(Images from flikr)

Living in a city that’s not known for its green spaces means I’ve developed a finely attuned eye for the bits of greenery that sprout from between paving slabs, cracks in concrete, drain pipes and crumbling walls. There is something inspiring about the way nature is always trying to reclaim the urban landscape, and it is often much more successful in creating unexpected beauty than many formal urban renewal projects.

Planting into cracks and crevices is a wonderful way to gently coax a bit of nature back into environments from which it has been excluded – chopped down, paved over and generally neglected. Two recent projects that have negotiated this territory are the Crack Garden in San Francisco and the High Line in Manhattan. These are both projects that preserve the identity of the pre-existing space – a concrete yard and a historic transport structure respectively – and intervene in thoughtful ways to boost the beauty and usability of the spaces without totally rennovating them.

(Above left and centre: The Highline; Right: The Crack Garden)

This is an approach we can take in residential gardens, particularly those in which space is tight and urban gardens with concrete yards or patios. Scattering seeds into cracks and crevices achieves a spontaneous, creative look while removing paving slabs or tiles at intervals and planting with grasses or shrubs allows a bit more control over the finished look. ‘Crazy paving’ is an affordable and practical way to acheive this look, but to my mind this style is all about using what you’ve got – the walls, fences, rockeries, hard surfaces and walkways already laid and built.

(Images above left and centre from Channel 4; right from Fine Gardening)

As for what to plant – it really depends on your style. Pockets of luscious thyme are a lovely, fragrant ground cover. Hardy succulents such as Sempervivum have a more deliberate look, but they provide a mixture of colours and textures. For flowering plants, Arabis alpina and Erinus alpinus produce small flowers and will cope well with being planted in cracks and crevices, as will other species with mountainous or rocky origins. In shady areas you might want to experiment with starting a moss garden; I personally love the furry textures and depth that moss creates.