Concrete beds can be used to your benefit

Dear Sandi: We recently moved into a house that has a number of landscaping challenges. Next to the driveway, the former owners had a short cement wall built to act as a retaining wall for a raised planting bed for vegetables. The problem is it is very inconvenient to maintain, and of course, in the winter, it is going to look particularly bad. What can we do that would be easy to take care of and still look presentable? — Pamela L. Salem

Hi, Pamela: Well, you know the old saying, “If you have a lemon, make lemonade.” Looks like you guys may have inherited a lemon, so lets see what you can do to turn it into lemonade.

Raised concrete garden beds at Edgefield in Portland combine slow- and low-growing conifers and junipers with rocks and a variety of ground covers.

Actually, you may have the makings of a rather interesting garden feature. I realize that raised beds of any kind can be a bit of a mixed blessing. Often they are too wide to easily weed without climbing into them, and other tasks, such as picking and/or harvesting a crop can be a bit difficult. But think about putting something into this area that requires a minimum amount of care.

Whenever my husband, Art, and I are flying out of the Portland airport, we always make it a point to get a morning flight, then we go up to Portland early the evening before and have a nice leisurely dinner at one of our three or four favorite spots. Last month, we decided to have dinner at Edgefield. We love going there in the summertime because the gardens are interesting to walk through, and as long as the weather is warm, it is delightful to eat outdoors.

This time, we gave ourselves a few hours to meander around the estate. And, what do you think they have, right in the middle of their grounds? The same situation as it sounds like you have, Pamela. Here are these large, cement-ringed areas that easily could be an eyesore, but instead, they have been turned into charming, decorative planting areas for a number of easy-care plants.

A number of different things have been done with these concrete containers. Small, slow- and low-growing conifers and junipers are used as the backbone, then other ground-hugging plant material are added, interspersed with some larger rocks and topped with a decorative pebble mulch.

Whether you're looking for handmade paper, furniture, fabric or accessories, you will find it at loose ends. If it is unusual, organic and fabulous, then loose ends is the place. Showroom hours are 8 am to 5 pm weekdays and the first Saturday of each month 10 am - 3pm at 2065 Madrona Ave. SE, Salem, or visit us online at www.looseends.com Questions? Give us a call at (503) 390-2348.

You want to look for small trees or shrubs that are very slow growing. Plant material that often is sold as bonsai starters can be a good candidate for this type of planting.

Another personal favorite that would work here are sedums and other succulents. They require very little in the way of care, and one of the big advantages to many of them is that you can snap off small pieces and pop them into the dirt to get them to take root. It is a very quick, easy and cost-effective way of getting a lot of interesting plant material.

Another big advantage to working with succulents and sedums is that they make good neighbors. Very few are really aggressive or invasive, so you can mix a lot of different ones into an area for variety of color, shape and texture, yet no one particular plant will take over.

These hardy little fellows come in a wide range of hues, including creams, burgundy and various shades of green, giving you a lot of colorful options. There are a number that are very low growing, and they look wonderful when four or five varieties in various shades are planted together, forming a colorful patchwork effect as they spread.

Sandi Reinke is an author, frequent television guest and lead designer for loose ends (www.loosends.com), a Salem-based interior décor, garden, and casual lifestyle company. To ask Reinke a decorating question, e-mail art@looseends.com or mail her at the showroom address, 2065 Madrona Ave. SE, Salem, OR 97302. Phone: 503-390-2348.

An added bonus is that most of them have a fairly long flowering period in the summer. Once they are established, they don’t require much in the way of care, are not heavy drinkers ,and seem to be impervious to most types of diseases and/or insects that might plague less hardy plants.

Because many of the plants in these families are of the ground-cover variety, they will happily spill over the sides of the concrete, softening the hard edges.

As you can probably tell, I am a big fan of these wonderful little plants. They are easy, hardy and non-invasive, and you’ll have an endless supply of starts to give to your friends and neighbors.

You can, of course, mix the two approaches, using taller, slow-growing varieties of small shrubs to give your area the structure that you want, then use the sedums and succulents as your ground cover. September 30, 2005