Living Walls
AnandaScapes • October 27, 2010
The Urban Garden V1: Living Walls
Living Wall are becoming the latest gardening trend. In the past, attempting to create your own living wall was a chore. One had to make boxes for the plant material or one had to use chicken wire stuffed with soil and wrapped with sphagnum moss. Then came the daunting task of hanging it on the wall. This was tedious and often had futile results.
Today, companies like BrightGreen (if I cant write that use - innovative companies), have made it easy for living walls to be assembled, watered, and grow healthier plants. They are pushing Living Wall design boundaries by allowing any vertical surface to become a place for planting regardless of size or shape. The 80% recycled plastic trays, clip onto a support rods for easy installation. These trays which now have deeper pockets angled about 30 degrees, hold the soil effortlessly. Each tray locks into position with the tray below. A simple 1/4 drip system feeds water to the top tray. The water then passes through the trays from top to bottom via a vascular water track dispersing the water evenly to each plant. Any excess water just drips out the bottom. Should the wall be indoors, a collecting trough just clips right on.
Living Walls are becoming focal pieces in urban settings, small gardens and courtyards where actual planting space is prime real estate. We are seeing them in boutique shops,restaurants, hotels, shopping malls and even on the walls of public schools.
What is so exciting about these living walls is getting to paint with living plant material. By grouping colors and textures together, many geometric and organic shapes are formed, creating a peaceful , serene and impressionistic painting. Indoors these vertical gardens can grow several popular house plants and tropicals, while the outdoor vertical gardens often use succulents and herbs. The key is to use plants that have shallow root systems and the height of the plant is no greater than a foot. This will keep pruning and maintenance of your living, growing art piece down to a minimum
The benefits to these vertical gardens are not only the possibility of growing your own food, but they reduce the Urban Heat Island by absorbing solar energy, helping our planet stay cooler and greener. And any living wall will increase that wall’s “R factor” keeping your home cooler during the summer and warmer in the winter.
If you want to create an interesting, cool focal piece in your garden, look at your vertical wall spaces. Adding a Living Wall to your garden will definitely be the center of discussion at your next garden soiree.
The Urban Garden will bring you the newest technologies to green, urban gardening and landscaping. It is my hope through this series of articles, you will be inspired to look to new directions in sustainable gardening and landscaping practices. The face of San Diego is changing as water diminishes and urban spall continues to grow. Be inspired and make a change.
Ever wondered what to do with your cracked, worn out concrete or black top driveway? Well instead of re-pouring concrete, why not look at turning that grey driveway into a living, green driveway.
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