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Gardening is a great way to enhance your backyard or even your home’s interior, but a traditional garden can take up a lot of space.
Vertical gardens are a nice alternative to a traditional garden, especially if you have a small yard or want to plant an indoor garden.
And while vertical gardens are the perfect way to start gardening in a small space, you need to think carefully about the types of plants you put in your upright garden.
These six beautiful plants are a great choice for your vertical garden.
What is a Vertical Garden?
Vertical gardens use structures to create a garden that grows upward instead of outward. A type of container garden, vertical gardens are great for creating a garden area in a small space or even indoors.
There are a variety of places and ways you can create a vertical garden, making it optimal for growing flowers or veggies on decks, patios, indoor walls, and porches.
How to Pick Plants for Your Vertical Garden
Since vertical gardening requires less space than a traditional garden, there are a few things to consider when deciding which plants to add to your garden.
First, you’ll need to consider the space each plant needs to properly grow.
Large plants need plenty of space to establish their roots, making a vertical garden a less than optimal growing environment for bigger plants. But small plants with more delicate root systems are perfect for your vertical garden.
In addition to the size of the plants in your garden, you’ll also need to think about the location of your vertical garden when deciding what types of plants to add.
The amount of sunlight and natural water your garden will get throughout the day can help determine the types of plants that are best suited for your garden.
Flowering Vines for Vertical Gardens
Since vine plants enjoy growing vertically already, they are a great option for your vertical garden.
Planting flowering vines in your vertical garden is a great way to add visual interest and a pop of color to your upright garden area.
Annual flower vines are often a great choice for vertical gardens because they require less maintenance than perennial vines.
Black-eyed Susan vines offer beautiful color with their yellow or orange blooms, while the cardinal climber can provide lots of green foliage and red or pink blooms to your vertical garden.
Other great annual flowering vines for vertical gardens include cypress vine, moonflower, and hyacinth bean.
Bromeliads
To create a tropical vertical garden, bromeliads are a great choice.
These lush plants are perfect for growing vertically because their roots require very little soil to thrive.
Most bromeliads are considered epiphytes, which means they can grow on wood surfaces without any soil at all.
And while bromeliads are a hearty plant, they’re very easy to maintain.
On top of being ideal for growing in a vertical garden, bromeliads are also beautiful.
Their rosette of leaves that come in a variety of colors will add a ton of visual interest to your vertical garden.
Ferns
For a vertical garden in a shady area, choose ferns for your space.
These lush, green plants can serve as a beautiful backdrop to other shade-loving plants in your vertical garden. And with so many varieties to choose from, you can be sure to find a type of fern that you’ll love.
While some let their leaves trail down the vertical garden, others form lovely rosettes with their leaves.
Orchids
To create a vertical garden with both stunning color and amazing fragrance, choose orchids. And while there are more than 28,000 types of orchids, an array of orchid species are epiphytes, making them great for a vertical garden.
Varieties like moth orchids, which provide colorful blooms even when grown indoors, and Vanda orchids, which come in a range of colors including red, hot pink, blue, and purple, are ideal for growing in a vertical garden.
When planting these types of orchids in your vertical garden, use moss instead of soil to provide the flowers the nutrients they need.
Hostas
Since hostas need shade and a cool climate, they’re often chosen as decorative border plants in shady gardens.
But those growing conditions are also ideal for shaded vertical gardens, especially if you’re searching for a low-maintenance perennial to add to your floral display.
With their striking green patterned leaves and beautiful white flowers that bloom in the summer, hostas are a show-stopping addition to any vertical garden.
Succulents
If you plan to grow your vertical garden indoors, succulents are a great choice.
Succulents are often low-maintenance plants that don’t develop a large root system and don’t need much water, both great characteristics for growing in a vertical garden.
Hen and chick varieties, like echeveria or sempervivum, are great for vertical gardens. Their rosette growth formation makes them look like a hearty flower!
Other wonderful options for an indoor succulent garden are crassula (jade plant), which have fun triangular leaves, or sedum, which provides great filler for gaps in your vertical succulent garden.
What are your favorite plants for a vertical garden? Let me know in the comments below.
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