Friday, July 24, 2009

Impatiens Tower

One of the gardens on the Montgomery County Master Gardener had a really neat tower of impatiens that everyone fell in love with. The gardener (David) was kind enough to share instructions for it with me. I have the instructions available if anyone would like them, just email me. There is also a picture of David's tower in that post where I talked of the tour of David's garden.
There are some of the supplies above for our very own impatiens tower. It has taken me about one year to finally get around to making one. It is not a complicated thing to make, just time consuming and we needed a special hole drill bit to drill the holes into the thick PVC. That took time to find. Mr. Fix-it actually made the tower for me. He is such a sweetie and helps me so much in the garden. He is really the brains behind mechanical things and without him I'd be lost. There he is drilling the small holes into the inside pipe of the tower. I had the bright of idea of drilling bigger holes so the water would drain into the outer tube faster. He said no no. You actually want smaller holes so the water will slowly seep. Dave's instruction call for 1/8 inch holes. I actually think that size is a bit too big, but we went with it anyhow. We were fortunate in that we had the PVC pipes laying around. A fellow Freecycler had passed them along to me. I think PVC works in the garden really well. It will not rot, rust or decay. A good thing. The smaller pipe with the water holes goes inside of a larger pipe. The larger pipe has 2" holes drilled in it wherever you want the flowers to go. I finally found what I think is a good spot and dug a hole about 2' deep in order to 'plant' the tower. Once the pipes were stabilized I hand filled the gap created by the inner and outer pipes with a good mix of humus and soil. I then planted the impatiens in each hole. Be sure to add Osmocote or some other slow release fertilizer to each hole. You can use other plants besides impatiens. I think begonias, marigolds, petunias, calicabroas, or sedums would look great as well. I have a lot of shade so impatiens make sense to me.

The impatiens are happy in their tower. My only complaint is with watering and the fact I might have drilled the holes closer together so the plants would grow together faster. Theoretically filling the inner pipe with water will water all of the impatiens. Not so. The water drains out faster than I can fill the pipe so only the bottom flowers get water from the inner pipe. I usually just hand spray each impatiens as necessary. It has not been a big deal but if I had to do it all over again I'd make smaller holes all over the inner pipe. I'd also make the planting holes a bit smaller. Maybe about 1.5 inches. Simply because once planted the roots will take over inside of the pipe and spread out, thus holding in the soil. Right now the soil sometimes washes out. Dave's tower works better for him though, so maybe the problem is just me. At any rate, I do really like this impatiens tower. Everyone who has come by is drawn to it. It is simple to make and a fun way to get a lot of plants in a small space....

in the garden....

22 comments:

  1. Really interesting and cool! Holding lil bundle --got to go. Have a great day y'all!

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  2. Hey Tina girl : )
    Wow ... that is one heck of a project ! There are so many unusual "containers" you can make to fill with plants like Impatients .. I haven't seen this one before though and it truly makes you stop and look .. and wonder "how the heck do you do THAT !" LOL
    Imagine constructing a living arbor like that ? COOL !!

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  3. Good morning Tina, I am wondering if the inner tube's holes might be further apart at the bottom area.?.? What a fun project. I might think about putting a perennial in there after all that work? Maybe? I seem to remember the Chicago Spring Flingers showed one that had parsley and pansies in it!
    Like I said --fun project!

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  4. What a fantastic idea! I'll file this one away for a future project!--Randy

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  5. Tina, it's a clever way to get a vertical element into the garden, too! I've often admired your arbor pvc project. gail

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  6. Good morning all!

    Anonymous, You have a great day with that little bundle. The weather looks to be SUPERB!

    Joy, A living arbor would be way cool! I'd for sure hook up an irrigation system though. It would work great with some perennials.

    Janet, Now that is a good idea! Why didn't I think of it?

    Randy, It would look great in your garden and give you some vertical space. I am wondering what you would plant in it.

    Gail, Glad you like it. That PVC arbor of mine is something-it's hanging tough so far. I keep waiting for the SAC to bring it down though-you would not believe how much vine has covered it and is hanging down.

    Everyone have a great day!

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  7. I can't wait to see it planted! What a fun idea and so nice to share the how-to with us:-D

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  8. Do the impatiens eventually fill in the tower or is the idea that the background color peaks through all the time as a garden element?

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  9. Thanks Heather!

    Monica, The idea is for the impatiens to fill in but mine are not so happy right now. Not sure why they've not grown very much but I am still hopeful. I probably need to set up a watering system or drill the holes closer. Sigh, I will probably be redoing this later this fall.

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  10. This is a really clever idea, Tina! I like cascading flowers in any form, and this tower would really catch your eye in the garden.

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  11. Hi Tina, those are neat. I saw one planted with strawberries that I loved. Up north you can't overwinter strawberries above ground so I never made one. Any low growing or cascading annuals would work tho, even up here. I'm imagining a mixed planting with the water loving ones near the bottom and more xeric ones going up. Maybe succulents near the top. Hmmm, wonder how that would look.
    Marnie

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  12. Yes, I was thinking farther apart at the bottom and closer together at the top, OR small holes at the bottom and larger ones at the top. Either way I'd like to try this, we have so much pipe around, maybe next year I'll make a few to flank all my doors. Begonias.

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  13. That really turned out great! Did you paint the PVC? The color of it is really pretty behind the flowers. This is such a great idea, love it!

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  14. It's a very neat idea. There are water crystals you can buy and biz in your soil that will help it retain water longer. It definitely is a space saver!

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  15. Hi aLL.
    Great looking tower. Gotta have one.
    Maybe winter project to have ready for next Spring.

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  16. Tina, this is such a wonderful idea! And the tower looks great! Thanks for this post!!

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  17. Tina,
    The first thing that came to mind was how great it would be for Strawberries. It would look good filled with some low growing sedums too. If we lived further south I would fill it would Staghorn ferns... gosh the possibilities are limitless.--Randy

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  18. What a great idea. A lot of the water probably goes out the very bottom so I wonder if that was plugged if it would help along with smaller holes on the bottom sides. One of the pvc plugs would work or a little cement to also make it more stable.

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  19. Interesting! I'm sure it would work for strawberries, or trailing lobelias too. What a great way to add some vertical space to the garden!

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  20. This is a cool idea. I bet it would work well with strawberries!

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  21. Very very cool. I've seen something like this before with something edible planted in it -- herbs, maybe? Can't remember. But what a fabulous idea especially for city or balcony gardeners who don't have much space.

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  22. What a cleaver idea! You just never know what someone will come up with next. Fun...

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