Planting a Stone Wall
Last week on my television show, we celebrated Earth Day and one of my guests was Ed Snodgrass of Emory Knoll Farms, who showed us how to build a lush rooftop garden called a green roof. Green roofs are beneficial in that they absorb water, provide insulation, and create a habitat for wildlife. The plant materials he suggests for this project are succulents and sedums. These hardy ground covers grow rapidly and are quite persistent. Following the demonstration, we were left with several flats of these plants. Although there weren’t enough to cover a rooftop, I did put them to very good use.
1 After buying my farm in Bedford, many construction projects took place, including the building of a large stone terrace off the backside of my home.
2 The terrace overlooks the farm and I have taken many, many lovely photographs at dawn from this vantage point. The trees blooming in the foreground are apple espalier. The buds are large and plentiful this year.
3 The Camperdown elm trees are especially pretty at this time of year. Princess Peony is out enjoying the morning light.
4 Because it's off the kitchen, the corner gardens are planted with culinary herbs for easy picking.
5 The terrace gardens are growing extremely well and have really filled out in recent years. I love the contrast of the green boxwood and the golden barberry shrubs.
6 Stairs lead down to the roadway where the terrace ends in a long stone wall.
7 These are some of the sedum left over from the TV segment.
8 Sedum, a large genus of flowering plants, are also known as stonecrops and are members of the succulent family.
9 Sedum have fleshy, water-storing leaves and are drought tolerant.
10 I love sedum because they're so diverse and have such an interesting appearance.
11 Sedums really work well in rock gardens.
12 They also do really well growing along stone walkways and even between the crevices in stone walls! Here is my gardener, Ryan McCallister, busy at work.
13 For the sedum that was planted in one large mat, Ryan carefully divided the plants into small sections.
14 He then tucked the roots between two stones.
15 He then pressed some potting soil into the crack, covering the roots.
16 This sedum was planted individually and has a more established root system.
17 Ryan found larger spaces to accommodate those plants.
18 I first planted sedum in walls many years ago at my home on Turkey Hill. I wonder if it is still thriving there.
19 Ryan, who is from warm and sunny Los Angeles, tells me that it's not uncommon to see full-size succulents and other varieties of plants growing in this manner.
20 Most sedum has a trailing nature and will hopefully begin cascading down the side of the wall.
21 Once the roots take hold, the plant will wedge itself in and begin to spread.
22 Once sedums become established, they require very little supplemental water to thrive.
23 Sedums thrive nearly anywhere, as long as they get good drainage.
24 Most creeping sedums prefer full sun but will tolerate partial shade.
25 To provide interest, Ryan was careful to alternate the different varieties along the length of the wall.
26 I can't wait to see how these plants grow in their new environment and to share their progress with you.
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Simply beautiful and very informative. I watched the Earth Day show online, love it
Posted by: Rowaida Flayhan | April 24th, 2012 at 2:29 am
beautiful, I like it.
Posted by: Carlos Bonilla | April 24th, 2012 at 2:56 am
Does water in the plant and soil freeze in the winter and hurt the wall? The craftsmanship in that wall and walkway is extraordianry!
Posted by: Karen | April 24th, 2012 at 4:44 am
Our mother grew up in a house made out of rocks and I love this planting for rock wall. Snodgrass's roof of living plants not so good around here but Kathy did give me some Dragon's blood sedum for edging. Stone troughs under Camperdown elm may be the easiest but are they planted with sedum?
Posted by: ann | April 24th, 2012 at 7:49 am
What a clever way to use the leftover sedum. Your rock wall is beautiful and I can't wait to see how it looks when the sedum takes hold and starts growing. Thanks for the pictures Martha! I can't wait to see your show today featuring
food from your new cookbook, Martha's American Food!
Posted by: Cindy F | April 24th, 2012 at 8:22 am
I LOVE the idea of planting in the wall. I am always trimming back the ivy on our stone wall because it seems to be strong enough to move the stones. The sedum seems gentle. Lovely photos of your property.
Posted by: Nantucket Daffodil | April 24th, 2012 at 9:26 am
Thank you for educating me about sedums Martha! At my house, we have a modest shade garden in our back yard filled with native plants that runs along the length of our patio. We have sedums planted along with lady ferns and viola labradorica. The sedums, in particular, are so full and lush this year with their beautiful blooms. They've also become quite large, but they look beautiful with the viola labradorica nestled next to them. Thanks again for another fascinating blog from the farm! Walter H.
Posted by: Walter | April 24th, 2012 at 9:47 am
Hi Martha, You sure did put those terrific sedums to good use between the crevices along the stone walls at your beautiful Bedford farm! Ryan sure was doing a great job applying them all along that gorgeous walkway! I can't wait to see how well those sedums grow all along that stone wall! Everyone of these photos today is absolutely awesome and sure hope the rain is helping your farm and not damaging anything! I have beautiful sedums growing all along my huge rockery all along my driveway! They have been there growing well ever since I bought my home back in July of 1970 and produce more every year and spread all around the rocks! I love them and the little flowers they produce are so lovely! Hope you have a great day today especially signing your newest book for your fans! Off to see The Daily Wag and am worried about Francesca's sore eye-sure hope it gets better real soon! Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | April 24th, 2012 at 10:14 am
I love your stone walls and walkways...just beautiful!
Posted by: Andrea Dean | April 24th, 2012 at 10:34 am
Martha,
Thanks for sharing this blog.
Posted by: KLBrown | April 24th, 2012 at 10:47 am
Hope you will check out our website,there may be some plants ,you would like.Thanks
Posted by: Johnsie Krause | April 24th, 2012 at 10:58 am
Hi Martha,
I wish I had a stone wall - yours is so fantastic looking and will look even better with the sedum growing in it. I have a few big stones in my front yard garden that are so heavy I’m wondering who put them there in the first place. Maybe my son – I can only roll them when I want them moved. Your stone terrace is also beautiful – you always have such great landscape ideas. I can’t even decide where to put a plant sometimes.
~
Martha’s American Food show was great today with recipes and film clips showing your travels around America and of course, eating America’s great food. It is also nice that you are having a contest on Twitter for people to win a copy of the book. As you know, I’m not a ‘new’ follower of yours but I retweeted your contest tweet anyway. Have a great day – I’m off to move some decorative stones around the perimeter of my garden. Trish
Posted by: Trish | April 24th, 2012 at 11:27 am
So,so,so sad that your show has been cancelled. Hope another network can see how dear you are us. Hallmarks loss!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Tammy SMith | April 26th, 2012 at 11:52 pm
Adored the pictures tucking the sedum in between the stones. Great pic ideas!
I have this blog page scheduled to post to our Facebook fan page on Thursday (October 18th).
Thank you.
Cheryl Jones
Greenwood Nursery
Posted by: Greenwood Nursery | October 15th, 2012 at 3:56 pm