Round, Round We Go

The idea of vertical gardening has always intrigued me.  What better way to maximize gardening space and provide vegetation and flowers above the typical garden bed?  Blooming trees can help create second story interest, but when you have as many large oak trees as my Hamptons garden,  there isn't a lot of room for more trees without sacrificing light. Near the house, I built some arbors and trellises that now support climbing roses, honeysuckle and climbing hydrangea.

But I have to give Beth Chatto, the famous English gardener and writer, credit for my latest vertical gardening idea.  While reading The Shade Garden a few years ago, I came across a picture of a climbing hydrangea that she had trained to encircle an oak trunk. She admits that it took time for the hydrangea to take root and climb up the tree. So after planting a potted Hydrangea anomala petiolaris next to an oak two seasons ago, I knew not to expect immediate results.  As the vines grew, I tied them against the oak and as you can see from this picture, my hydrangea has finally taken off on its own. It's growing vigorously and the vines have set root-like clamps onto the tree bark. With a little annual pruning and tying down, I should be able to train it all the way up in a spiral manner.  

As I mentioned, I have pleanty of oak trees so I think I'll try this again elsewhere in my Hamptons garden. But I have to be prudent. I may be saving bedding space with my new vertical features, but I'm also creating more work. It would be so easy for me to spiral out of control.

Strings help train the vines to encircle the trunk