WHEN you want to make the most of the vertical height in your garden and space/budget are limited then you can do a number of things, writes TOM ATTWOOD.

You might wish to plant a tree which is the ultimate height 'filler' and will do something that a man-made structure would struggle to equal but if that isn’t on the cards and you’d like to do something else then you could do worse than create a simple framework to grow roses through. I recently did this for a friend who had planted an enthusiastic climbing rose at the back of a narrow border. The border is a self-contained raised bed built using new railway sleepers and between it and the garden boundary is a scrubby strip of ground and then the garden fence/hedge. To disguise and hide this ‘no-man’s land’ I suggested using some tall square posts that could be set into the ground and fixed to the back of the sleepers. This would provide a physical frame to train the rose on to and also disguise the rather drab backdrop of the existing boundary fence. The stout posts could run at equal heights or be varied and in this instance the variable ground levels would make it hard to create a satisfactory level. I cut the posts at different heights to make it look deliberate and not a dubious piece of workmanship. The posts were set 90cm apart, varying in height from 150cm to 190cm. How many posts you choose to use is dependent on the space you have to work with. Try to use odd numbers as it will be easier on the eye (as you would when planting plants in a border or arranging flowers in a vase). The trailing stems of the rose can then be tied onto the posts each autumn/summer using plastic tie or strong string. Avoid using wire as this cuts into the stems of the rose. For an added bonus you could grow a clematis through the rose once well established.

Next week: cost effective ways to protect tender plants