Wonder walls

Make the most of your house walls, whatever their aspect, by introducing plants that add another dimension to your garden

ONE of the easiest ways to increase the growing capacity of your garden is by making use of house walls. By doing this, you not only add what practically amounts to another dimension to the garden, but you will also provide yourself with the opportunity of enjoying the beauty of many tender and exotic plants that would not normally thrive in the open garden.

Even a seemingly inhospitable north wall can make a useful contribution. Shade-loving climbers like ivies, climbing hydrangeas and winter jasmine, together with camellias – the loveliest of spring-flowering shrubs – will all be very much at home in this situation.

Although camellias are completely hardy even in our severest winters, their opening buds and blooms are often damaged, and sometimes killed, by late spring frosts if they are allowed to thaw out too rapidly in the subsequent morning sunshine. A position on a north wall will prevent this.

Old favourites

Camellia japonica is one of the hardiest for outdoor planting. It flowers in March and April and often dodges the worst of the spring frosts. It makes a first-rate wall shrub, smothered in brilliant, exotic blooms for four-five weeks on end. It numbers among its named varieties some of the finest camellias in garden cultivation.

C.j. ‘Adolphe Audusson’, a large-flowered, scarlet, semi-double is the favourite red variety, while another old favourite is the soft-pink ‘Lady Clare’ (’Akashigata’), whose flowers often measure more than 5in (13cm) across.