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I'm dusting off the old blog today since this project seems to fit here a bit better than over at the farm blog. Over the past two years in our backyard, we've removed a few trees and the raised beds that didn't get any sun and have put my grandparent's rehabbed picnic table into the back corner of the garden. Last summer, we enjoyed eating our BBQ dinners tucked into the leafy surrounds of the garden, but realized that it gets very dark after the sun goes down. I spent the winter scheming about how I could get some light back there and decided I needed some vintage oil lanterns hanging on the fence to add ambient light in the evenings (bonus - fill them with citronella oil and keep the mosquitoes away too!) I hit the jackpot a few months ago and found three working, colorful lanterns at one of the Second Sunday Antique Markets in downtown Sacramento.
To complete my garden dining room, I also decided to hang some Woolly Pockets that would make the fence a lush, green living wall. After measuring and deciding on the layout, I ordered four Wally Ones to flank my oil lanterns. Here's what the space looked like before:
The Woolly Pocket installation was super easy. Measure, level, drill two (provided) screws into the fence wall. And voila! I had four pockets up in about 30 minutes. By myself. And that included the ten minutes it took me to figure out how to change the drill bit.
Then, I hung the lanterns. I selected hanging brackets that keep the lanterns about 18" away from the fence since I don't want hot lanterns leaning on a wooden fence.
Now, its time to plant! Woolly Pockets suggests three "full sized" plants per pocket: a Thriller, a Filler and a Spiller. This actually made shopping for plants much easier and helped me focus while plant shopping - which is always a challenge for me! So I purchased a total of 12 one gallon plants for my four pockets. The pockets on the left are almost completely in the shade so I selected a couple of ferns, a hosta, a small gardenia and two licorice plants. For the pockets on the right that get some sun I picked a salvia, two trailing lantana, a red hot poker (that's actually a creamy white color) and a few other filler plants.
As suggested in the instructions, I arranged the plants in the pockets while still in their pots to make sure I liked the layout which was a great idea since I swapped plants quite a few times before settling on the final combination.
Just like that, I completely changed the feel of my garden dining room in one afternoon. As the plants fill in, they should completely cover the pockets and make it feel even more like a living wall. All that was left to do was put the umbrella up, light the lanterns, pour myself a glass of wine and relax....
