Recommend a plant to cover top of wall.

Colm R

Hi Gardners - I'm looking for a recommendation on a specific plant for my needs.

I have roadside 5 foot sandstone wall where the garden behind it is flush with the top of the wall. I have a fence about 3 feet back from the wall and the wall itself is about a 18 inches thick but is not capped.

I now want to grow *something* directly behind the wall will do the following.

- not really grow more than 6 or 7 inches high (or be happy for me to keep it trimmed at that height).

- would grow out and spread over the top of the wall covering the 18 inch thickness. (I want the whole wall to be covered in this at the top, but only allow it to come down a couple of inches on the face of the wall - again, I'm happy to keep it trimmed if its happy to allow me) .

- Would like it to look vibrant colour wise, but also not to look to run down in the winter. (is this even possible)

- Its south facing, but also very open to the prevailing wind. That said, in Summer, it is shaded by large trees across the road.

So - can you recommend a type of plant for this? The winner gets a photo of it in a few years when its established!!

looksee

There are a good few options, but I would suggest sedums - there are lots, choose what looks most likely. https://www.google.ie/search?q=stone+crop&rlz=1C1AVNC_enIE603IE603&espv=2&biw=1079&bih=602&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjZj--Z55HPAhXJK8AKHdrVAtYQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=ke8hsP6nIlNtqM%3A

You might have to do a bit of sorting every couple of years as some of them grow outwards and leave dead looking middles, but its an occasional job, and they don't need pruning or trimming.

Wild strawberries (alpine) are also good, they flower and fruit for quite a lot of the year and generally do not completely die back. Wild violets are another possibility, they will cover the ground with a mat of rather attractive evergreen foliage and have pretty flowers in spring.

smacl

What I did was try a variety of different alpines to see what took and what I liked. You often get specials on alpines in garden centres where you get a decent variety at a low cost. One I really like is the native wild thyme, which is also great for cooking with.

looksee

Just imagining a stone wall topped with wild thyme, wild strawberries and wild violets, maybe a patch or two of yellow primroses, would be gorgeous. While the cover would be pretty much evergreen, the flowers would be more subtle than vibrant.