Dear readers,
I have been dreaming of brick walls since I first been on a vacation to Ireland. My host families´ house was built from brick, as were most of the other houses in their neighborhood. In the city centre of Dublin I saw more of these beautiful brick houses with the famous colorful doors. Blues, yellows, reds, looking so beautiful in combination with the colour of brick.
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| A beautiful house in Salisbury, England. I love the colour of the door. I think it goes so well with the colour of the brick. |
Only some years later, I went to Ireland again. That time I visited the countryside, spending some hours at the beautiful walled victorian garden at Kylemore Abbey. That´s when I realised, brick does not only look good with houses, but brick walls are the most wonderful backgrounds for plants. Is there a more romantic sight than a climbing rose climbing up an old brick wall? Here some examples in pictures:
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| Rosa Cecile Brünner at Treasurer´s House and Garden, England. |
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| Rosa Zephirine Drouhin at Hever Castle, England. |
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| Rosa Colcestria at Mottisfont Rose Garden, England. |
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Rose Garden Mottisfont Abbey, England.
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| Roses and brick at Sissinghurst Castle, England. |
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| Roses and brick at Sissinghurst, England. |
Not only does brick look lovely in combination with roses, but also with other plants.
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| Foxglove at Mompesson Garden, England. |
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Sweet peas at Mompesson Garden
As I am so in love with brick walls, you might imagine that I have long been wishing to have my own brick wall. In summer 2017 when I moved to a new flat (my parent´s former flat), finally an opportunity to have my own brick wall came up. My flat´s terraces are divided from my neighbours´ terraces by greyish white walls. They look rather modern and I wished to have a more nostalgic background for my plants. And so I thought "Wouldn´t it look lovely if these walls were brick walls?" Once I had my brick wall idea, I couldn´ t put it out of my head any more. My parents were very unconvinced by my idea. My mum "But what if it does´t work and looks ugly in the end?!", my dad "It won´t work." No matter what they said, I had to try it. And so I started to make my own brick tiles from clay, fired them in the kiln and used some paint to make them look aged. I glued them to the wall and in the end grouted it.
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| the self-made tiles |
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| In the beginning |
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| The result |
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| snowdrops and brick |
I had expected the project to be a lot of work, but not as much work as it finally turned out to be. It took me about two months. Luckily, the wall turned out the way I had imagined it and though it was a hell of work, it was worth it. I finally have my own brick wall! However, this is just one wall, and there are still three walls to go. What do you think? Do you like the wall? I can´t wait for spring and summer, when I can finally see roses and other plants climb up the wall! I´d love to know if you have some brick walls in your gardens and what you think about them?
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Have a lovely day!
Best wishes,
Lisa
