Why it's especially important to espalier plants in a dry climate garden

The technique of growing some shrubs and even trees horizontally on a wall, started I believe in the 17th century in Europe and came to be known as the espalier method.
By training juvenile branches on a wall when they are flexible, and by making sure the branches are parallel to the ground, the pushing forward of the leading bud is abolished (this is known as apical dominance) and the once dormant lateral buds burst into life.
Originally developed as a way of increasing fruit production in a limited space, espaliering can be used to significantly increase the quantity of flowers that flowering shrubs can produce.
Excellent examples of this are climbing roses – try the Bordeaux flowers of "Don Juan" on a whitish wall, Pyracantha, or Bougainvillea.
Where water is at a premium, we have to reduce the space allotted to flowers in the garden. But a composition of say pebbles on the ground plane, dotted with a few sculptural plants, and the wall of a building draped in flower colour, can be really spectacular, and far more creative than the standard annual flower bed. And as for water consumption? Your watering a few shrubs as opposed to a hundred or so annuals.
So I think that growing climbers up walls should become part of the dry climate gardener's thinking. The espalier technique requires the setting up of a frame which can take the weight of the plants, and involves a considerable amount of training and pruning over the gardening year. But I think it's well worth the effort and can really make your garden special.
Jonathan Ya'akobi
About Me:
· I've been a professional gardener in Israel for nearly 25 years
· I am the former head gardener of the Jerusalem Botanical Garden
· I now design and create gardens for private home owners
· And now:
I am the owner of a web site dedicated to the home gardener in a dry climate
See you at www.dryclimategardening.com