training the plant to grow in one plane works well. Espaliered plants are used today for both function and folly. They work great on areas such as a blank side of the house, a brick or cinder-block wall or a retaining wall.
Many plants take well to the pruning techniques required for espalier. Once mature, they become works of art. Pyracantha, loropetulum, camellia, ‘Little Gem’ magnolia, fruit trees, Japanese maple, redbud, quince, fig, forsythia, viburnum and yew all make excellent specimens for espalier.
The Hell Strip
Whether you call the strip of dirt between the sidewalk and the street a tree belt, inferno strip, devil strip, verge or hell strip, this space is notoriously hard for growing plants. A lack of water, trash cans sitting out, dogs doing their business, salt in the winter and trodding people and animals make it challenging. Or perhaps it’s a reluctance due to it being public property maintained by a private property owner. For these reasons and more, gardeners are reluctant to grow a garden along the street. And this is too bad, because these tough little spots are gardens in waiting.
When planting this area, first till and amend the soil. It’s also wise to anticipate where foot traffic will be and where the garbage can will sit each week and provide a landing pad for this specific use. Flagstone works well for this kind of situation.
The best plants for this area are tough, drought-tolerant ones that will thrive in full sun or the dappled sun under city-planted treescapes. As you garden in this space, think beyond trees. Herbs, hellebores, verbenas, bulbs and sedums, as well as prostrate junipers and yews, make ideal low-growing plantings that can take an occasional walk-through by the neighbor’s dog.
Under Canopies
Mature trees offer value to the landscape, but they leave some challenge in covering the ground beneath the canopy where grass won’t grow. The trees’ roots take up a lot of water, and digging between the roots is difficult at best; plus the canopy hides the sun. Luckily there are a few plants that do well under most canopies, such as hardy cyclamen (Cyclamen hederifolium), toad lily (Tricyrtis spp.), columbines, foamflowers (Tiarella), Japanese forest grasses (Hakonechloa macra), Japanese painted fern (Athyrium nipponicum var. ‘Pictum’), lungworts (Pulmonaria) and Siberian irises.
It’s important to plant small plants under trees for minimal disturbance between the roots of trees. Also, make sure the plants won’t compete with the trees for water.
Crevices
Mother Nature abhors a vacuum and will fill a void with something – anything – because it is what she does. Most often it’s a weed that fills up neglected areas. Take charge of these tough, tiny crevices such as spots between flagstone steps and plant what you want, satisfying Mother Nature at the same time. For shady areas try maidenhair spleenwort, mosses, fern-leaf corydalis (Corydalis cheilanthefolia) and strawberry begonia (Saxifraga stoloniferi). For sunny areas you can use climbing snapdragon (Maurandella antirrhiniflora), sedums and dianthus.
Under the Deck
On hilly sites, upper decks leave space below that is often ignored, but they can be turned into a garden instead of a place to store lawn chairs. These are typically shady spots with the deck as a canopy, so plant it up with ferns, hostas, aucuba and cast-iron plants. Fill with ornaments and even a comfy chair. Adding variegated plants helps brighten this otherwise darkened space.
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