Garden Pictures Chat Corner

Did I understand correctly, you want to paint the edge stones so that they look like the paving? That’s botched.. Leave it as it is. It’s good like this.

One question.. do such rounded edge stones actually exist? Looks very neat!

I fear the thin trellis arches won’t hold the ivy in the long run.

Forget the idea. It clings to the climbing aids; you will never get it off intact.

I also fear that the thin trellises will eventually fall over with the ivy.

I’m afraid the thin trellis arches won’t hold the ivy in the long run.

Ivy "Goldchild" is a bright, luminous, golden-colored plant that is also slow-growing

to observe and prune regularly.

My wish was for taller trellises at the border, but the neighbor didn’t allow it.

However, we didn’t want to argue on that level.

I simply do not want to see any gray in my place.

For me, you have a dream house, dream ambiance, and dream garden. Nevertheless, I might not follow your recommendation and at least try painting the curbstones sandstone-colored. But I will only decide that once the front area of the garden with the house entrance, path, etc. is designed. I simply don’t want to see any gray in my garden. On top of that, the gray curbstones might simply become overgrown. Especially by the ivy, which also grows as ground cover. On the other hand, maybe by yellow-flowering sedum, I don’t know yet. Then painting would be unnecessary.

Yes, they can be bought, my husband did not cast them himself. However, I invested hundreds of hours in research and not even the professionals in hardware stores and building material suppliers knew about them for the private sector. I had to specifically say which company and where. We also couldn’t source them everywhere, but somehow it worked out. By the way, I wanted them in sandstone color too, but at some point even I give up on such things. ;-) I am very disappointed in the concrete industry. Everywhere you read and hear how versatile concrete supposedly is and what variety of colors and shapes there are, but when you look for something specific like I did, it’s not available. However, I only limited my search to Germany and maybe there is only a restricted selection for private individuals. Besides, we want to design our outdoor area quite old-fashioned, contrary to the gray trend.

I fear that too, but it doesn’t have to be permanent; as soon as it is high and dense enough, everything that can be cut off will be cut off. I am really optimistic that I can control it.

Allegedly, the adhesive roots of this ivy cannot hold onto metal; whether that is true, I will find out and then I can report back to you. I tied it with hollow cord and will continue not to let it determine its own path but will guide or cut the shoots myself. Once it’s a bit denser and reaches the final height I set, snip snap... that’s my idea. ;-)

Please see my reply to Steffi33.

What’s exciting for me first of all is whether it will develop at all. In the pictures you can see that curbstones are set on both sides, which my husband had to set in concrete. So the ivy, as a deep-rooted plant, "actually" does not have that much space. Whether it will break the concrete, I don’t know.

I fear so too. I also think they are too beautiful to just let them overgrow. Maybe save the trellises and put an inexpensive chain-link fence there. Because sooner or later, the ivy will become opaque.

But you want it quickly, so why slow-growing?!

But you know: pruning causes a plant to branch out more.

I would have trellised or fenced at the same height,
… not argued! Because fences aren't set too black, but only too high.

Even if you always prune it, the main shoots will be thumb-thick.

At least that’s my experience with normal ivy. I'm curious how yours will turn out. Report back in 2 to 3 years.

I hope to find a way to guide the ivy so that some of the trellises remain visible

My husband thinks that I often ask too much.