Urban Thicket Project

2009

So far plants sprouting/ growing are;
Dianthus (multiple varieties)
Honey suckle (yellow flowering I think)
Garlic
Tulips
Jacobs ladder
Rose (small pink flowers that turn white before they die)
Spearmint
Hen and chicks
corsican mint
fox glove (purple digitalis)
6 varieties i don't know the names of

When my girlfriend moved into her new apartment last year i was delighted at the size of the balcony and the garden already on it.


There is a Maple tree fairly small, if it was on the ground, her balcony is second story over the underground parking entrance. When the housing inspector arrived i asked him if he had any information regarding legal size and the possibility of it causing damage to the underground parking structure. It turned out not to be his area of expertise when regarding housing. I told him of my plans and he said it should be fine, turns out he was a back yard arbourist and edible gardener.

My plan is to utilize pruning and a rose bush to limit the growth of the maple tree. The rose bush which we estimate to be about 20 years old is to be wound onto the maple. The purpose is to limit the amount of sun the maple gets. The bonus is that its a maple tree with small pink roses that turn white as they get older. The flowers grow in clusters at the edge of the maples branches and the years new main shoots stick up a few feet above said maple tree.

After not being tended to for a few years the rose plant has created a thicket off the north side of her balcony. The thicket stretches about 4 or 5 feet out over the driveway to the underground parking. Small birds love it, it blocks out the view of east hastings street and the hundreds of roses give of an excellent smell. I feal the roses look best at night when they can reflect light and stick out of the picture.

To the left and the right of the rose bush is two fruiting vines that i do not know the name of yet. They have traveled far through the thicket but i am trying to encourage the growth to come back closer to the fence and particularly in the maple tree. I hope to encourage a healthy thicket about ten feet off of the garden floor on top of the tree.

A wasps nest has taken up residence in the maple tree, its to bad there wasps i like honey bees i get face to face with bees daily in my garden and spend time watching them collect pollen struggle with ants and get chased away from water sources by wasps.

Plants in garden:
-White mugwort (thats what the tag says but i dont think so).
-Iris' (not sure what colour have not seen them bloom, think it will be next year for these ones).
- Strawberries
-Snap dragons ( Dark red and purplish pink with a bit of yellow{ very large flowers})
- corsican mint
- Roses
- Maple
-Apple tree
-fusia
-bleeding hearts
-tulips (variety, not sure all of them got trashed by a kid)
-Lily plantain
-jacobs ladder
- tomato plants (12)
and at least 5 that i dont know the name of

Experiments at the Urban thicket
-Grafting an apple tree onto a rose bush
-Cuttings of 2 varities of long stem roses
-air circulation tests
-small composting (already produced a tomatoe plant and three others, not sure what others are still
-snap dragon cuttings