By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer
Now here's a bright idea. Laguna Beach homeowners Lisa and Ed Applebaum wanted a little privacy screening for their front yard. But, as the photos below show, there wasn't much space between their house and the street. So planting trees or tall shrubs to give them the desired screening wasn't a viable option. It would have made the small space too dark anyway. So the Applebaums decided to go vertical.
Their first thought was to install two trellises for vines -- one at the street level and the other behind the retaining wall that defines the edge of their sunken front patio. But some wooden cachepots from IKEA the Applebaums were using to hold houseplants gave them another idea. Why not buy more of these boxes, build structures especially designed to hold them, and create an aerial garden for an assortment of herbs and ornamentals? And that's what the Applebaums did.
The arrangement is very flexible, says Ed. They can easily slide the boxes in and out for watering and replanting and push them back and forth to vary the pattern. "And visitors love walking through this passageway," he adds. "It's unexpected and seems to put a smile on everyone's face."
Photos by Claire Curran
Applebaum's screen is 6 feet high, and just over 8 feet wide, and the frame is made of steel. But you could make the screen larger or smaller, depending on your situation, and the frame could be wood instead of steel.
Measure your space and build the frame to fit.
The Applebaums used:
* 8 x 6-foot steel fabricated frame
* 2-1/2" x 1-1/4" redwood boards for the horizontal pieces
* 5-1/2" x 1-1/4" redwood boards for the outside trim
* Bjuron wooden boxes from IKEA (6-1/4" square by 5-1/4" tall)
* Tin or small terracotta pots and saucers
Space horizontal boards just a hair's breadth over 5-1/4" apart (about 5-3/8"). You want the wooden boxes to fit snugly.
Anchor the frame by bolting or pour concrete piles beforehand as you would for any fence.
Fit boxes between horizontal beams.
Drill draining holes into pots, if necessary. Fill with potting soil and herbs from 6 packs or 4-inch pots.
Place potted plants into boxes.
Arrange boxes as desired.
