CASCADES of plant roots make naturally beautiful privacy screens. As living curtains, they can provide shade to the outdoor seating area.
The sight of natural curtains draping a part of any well-tended garden often takes my breath away. Walls which also drip with cascading plants and lush climbers never fail to soothe the mind. Cool, fresh and calmly welcoming.
Green curtains naturally filter light and purify the air. Grow climbing plants such as morning glory and money plants, or creeping vegetables and fruit like gourd and passion fruit and you’ll get natural shade over the outside of your house window, as well as your terrace and porch.
The green curtains can block out the sun’s direct rays and help reduce the temperature inside and on the surface of your house.
Cooler room temperature, in turn, reduces the need to switch on the air-conditioner or run it at full blast, hence helping to lessen carbon emission into the air.
Ever felt the difference when you’re inside a house with a compound devoid of plants, and when you are inside one that’s surrounded with greenery?
Luxuriant foliage not only blocks out direct sunlight, it also reduces the amount of heat radiating into your house.
Having additional green curtains to cover the ground and walls near windows further prevent the rise in surface temperature all around the house.
You’ll feel cooler when you stay inside the house. It’s an effect that even window blinds and fabric curtains can’t give. Furthermore, seeing green plants is soothing in itself.
NATURAL SHADE
Create green curtains to also accentuate the beauty of your garden. Hang pots of cascading plants and let them drape down from the ceiling of your porch, windowsills, balcony and fence. This also helps to block the view from prying eyes.
Let your creativity run wild and use these natural curtains to also hide any unappealing space in your house exterior.
Perhaps there’s that part of a wall with cracks and mould or a protruding beam that mars the aesthetic beauty of your house exterior.
Leafy vines and colourful flowering vines can do the “covering” job beautifully. And think about it; the blooms will attract butterflies to your garden.
One of the more appealing green curtains with blooms is the morning glory. As its name suggests, the flowers bloom in the early morning and a few hours later the petals curl and close.
It’s easy to grow the morning glory. It thrives even in dry soil, and it needs plenty of direct sunlight. Its heart-shaped leaves grow in abundance, making them perfect as shades. The vivid funnel-shaped flowers in blue, purple and yellow make your patch of twining vines absolutely gorgeous.
GROW AND HARVEST
Money plants are perennial favourites as green curtains. Lush evergreen climbers, they can creep up to as high as 20m, their leaves growing in size as they climb higher.
You can use a net with mesh or squared frame as the base for the money plant to twine around and eventually form a thick, natural green curtain.
You may also grow the money plants in pots and hang the pots high. The leafy vines will cascade verdantly, making them the perfect green curtain for any part of the house. Money plants are easy to grow, both in soil and water-filled containers.
If you find joy in growing and harvesting something, choose goya (bitter melon or bitter gourd), passion fruit or other twining vegetables and fruits for your green curtains. Goya is easy to grow. Fix a garden net for the goya vines to grip and twine. Use extra nitrogen fertiliser if you want a thick leafy curtain.
To help lateral buds to grow, nip off the tip of its stem. Use more fertiliser as the plant begins to bear gourds. Then enjoy your harvest!
