Hide the Concrete
I like to play a little game in one of my gardens called “Hide the Concrete.” You see, it is a rooftop garden over the 200-car garage here at the Garden. This garden can really heat up on a sunny day. My job is to cool the space as much as possible with greenery.
The walls are the easiest to hide. Weeping cherries and a Lavender Twist redbud cascade down from above and New Dawn climbing roses, Sweet Autumn clematis and Japanese Climbing hydrangeas work their way up to blanket the concrete.
Walkways are a bit more difficult to hide being that they still have to be passable, but the extra-wide walks are invaded by junipers and cotoneaster. This softens the hard lines formed by the edge of the concrete.
Concrete drives are the most difficult. Any plant spilling into the drives will certainly be run over. I learned this last year, because every time my sweet potato vine crept over the curb, it would meet up with a car tire. And the tire always got the better of the encounter. So, I am working overhead to shade the concrete drives. I planted some new oaks along the drive last year. I selected a Chinquapin Oak because of its breadth. It gets wider than it is tall. Although I will be long gone before it reaches maturity, I have satisfaction in knowing that the "Hide the Concrete" game will continue!
Posted by Bob Rensel
RSS 2.0
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:07 pm
I enjoyed Rob Rensel’s approach to concrete and wish others would follow his lead. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen, even when it is supposed to. In an agreeable, moderately affluent neighborhood in Baltimore, where I live, a hospital erected a hideously ugly parking garage.
I managed to see the artist’s conception of the building and there were graceful vines trailing from planters on the outside of the building. Sure enough, there are planters on the garage just where the artist drew them, but no vines. There are only a few struggling seedlings.
I don’t know if there was ever anything attractive growing in those boxes, but if there was it died from neglect and the hospital’s failure to follow through on their explicit promise (explicit in the artist’s drawing), not to create a too-ugly eyesore in that neighborhood. Thank you, Bob, for covering ugliness.
John Fiege
Baltimore, Maryland
May 6th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
How do I care for an Azalia Bozai???