Garbage to Garden: A Vacant Philly Lot Gets Some Green-Thumb Love
Transformed by an artist, this once-derelict urban property is now a tranquil garden with living walls
The owner of a new coffee shop in Philadelphia's Point Breeze area hired artist and designer Becky Bourdeau to create an open urban garden space and inviting seating areas in an abandoned garbage-strewn plot out back. Now a garden of tough but beautiful plants plus open space, seating, room for a slow stroll and an artistic living wall create a place that benefits the entire neighborhood. Here's how Bourdeau did it, complete with a list of the low-maintenance plants she used and realistic advice for creating a vertical garden of your own.
Project: Urban lot–turned–public garden
Location: Point Breeze area of Philadelphia
Budget: $20,000 (does not include debris removal and fencing)
Project: Urban lot–turned–public garden
Location: Point Breeze area of Philadelphia
Budget: $20,000 (does not include debris removal and fencing)
AFTER: The proprietor took care of clearing the debris, garbage and Jersey barriers. Next the entire lot was scraped down to about 6 inches below grade. The installation team from Philadelphia's Urban Jungle laid landscape fabric over the soil, then added 6 inches of pea gravel.
"Pea gravel is one of my favorite garden floor materials, because it is stylistically versatile, environmentally sensitive and relatively inexpensive," Bourdeau says. "In this region the stone contains a lot of yellows and ochers, which lends a lovely warm, tonal quality to the garden and bridges the cool neutral of the concrete benches and the warm wood of the fencing."
Pea gravel is practical as well. "It’s easy for dog walkers to clean up after their pets, allows quick access to the irrigation lines underneath for troubleshooting and maintenance, and is permeable," she says. "Perhaps best of all, pea gravel is loose and crunchy under your feet, making it near impossible to walk through quickly. By forcing visitors to slow down physically, I’m hopeful that they do so mentally and emotionally as well."
As for getting folks to sit a spell and enjoy the garden, there are two minimalist concrete benches, and the café has added Adirondack chairs. "It’s a marvelously sunny and comfortable place to sit with a book or just visit with passersby," she says.
Boudreau created a sense of order, calm and tranquility by keeping things symmetrical and spacious, placing clusters of plants in the center and the corners of the space, and grouping inground plants in sets of threes to create visual rhythm.
"Pea gravel is one of my favorite garden floor materials, because it is stylistically versatile, environmentally sensitive and relatively inexpensive," Bourdeau says. "In this region the stone contains a lot of yellows and ochers, which lends a lovely warm, tonal quality to the garden and bridges the cool neutral of the concrete benches and the warm wood of the fencing."
Pea gravel is practical as well. "It’s easy for dog walkers to clean up after their pets, allows quick access to the irrigation lines underneath for troubleshooting and maintenance, and is permeable," she says. "Perhaps best of all, pea gravel is loose and crunchy under your feet, making it near impossible to walk through quickly. By forcing visitors to slow down physically, I’m hopeful that they do so mentally and emotionally as well."
As for getting folks to sit a spell and enjoy the garden, there are two minimalist concrete benches, and the café has added Adirondack chairs. "It’s a marvelously sunny and comfortable place to sit with a book or just visit with passersby," she says.
Boudreau created a sense of order, calm and tranquility by keeping things symmetrical and spacious, placing clusters of plants in the center and the corners of the space, and grouping inground plants in sets of threes to create visual rhythm.
She chose low-maintenance, drought-tolerant plants that can stand up to the urban conditions, including "hands-on love from small children, she says." These include:
Zebra grasses: Placed in opposite corners for upright form and fun, they have horizontally striped yellow and green foliage.
Summer Wine Ninebark: In a row for contrasting purple bronze foliage and butterfly-attractive blooms in early summer
Northern Bayberry: A row of showy powder-blue berries that attract birds
'Bright Edge' Yucca and Burgundy Voodoo Sedum: These are planted in the three 40-inch Campania cast-stone Zen bowls in the center.
Green Carpet Juniper: This tough-as-nails drought lover was the right pick for the planter openings on the two benches from Campania.
Weeping Eastern White Pines: At the far end of the garden, Bourdeau planted these sculptural trees in oversize black pots.
Climbing hydrangeas: These are based in narrow rectangular fiberglass planters and climb up industrial steel mesh trellises.
Zebra grasses: Placed in opposite corners for upright form and fun, they have horizontally striped yellow and green foliage.
Summer Wine Ninebark: In a row for contrasting purple bronze foliage and butterfly-attractive blooms in early summer
Northern Bayberry: A row of showy powder-blue berries that attract birds
'Bright Edge' Yucca and Burgundy Voodoo Sedum: These are planted in the three 40-inch Campania cast-stone Zen bowls in the center.
Green Carpet Juniper: This tough-as-nails drought lover was the right pick for the planter openings on the two benches from Campania.
Weeping Eastern White Pines: At the far end of the garden, Bourdeau planted these sculptural trees in oversize black pots.
Climbing hydrangeas: These are based in narrow rectangular fiberglass planters and climb up industrial steel mesh trellises.
Bourdeau addressed the long expanse of fence with vertical gardens that add soft works of art to the garden. "We used black Woolly Pockets attached directly to the fence and planted a variety of pocket-appropriate perennials and shrubs to create textural, color and seasonal interest," she says.
Bourdeau advises thinking of your living walls as window boxes when selecting plants. "Small perennials and shrubs, annuals, even miniature edibles, like cherry tomatoes and strawberries, do quite well in them. Much like window boxes, one should expect that perennials and shrubs will outgrow their pockets in two to five years," she says.
The urban- and pocket-tolerant plants she chose for this living wall include:
Rozanne hardy geranium: These provide blue flowers all summer long on trailing foliage that turns crimson red in fall.
Lonicera Edmee Gold: For a pop of evergreen chartreuse foliage on tidy, trailing stems
Campanula 'Cherry Bells': For dusky purple flower interest in summer
Euonymus 'Moonshadow': For bold, creamy gold and green variegated foliage that is not only evergreen but takes on a beautiful purple-pink blush through winter
Variegated liriope: For grassy textured contrast and black berries
Coral Bells 'Palace Purple': For stunning mounds of rich purple leaves and airy sprays of tiny flowers in spring and summer
Bergenia 'Winter Glow': For rich, leathery broad leaves that turn red through winter
Bourdeau advises thinking of your living walls as window boxes when selecting plants. "Small perennials and shrubs, annuals, even miniature edibles, like cherry tomatoes and strawberries, do quite well in them. Much like window boxes, one should expect that perennials and shrubs will outgrow their pockets in two to five years," she says.
The urban- and pocket-tolerant plants she chose for this living wall include:
Rozanne hardy geranium: These provide blue flowers all summer long on trailing foliage that turns crimson red in fall.
Lonicera Edmee Gold: For a pop of evergreen chartreuse foliage on tidy, trailing stems
Campanula 'Cherry Bells': For dusky purple flower interest in summer
Euonymus 'Moonshadow': For bold, creamy gold and green variegated foliage that is not only evergreen but takes on a beautiful purple-pink blush through winter
Variegated liriope: For grassy textured contrast and black berries
Coral Bells 'Palace Purple': For stunning mounds of rich purple leaves and airy sprays of tiny flowers in spring and summer
Bergenia 'Winter Glow': For rich, leathery broad leaves that turn red through winter
Living walls are so popular, but truthfully, how easy are they to plant and maintain? As it turns out, they require a lot of care because of the extreme planting conditions.
"The harsh truth is that we’re still in the infancy of developing living wall technologies, and as such, most of them start out looking great, but it is typical to see dieback of 20 percent or more of the initial plant material," Bourdeau says. "Even if you don’t see dramatic losses, plants will require pruning, careful watering, and have a shorter than normal life span. In short, vertical gardens are high maintenance!"
Her advice for vertical gardening success is to get your expectations in order: "You’ve got to know what you’re working with, know what your plants are willing to put up with and be ready for a lot of trial and error."
If you're still ready to forge ahead, Bourdeau highly recommends the wall-mounted, breathable pockets from Woolly Pocket and Root Pouch. "They have grommets for easy attachment to a sturdy surface and can be used as single planters or modularly to cover larger areas," she says.
She adds, "The relatively large reservoir for soil is the real key — healthy root systems are the key to sexy plants, and because each is a self-contained planter, water and nutrients are retained more evenly from the top of a living wall all the way to the bottom." Which to choose? "Woolly Pockets have the benefit of being lined with a plastic inner layer, which makes them suitable for use indoors without any additional backing material," she says. "Root Pouches have a little extra breathability and drainage, thanks to no plastic lining."
Last, "unless you’ve only got one or two pockets, watering by hand is ridiculous," she says. "Invest in a drip irrigation setup. You’ll be so glad you did!"
More: 11 Inspiring Vertical Gardens
"The harsh truth is that we’re still in the infancy of developing living wall technologies, and as such, most of them start out looking great, but it is typical to see dieback of 20 percent or more of the initial plant material," Bourdeau says. "Even if you don’t see dramatic losses, plants will require pruning, careful watering, and have a shorter than normal life span. In short, vertical gardens are high maintenance!"
Her advice for vertical gardening success is to get your expectations in order: "You’ve got to know what you’re working with, know what your plants are willing to put up with and be ready for a lot of trial and error."
If you're still ready to forge ahead, Bourdeau highly recommends the wall-mounted, breathable pockets from Woolly Pocket and Root Pouch. "They have grommets for easy attachment to a sturdy surface and can be used as single planters or modularly to cover larger areas," she says.
She adds, "The relatively large reservoir for soil is the real key — healthy root systems are the key to sexy plants, and because each is a self-contained planter, water and nutrients are retained more evenly from the top of a living wall all the way to the bottom." Which to choose? "Woolly Pockets have the benefit of being lined with a plastic inner layer, which makes them suitable for use indoors without any additional backing material," she says. "Root Pouches have a little extra breathability and drainage, thanks to no plastic lining."
Last, "unless you’ve only got one or two pockets, watering by hand is ridiculous," she says. "Invest in a drip irrigation setup. You’ll be so glad you did!"
More: 11 Inspiring Vertical Gardens
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She had the unique task of creating a spot where the café patrons could sit and enjoy their lattes, but she also wanted to make it clear that everyone was welcome to use the garden. "I believe in the value of beautiful environments and the myriad of conscious and unconscious ways that they enrich our lives," she says. "Given what the space used to be and wanting to be sensitive to the residents, it was important to me that the neighborhood folks should love it, and to also feel like we designed and built it with love."