What Plants Can Decorate Old Buildings

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

The use of girlish grapes, decorative pumpkins and tladiants to hide unsightly places in the country

Many summer residents and gardeners, especially pensioners, do not always have the ability to maintain their buildings - a house, a utility block, a bathhouse, a fence, a gazebo and other buildings in good condition.

In our climate, under the influence of variable temperatures and high air humidity, these buildings decay over time and lose their former attractiveness.

Is there a way to somehow hide the unsightly sides of the buildings? Yes, and he is well known to many experienced summer residents. They know that many climbing plants are quite capable of effectively and almost costlessly decorating the appearance of buildings, at least temporarily. Moreover, it does not have to be already well-known vines - actinidia, lemongrass, grapes, clematis, but also such rare plants in our country as maiden (wild) grapes, ornamental pumpkin, tladiana and decorators from nature - alpine plants.

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I would like to point out that girlish grapes are a very unpretentious plant. It is winter-hardy, grows very quickly and rapidly.

This grape is completely insensitive to air pollution, and if you imagine a place in the shade or partial shade on fertile loose soil, it produces large, dense and bright foliage.

Young plants of maiden grapes are easy to obtain by bending one of the vines and sprinkling it with earth. Moreover, instead of 2-3 years, which would be required, for example, for actinidia or lemongrass, a seedling of this grape is ready for planting next year.

Maiden grapes can be planted not only near the house, utility block, barn or fence, but also near a separate post or tree trunk. Growing up, it covers the entire area presented to it with an unusually thick green carpet, which by autumn becomes crimson, decorating not only the buildings, but the mustache site.

It is quite capable of decorating both old buildings and the plot with a decorative pumpkin, which differs from the usual in smaller thick leaves and bright fruits of the most varied colors. To grow this pumpkin, special skill and labor is not needed.

To do this, it is necessary to sow seeds for seedlings in April, which in May then be planted in open ground. When choosing a place for planting a decorative pumpkin and its cultivation, it should be borne in mind that this plant is light-loving and moisture-loving, but does not tolerate swampy and dense soils with an acid reaction.

The pumpkin feels best and grows on the south side of the buildings, along the fences, and on the site itself - either on the pergola in the recreation area, or around the stakes driven in the house in the form of a tent. During its four-month growing season, the ornamental pumpkin responds well to feeding.

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From my own experience I know that it takes root well on our land and decorates any buildings and plot of the tladiant - a perennial liana of the pumpkin family with very bright yellow flowers and reddish edible fruits, like a cucumber.

This plant propagates by tubers and seeds and grows very quickly, giving a daily growth of shoots up to 15-20 cm. The seeds germinate it in the same way as the seeds of cucumbers in spring, but in the first year there are no fruits.

Since the roots of tladians are able to go very deep into the soil, it is useful to put a sheet of iron or slate at a depth of 50-60 cm when planting, thanks to this the plant feels better, rising with the help of antennae to almost any height of an unsightly building.

Alpine plants have already begun to be actively used on the plots, but so far most often in mixborders, on alpine slides, in flowerpots and containers.

However, they are no worse suited for decorating walls, terraces and even roofs with small slopes. Such "Alpines" as sedum, saxifrage or resinous very quickly settle down in these conditions, climbing boldly over the surfaces that have turned gray from time to time, and his ability to settle on roofs was even entrenched in the name of one of the species - rejuvenated roofing.

By the end of June, tall peduncles appear above the cover of its leafy rosettes, painting the roof in mauve tones, and then, when the plant has faded, it forms many young offspring, which turn green again, decorating the old structure. Accustomed to being content with little in nature, all "Alpines" follow this habit in culture: they are graceful even on not very fertile soil, and, growing on it, are able to suppress weeds, and they almost do not require any maintenance.

I noticed that some summer residents and gardeners are sometimes afraid of non-traditional decorator plants because of the supposedly inevitable damage to old walls from their cultivation. However, as many years of experience show, this is not entirely true. All crops in question are deciduous plants. Freed from foliage, they do not interfere with the ventilation of buildings in the rainy season and do not form moisture on the walls. It is only necessary, if necessary, to promptly cut off old dried shoots and remove fallen leaves.