Vertical Gardening

Ah hum! Vertical gardening that conjures up images both ancient and modern. Ancient being something none of us have ever seen, namely the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. “Gosh!” I hear you say, “What is that? What are they?” Dear me, one of the Seven Wonders of the World! Come on get with it!

The truth is no one has ever seen it/them but there is a rather lengthy Wikipedia entry and even some notional images of what they might have looked like. There is no known location but there are a number of descriptions found in ancient Greek and Roman writings, here’s one:

“In this palace he erected very high walls, supported by stone pillars; and by planting what was called a pensile paradise, and replenishing it with all sorts of trees, he rendered the prospect an exact resemblance of a mountainous country. This he did to gratify his queen, because she had been brought up in Media, and was fond of a mountainous situation.”

Well enough of that, on to the modern. Somewhere in most modern cities it is possible to find vertical greenery clinging to buildings and as such they can represent vertical gardening of a sort. A few pictures shown below give you an idea. The first is just south of the river in London. The gentleman, not the owner, looks bemused!

The second was taken in Madrid. It clearly confounded some who came across it, but it clearly presents a considerable vertical gardening challenge.

There are buildings of all shapes and sizes which sprout different sorts of greenery. The third image is in Sydney, Australia proving that vertical gardens can even grow upside down!

Regardless, if these vertical gardens prove one thing it is that there is a penchant for going up and covering up to provide a spectacle and in a very modern way (most of these building are post-modern) to take away some of the criticism that they are possibly ‘brutalist’ or simply soul less. Green is good, living green is even better. With all the talk of loss of biodiversity you tend to admire these creations however crazy they may at first seem.

In a way that is what we do in an entirely different way at Christmas. We want to add glamour, capture the spirit of the season and transform our houses and interiors to create an atmosphere that’s special, homespun and warming and if you steer clear of an artificial Christmas Tree you are already on the way there.

So, this Christmas, let’s think about some vertical gardening...no plant care, apart from the special attention you’ll pay to watering the real Christmas Tree that you will of course be buying from Pines & Needles, need be involved. Think lights and greenery in a vertical rather than horizontal dimension, turn the hall and the stairwells into hanging gardens of your own. Holly is great as are spruce and ewe and other Christmassy foliage. Festoon your hangings with lights and possibly tinsel. Think big, think tall, think ravishing. It should reward your efforts and stun your family and friends. Provide a base or foundation, maybe a circle of poinsettias or white cyclamen.

Get the family involved and get their creative juices flowing; It’s going to be a splendid Christmas this year. Last year was so COVID so see what you can do. Take a trip, with everybody on board, to one of our outdoor stores and choose an amazing tree, grown on our own Scottish Christmas tree farm. Climb the heights and go vertical in 2021, it’s definitely the way to go!