If space is at a premium in your garden, try espaliering. This is an old French method of training small trees and shrubs against a wall or fence in a flat pattern.
Not only do such plants make the most of every inch of space, but they are decorative as well— and the protection of the wall permits the growth of plants not otherwise hardy.
Well-Suited Plants For Espaliering
Fruit trees such as pear, plum, cherry, and apple grafted to dwarf stock are perhaps the most rewarding plants since they are both useful and decorative.
The wall protects the blossoms against late frosts. Birds will rarely attack fruit so close to the wall, and dead trees are easily protected from insects.
Other plants well suited to espaliering are pyracantha, Elaeagnus (Russian olive), euonymus, althaea, wisteria, and magnolia.
Fast-Growing Pyracantha
Pyracantha is especially recommended because it is fast-growing, evergreen, and produces myriads of white blossoms in the spring and red berries in the fall.
Plants may be trained in almost any design the space demands. Fan, candelabra, and grid are the most common.
Merely decide on a design and arrange means of holding the tender growth in place while it hardens.
This is best done by placing nails or toggle bolts in the wall and stretching wire over them to block off the design.
The design may also be worked out with vine ties— disks with tie wire in the center to hold the branches.
Or if you wish to start the plant before setting it in its permanent location, a wooden trellis may be used.
Hardy Plants For Trellises
Hardy plants trained on trellises make an ideal screen for service areas on small lots. Select a vigorous young plant with a straight stem and no branches. Cut it back to between 12” and 18” inches.
When new growth begins, select the strongest shoots, secure them in your pattern, and pinch off the others.
Inspect the plant regularly and prune undesirable growth ruthlessly before it can sap the strength of the branches in the design.
For a grid design, it’s best to save 3 shoots. Bend the two strongest horizontally and tie them firmly.
Let the third grow straight for about 18” inches. Then cut it back and save three of the new shoots that come out.
Train two of these horizontally and let the third go up. Repeat until the grid has the desired number of tiers.
Candelabra Design
A candelabra design is made the same way as the grid, except the horizontal branches can turn up after running several feet.
A fan is made by forcing as many shoots as possible from one central point.
This is done by saving as many odd-numbered shoots as possible the first year, taking one straight up, and fanning the others on either side. ‘
File the second year, cut the center one back sharply and similarly train the new growth. Repeat each year until the fan has reached the fullness desired.
Espaliered plants are invaluable for decorating blank walls or fences. They are something different for the garden— and they are fascinating to grow.
44659 by Marilyn Mcadams Sibley