Open up your garden with a low periphery wall

Amarjeet Singh Batth

If the size of your plot is small, but you long for a big garden, a low periphery wall might solve your dilemma by opening up your garden space large and wide. A low periphery wall establishes connectivity with the space immediately outside the house and acts as a breather to the garden.

The space outside the house is often visibly cut off from the gardens. A low wall breaks the barrier and makes it one component. If the house is facing a public park, then the home garden extends and merges with the park, giving it a palatial feel.

Traditionally, houses were built wall to wall with a garden in the centre, a space created for visibility and interaction within the family. Modern city houses are surrounded by plantations and planned for low periphery walls. With this, there is visual interaction with the neighbours who are known identities that you interact with. It also means more security as any stranger can be identified immediately. However, as bylaws are not strictly followed in cities, there is a trend of high periphery walls. These defy both old and new concepts. If security is the reason for high periphery wall, it’s a more insecure way of living as once an intruder enters the house, he is concealed from public view and can carry on his operation without notice.

As security is our prime concern, go for nicely designed grills above low periphery walls. These grills also become a frame for rose ramblers and other climbers such as pyrostegia venusta (golden shower), quisqualis indica (jhumka bel), petrea volubills, clerodendron spllendens and visteria, which can be trained on this support frame.

An enthusiast will always find space lacking for many of his favourite trees, primarily due to less space in a home garden. Large-sized trees such as silver oak, casia fistula (amaltas), chakarasia tabularis, putranjiva, schleichera oleosa (kusam), koelreuteria elegans (flame gold), jacaranda acutifolia (neeli gulmohri) and many more, which are planted along the roadside, can form excellent background plantations and compliment the home garden as you do away with a high periphery wall.

The plants that could not be allocated due to space constraint will now have the desired inter-plant distance  to flourish. The shrubs can be planted on the extensions of the wide garden and need not be too close. Gulmohri, cassia glaca, cassia bioflora, ervatamia divaricata (chandani single), galphimia, hamelia, jasminum multiflorum, jasminum sambac and largerstroemia indica are some plants that can now find a place in your garden and add to its beauty.

Low periphery walls also provide space for keeping pots at the eye level. The iron grills could turn an ideal place for hanging baskets, thus virtually leaving no space uncovered to give colour at every height. Seasonal flowers as nasturtium, geranium and petunia look pretty in pots.

However, use of surveillance camera is suggested for fool-proof security. These days, even large-sized glass windows fixed with security sensors are being used for a better view. In a nutshell, instead of high walls, it’s time to think of technology alternatives for a safe home.