We’ve done relatively little “renovation” in the conventional sense in retrosuburbia-ing this 1950’s cottage. In most cases, the embedded energy, and money, is more than would be saved by changing an old thing for a new one. This west wall is one of the few bits of real demolishing and rebuilding we’ve done.
When we moved in, it was a set of windows with light lace curtains in a wall completely exposed to the western sun. The summer afternoon sun beamed onto that wall, into the room and the heat spread to every corner of the house. Shielding that wall was one of the first design imperatives.
A deciduous tree is of course the easy answer, and even in the sub-tropics there’s a decent range of useful deciduous trees to do the job. The southern end of that same wall (just behind where the photo was taken) is the low chill Anna apple tree that bore so well this spring, and the tree you can see on the northern end is a plumcot. But the back yard is small. Limited room for trees. And a space to do outdoor cooking of a summer evening, and big doors to let the breeze in before the sun reaches that side of the house, and a way to let the winter sun warm the room – replacing the windows with full length glass doors and adding a pagola with deciduous vines was the obvious design solution.
The deck is tiny, just 3 metres by 1.5 metres. Too little for a table and chairs (we use the front deck for that) but perfect for our charcoal barbeque. It has a pair of kiwi fruit vines at one end and a grape vine at the other. The big glass doors were sourced second hand and cut to fit by a friend who is a glazier. They have full length sunblock curtains that can be pulled on a hot afternoon. In winter, the vines lose their leaves, the curtains are pulled open, and the afternoon sun reaches right in to warm the floor. There is a huge green frog who has done a property inspection and decided, cool, shady, decent hunting on the grape vine. I like it.
Have been thinking of doing something similar for a west facing brick wall which is a big thermal bank for that summer western sun, but would like to let through the winter sun.
Curious to know what variety of kiwi and grape vine you’ve planted? Most posts I’ve seen of deciduous vines have been down in Victorian, so nice to have some recommendations from another sub-tropics dweller!
The kiwis are Hayward. The grapes were hard. We tried a few different kinds before we found one that would cope with the warm, humid climate. The Flame and sultana grapes died in the flooding rain last year. The Muscadine Adonis and Carolina Black grapes are surviving, but the ones doing best are local, grown from a cutting, don’t know the variety. I am not convinced they will be a good table grape, but I’m more keen on the leaves for dolmades and shade in any case.
Linda with all this necessary shade and the vegetation to provide it, how do you control mosquitoes? We are also in the subtropics – south of you but still coastal, warm and very humid. Is there a foolproof method to keep the mozzies at bay?
I’m having a go with a Chambourcin grape – I don’t know how it will go yet.
I think, like most things to do with a creature occupyiny a niche where you don’t want them, there is no easy quick fix. Even if I were happy to use insecticides, it’s a never-ending, doomed to fail battle trying to empty a niche. I wrote a post about it a while ago, at my old place. https://witcheskitchen.com.au/wildlife-that-bites/. Here we have sea breezes, and they seem to make it easier.