A
pergola, woven with colorful vines, is the doorway to a shady
garden of nearly 1,000 different plants. A house perched atop
a three-tiered terrace wall overlooks the landscape. Narrow pathways
lead around a center garden filled with snowball-shaped boxwoods
and trickling fountains.
Rather than the rolling acres expected from such a varied growing
canvas, this garden is tucked into a 3/4-acre plot in Squirrel
Hill. The confined outdoor
space for most city dwellers doesn’t require sacrificing a harvest of flowers,
fruits and vegetables. An urban garden, whether it is a patio, rooftop, deck
or small yard, has the potential to be just as beautiful and bountiful as a large
garden. But a well-planned space still requires upkeep and attention. “Even
small gardens take a lot of time,” says Camille Bondi, owner of the flourishing
East End garden and a Phipps master gardener. She and her husband, Dick, in collaboration
with landscape architect Albert Seppi Jr., have spent several decades creating
this lush space. “I sometimes spend eight hours a day in here. I call it
blitz gardening,” says Bondi.
In addition to being aesthetically pleasing, city gardens are very pragmatic.
They block the view of neighboring properties, add privacy, clean the air from
pollutants and even camouflage odors. “Fragrance is so important for a
city garden to deal with urban smells,” says Rebecca Henn, a principal
of Celento Henn architects and a Phipps master gardener. Henn speaks from her
own experiences helping others plan their spaces, as well as molding her own
Regent Square garden.
Whether it is a small patch of land or a fire-escape landing, urban gardening
requires innovation in both plant selection and space planning. Selecting plants
Urban gardeners follow a different set of rules than homeowners with more expansive
landscapes. Respecting the restrictions of city gardening—like availability
of sunlight and space—will lead to a more successful garden. “I
had to come to terms with the light available to me,” Bondi explains.
Rather than struggling with low-performing, sun-loving plants, Bondi’s
yard is filled with plants that like shade or only partial sun like the several
dozen varieties of hostas throughout the garden. Chuck Beck, manager of Oakland’s
Sestili Nursery, advises many city gardeners. “A lot of the selection
has to do with exposure to the sun, and those living in the city have a lot
of shade,” he explains
Many city yards are shaded from towering, century-old trees or nearby buildings,
so Henn recommends woodland plants that are native to the area and will tolerate
harsh winters and shaded yards. Some woodland plants that can be especially
successful for city dwelling are oakleaf hydrangea, mountain laurel and azaleas.
On the other hand, rooftops and deck gardens are subject to full sun. Some
good candidates here are perennial grasses, purple coneflower and goldenrod,
which will all thrive in dry, sunny locations. Margie Radebaugh, head of education
for Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, also recommends succulents and
yuccas for an area exposed to full sun and less frequent watering.
A plant’s growth potential is another important consideration. Henn advises, “Know
what the final size of the plant will be before you grow yourself out of house
and home.” Candace Banks, owner of Garden Spots Lawn and Garden in Marshall,
says, “It is critical for those with a small space to think about scale.” Understanding
the genetics of a plant to envision its final shape and form will help to understand
how it will fit into a garden. But Banks warns against filling up a garden
with a lot of small plants. “That will just make the space look cluttered,” she
says.
Branch and leaf size also determine how a plant will fit into the scale of
the garden. Cut-leaf trees and bushes—like Japanese maples—have
delicate leaves and shorter branches to suit a smaller space. Understory trees—trees
that don’t grow more than 20 feet—like a flowering red bud are
the best choices for city lots because they do not have overzealous root systems. “They
won’t get out of hand and will provide some extra color in the spring,” Beck
says.
But with the restrictions comes some good news. All of the cement and buildings
hold in a little extra heat, adding to the city’s growing season. “The
city is a microclimate,” Henn explains. With a different hardiness zone
from their suburban neighbors, city gardens will have an extended growing season,
with flowers blooming a bit sooner and frosts beginning later. Raised beds
Camille Bondi used raised beds throughout her yard to define the gardens, separating
them from walkways and resting spots.
Beck says that raised beds are an opportunity to amend the soil and increase
drainage. In a yard that already has grass and earth, this means mounding topsoil
and bordering it with rocks to maintain its shape and to keep the dirt from
washing away.
Small terrace walls created from stone, brick or railroad ties can be added
to the border of a cement patio to heighten the growing space and to create
a place for some permanent planting. These can be a few inches or a few feet
high, depending on what is intended for that space. Shallow gardens are ideal
for annuals, while deeper spaces accommodate perennials, bushes and bulbs. Companion planting
Growing vegetables doesn’t have to mean sacrificing aesthetics in a tight
space. Companion planting takes advantage of the growing area, combining items
that will happily live together.
The French kitchen garden, or potager, focuses on the potential beauty of an
edible garden. For an entirely consumable garden, Radebaugh from Phipps suggests
adding edible flowers like pansies and nasturtiums to the vegetable garden.
Verbanic says that that companion planting also can fight pests naturally.
For example, a perimeter of onions provides a flowering exterior but also deters
rabbits and confuses bugs, while garlic prevents aphids from damaging roses.
“There is an element of necessity to being creative when growing in a limited
space,” Verbanic says. “There is a lot you can do with a little bit
of soil.” Container gardens
A fountain trickles in the dark sky, illuminated by glowing lights beneath.
Water lilies float in a reflection pool, surrounded by several dozen pots
of white delphinium, German myrtle topiaries and rose bushes. Stories above
the sidewalks of South Side, Frank Warninsky uses containers to add greenery
to his third-floor deck, making the most of the loft’s outdoor space.
The reality of grassless living is that there is no place to dig down for developing
roots. Pots, baskets and planters, available in materials like clay, stone,
cement, wood, wire and plastic, can be a foundation for many different plants.
“We wanted a moonlight garden,” Warninsky says of the white flowering
plants that seemingly glow under the night sky. So he and his partner brought
their garden with them, one pot at a time. The combination of roses for the full-sun
deck and potted elephant ears for shaded areas allows for different groupings
of plants in conditions where they will be most prolific.
Phipps’ Radebaugh says annuals are a great place to start when beginning
a container garden. “Mix colors, textures and heights,” she says.
Combine colored foliage plants like coleus and ipomoea, tall grasses for height
like ruberum, and repeat-flowering varieties like petunias. “And plant
everything close together for impact,” she adds, whether it is for pots
or hanging baskets.
Perennials with clumping roots—coneflowers, grasses and sages, for example—can
be grown in larger containers if they are winterized correctly. Pots should
be stored in a protected area that is cool, such as an unheated garage, but
that will not be subject to freezing and thawing.
Radebaugh also suggests growing small evergreens and trees in containers, taking
extra measures for over-wintering. “Be sure that plants are in scale
with the container,” she suggests. Containers can also suppress invasive,
fast-spreading plants like mint and bamboo, which would otherwise take over
a garden.
Jodi Verbanic, co-owner of Urban Roots, an organic farm on a quarter of an
acre in Crafton, suggests that vegetables like salad greens, tomatoes and carrots
can all successfully be grown in pots. The availability of dwarf fruit trees
that live indoors during the winter open up the possibility of growing figs,
Meyer lemons, limes and oranges in large containers. Keep in mind that containers
need to be drained. Whatever catches the water should be spilled. No plant
should sit in water. Vertical gardening
Because city gardeners face the reality of limited space for planting, the
perimeters of the garden have to be extended in another direction. “Pergolas
give me more planting space and a chance to grow different things, like clematis
and sugarcane,” Camille Bondi explains. Climbing plants use a new growing
space and can trail up a fence, along the side of the house or around a lamp
or mailbox post. Potted vines can be trained into a topiary using a skeletal
ornament.
Growing upward also decorates eye-level spaces camouflaging less-attractive
surroundings. “A lot of people have fences, and you can cover up wood
or links and soften it,” Sestili’s Beck says.
Evan Verbanic, co-owner of Urban Roots, uses trellises for wandering vegetables
like cucumbers, squash and pumpkins. “The vegetables can just hang from
the vines, and it gives us more space to grow,” he says. Bondi’s
grapevine-covered arbor creates a little pocket of living space for stolen
moments where he can stop and smell the flowers. She says, “I like to
sit under here and have a glass of wine.”
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