My May Column is up on the One Kings Lane Style Guide and I could not be more excited! When I met with my Editor there we all agreed that we were all totally ready for summer, so we landed on a garden related story. Now, I do like to garden but I'm no master so, set I out to share a project that delivered big style without requiring a super green thumb or a lot of maintenance.
Enter, Espalier, pronounced “es-pah-lee-er”, an old school method of growing plants against a wall in a 2-dimentinonal pattern. The practice was developed in France as a way to increase the yield of fruit trees in small spaces. I figured a small space solution good enough for the castles of medieval France probably had something to offer modern day space-challenged gardeners.
It’s the perfect way to create vertical interests in a small space without blocking any light or taking up floor space. With a few simple tweaks, creating your own espalier a lot simpler than you think. It's all about choosing the right plants, a few eye hooks and some galvanized wire. Our yard is super shady so I choose a variegated Ivy. Ivy can be a straight up bad choice if you are trying this look on a brick wall. I'm less worried about it here because the shade makes all my plants pretty slow growing so trimming things back if they get out of hand is pretty simple. If you're interested in a really dramatic Before & After check out the story of my garden transformation Here or read the full story here!