GRACEFUL DRAPES
One of the most fashionable structures in any up-to-the-minute landscape is the low, dry-laid stone wall. These walls, which can be remarkably sturdy, are lineal descendents of the stone fences that have marked property boundaries for centuries. Now, some people use them to make terraced beds on gentle slopes. Others install them to create raised beds or set off a particular part of the garden. The walls can be made of real stone or cast concrete pavers. I prefer the real thing.
The previous owner of my house had a couple of low walls installed in the back garden. One tamed a slope, creating the upper and lower garden spaces, and the other encloses a raised bed next to the garage. The walls are handsome on their own, but I have always felt they needed some kind of softening. Margery Fish, the great English gardener of the mid twentieth century, used to soften walls by planting all kinds of small flowering specimens in the crevices between stones. I haven’t done that, though some plants, like bleeding heart and common violets, have sown themselves in those spaces. As long as the opportunists don’t look awkward, I leave them alone. However, I have long wanted to do something a little more deliberate, by installing plant varieties that would cascade artistically over the sides of the walls.
Being an easily distracted gardener, I thought about the idea for a long time without actually doing anything. Finally last spring my daughter took care of the matter for me by planting a hardy ice plant or delosperma in the front of the raised bed. She had seen similar flowers adorning walls in Greece and when she spotted a potted ice plant in a local nursery, she snapped it up. Our plant may not have the blue Aegean behind it, like the one in my daughter’s pictures, but seeing it does not require a large financial commitment, a passport and a long plane ride.
Once installed, the ice plant, with bright purple, daisy-like flowers, flourished and began cascading over the side of the wall. As winter came on, the foliage, which looks like fleshy green needles, turned purple–an unexpected bonus. Now the plant is clearly readying itself for another season, having grown substantially since being planted. I am on the hunt for more of the same, since I have many linear feet of wall to soften.
Delosperma is a member of the large Aizoaceae plant family, sometimes known as “carpetweeds.” The common name is an apt descriptor for many of the low, mat-forming genera in the clan. Delosperma, like many Aizoaceae, hails from South Africa. The most popular species, like our Delosperma cooperi, are from mountainous areas and thrive in thin, well-drained soil. Planting delosperma in a raised bed not only gives it a chance to soften the garden wall, but provides the drainage the plant loves. Clay soil should probably be amended with grit or sand to make delosperma happy.
Such a cheerful, easy-to-please plant was bound to capture the attention of hybridizers eventually. Delosperma has become one of the darlings of Japanese plant breeders, who have produced showy bi-colored varieties like the pink and white ‘Eye Candy’; orange and white ‘Perfect Orange’; and the yellow and white ‘Rise and Shine’. For lovers of white flowers, there is also ‘White Pearl’.
A flashy species, so new that it has not been named, is currently being sold under the name ‘Fire Spinner’. This South African mountain plant features flowers with a white eye zone and orange petals the turn rose or magenta as the bloom ages. With orange at the height of fashion, now may be the optimal time to indulge in a few ‘Fire Spinner’ plants.
Panayoti Kelaides, Senior Curator of the Denver Botanic Gardens, has done much work collecting and selecting delosperma varieties. Among the cultivars introduced by the Denver institution is the lovely ‘Mesa Verde’, which has salmon-colored daisy flowers that bloom repeatedly throughout the summer.
Most delosperma form mats and the mats can increase in size dramatically. Our Delosperma cooperi was about six inches across when it came to us. After a year, it is already almost eighteen inches wide. Some varieties can spread up to three feet and, if they are near a wall, start a downward trek over the side.
Indulging in ice plants can net you beautiful, low-maintenance ground covers, wall softeners, or rock garden subjects. They are also suitable for xeriscape or dry gardens. Small species, like Delosperma spalmanthoides or tufted ice plant, are also useful for containers or troughs. You can find a good variety of ice plants at Plant Delights Nursery, 9241 Sauls Road, Raleigh, NC 27603, (919)772-4794; www.plantdelights.com. Please note the idiosyncratic cost of the print catalog–ten first class stamps or one box of chocolates. Bluestone Perennials also carries ice plants, and can be found at 7211 Middle Ridge Road, Madison, OH 44057, (800) 852-5243; www.bluestoneperennials.com. Free catalog.