Earthly Delights

Vertical Gardens, Inside and Out

By April Gonzales

Flat wall and corner wall by Plant Connection

The ancient concept of the hanging gardens of Babylon has taken on some interesting modern versions. Covering walls with plants is still common as an outdoor wall treatment. Boston ivy for example, will take over a chimney in a few years and is delicate enough to minimize any damage. But more complex green walls or vertical gardens have begun to make their appearance in major cities making them more attractive and maybe the air more breathable while bringing down A/C costs. The idea of plants as wall decor is also coming inside, along with less permanent floral displays in the form of floral curtains and window treatments, that can be re-organized to fit the occasion.

In Paris, a greenwall designed by Patrick Blanc, debuted as one of the first large scale urban projects. The fa+cade of the Musee Quai Branly building has been transformed by swaths of perennials that cover all the interspaces between the banks of windows. Reflections of the allee of trees in front of the windows complement the vertical greenery. He has a patent on his system, which can also be used inside, but many others are coming out with innovations that allow atriums, stairwells and other interior spaces to come in from the greenhouse.

In NYC an American greenwall system has been installed on 86th street near the Pure Yoga studio. Tony Caggiano and Melissa Daniels of Plant Connection worked with the architect James Harb to create three stories of multi-textured greenery. The wall is planted much like the plant palette of a greenroof, with liriope, thyme and sedums, that Daniels and Caggiano grew in Riverhead. These are low maintenance plants that are grown in separate rectangular aluminum panels on greenhouse benches and which are then hung vertically on a system of supports built onto the exterior of a building. This allows for individual sections to be replaced if needed. The architectural masonry behind the vertical garden is protected by moisture shielding mats and drip irrigation lines are run across the top of each row of the planted sections. A reservoir and pump at the bottom can recycle any water that escapes the thirsty roots making this a self contained system with no run off. Not only is it attractive but also the surrounding exterior area benefits from the temperature lowering effect of the greenery. There is less glass and concrete coverage to reflect backlight and heat and so there is both a psychological and physical cooling effect.

Although this system can certainly be used inside in atriums, stairwells or the conservatory, interior walls cannot always tolerate the increased weight load and surrounding increase in humidity, even with a contained system.

Other ways to decorate a window, wall, French door or even store display windows were shown at the Philadelphia flower show this year. Test tubes with attached magnets can be used to decorate both sides of a window. If placed opposite each other on either side of a sheet of glass they will stay in place and can be organized in any number of arrangements to create an interior/exterior display. Decorative foliage and flowers can be placed in the test tubes. Watering would be a daily affair but the effect is dramatic. Test tubes can be wrapped in string and hung from a curtain rod. Using colored water that complements or contrasts with the wallpaper, flowers or furniture can create a stained glass like look during the day. Or the tubes could be pinned to existing curtains. If a wooden lattice covers a wall the test tubes or even larger hanging glass vases can be held in place with ribbons and wire. These are all temporary displays, but they allow a new venue for imagination to recreate a hanging garden inside and the use of flowers and foliage become liberated from the traditional vase arrangement.

April Gonzalez, garden designer, has worked on the East End for more than 20 years. ahginc@optonline.net

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