Molly Grothaus's tile garden, was Re: planting in pipes
Jim McKenney (Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:29:53 PDT)

Molly Grothaus’ tile garden sounds wonderful.

Were photos of this garden ever published in, for instance, the NARGS
Quarterly Journal or anywhere else?

About fifteen years ago I built a low brick wall in my garden which was
originally intended to be a site for rock garden plants. The bricks were not
mortared, and the face of the wall was vertical. The vertical face was a
mistake: even succulents such as Sempervivum dried out in this wall.

Last year the cold caused the wall to heave and a big chunk of it collapsed.
When I rebuild it this time, it will have a 15 degree cant. It will also
have some pipes sunk into the face at a sharp angle. And in two places the
bricks will be replaced with columns of small clay pots with delicate sedums
and sempervivums.

Also, about twenty percent of the brick used to face the wall will be cored
brick – with the cores used as planting spaces. These cored brick will be
arranged to produce a rhythmic planting pattern.

Why the pots? Well, for one thing, I want to be able to rotate plants in and
out of that wall face so that there will always be something of interest
going on there.

Wish me luck – the heat and humidity are already starting here, and it’s a
lot more tempting to sit inside and daydream about it than to actually get
out there in the buggy steam bath and do it.

Jim McKenney

jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com

Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone
7

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