Adding a Vertical Garden to the Patio

Vertical gardens are perfect for decorating brick walls and fences. They’re affordable and easy to use. I can’t think of a better way to add some whimsy and personality to your space. And best of all, you can change up the planting scheme each season.

We bought a standard felt pocket planter online and created a living painting for our patio. I’ve included photographs of the project and a list of the lessons I learned about how to keep your vertical garden looking good all summer. There’s also a link to the felt planter we purchased at the bottom of this article. I hope this inspires you to build your own vertical garden.

To achieve the look of a living painting, Tom created a frame using 2 x 4-inch boards and mounted the planter to the back. The planter has grommets along the edge. Tom attached the planter to the frame using wood screws and washers. Once the planter was mounted to the frame, it was hung onto the wall.

Here’s a photo showing the felt pocket planter mounted inside the 2 x 4-inch frame before adding the plants.

Close up image shows how the frame holds the felt pocket planter in place.

Lessons I Learned to Help You Keep Your Vertical Garden Looking Great All Summer

1. Buy Planters with Large Pockets

The most important thing I learned about felt pocket planters is that they need a lot of water. They are hanging vertically which means the water wants to run from the top to the bottom of the planter. If you get a planter with small pockets, it is going to be hard to keep those pockets watered. Resist the urge to buy a planter with tons of tiny pockets.

2. Water Your Planter Every Day

It’s essential to keep the plants in your vertical garden watered. This type of planter needs to be watered daily. When it’s watered, it will drip onto the surface below. A lot. So you need to remember that when you decide where you want to put it.

3. Plant Selection is Key

Choose plants that will grow within the limited space of a single pocket. You want plants that will grow large enough to fill up space so you can’t see the felt. Here’s the list of plants that I’ve used successfully for my vertical planters.

Coleus
Sedum
Impatiens
Heuchera (Coral Bells)
Creeping Jenny (for the lower pockets)

Felt pocket planter mounted directly to the fence.

A second vertical planter that we mounted onto the brick wall in another part of the patio.

A pocket planter using different varieties of coral bells.

Vertical garden before it grows to fill in the blank spaces.

There you have it. A quick lesson on how we added a little whimsy to our patio and fence by installing vertical gardens. I’d love to hear the lessons you learned if you grow vertical gardens. Happy gardening!