Vertical Gardening & Green Walls

Gil LopezGreenBridge Seasonal Outreach Assistant & Instructor

Brooklyn Botanic GardenSpring 2015

Lesson Plan

• Why Vertical Gardens?• Types of Vertical Gardens• Vertical Gardening Systems• Plants for Vertical Gardens• Other Vertical Growing Methods & D.I.Y. Inspiration• Resources

Why Vertical Gardens?Aesthetics Create living works of art.

Indoor Air Quality Purify your air.

 LEED® Credits  Gain points.

Building Protection Shield from sun, rain and thermal fluctuations.

Energy Savings Cut electricity bills by up to 20%.

Health & Wellness Reduce stress and enhance wellbeing.

Property Value Marketable green feature.

Acoustics Dampen noise pollution.

Sustainability Make your world greener.http://www.greenovergrey.com/green-wall-

benefits/overview.php

Space Saving!!!

We live in one of the most densely populated cities in the world.

NYC residents have little access to private green space so we must

make the most of very square inch we can. One way to do this is to reconsider the vertical spaces in the urban environment. Form walls and fences to fire escapes and stair railings. What vertical

spaces do you have access to that could be a little greener?

Types of Vertical Gardens

• Living Walls• Green Veneers• Indoor• Outdoor

Living Walls

Living walls (AKA green walls) are self sufficient vertical gardens found on exterior or interior walls

or other vertical elements. The plants are rooted in a structural support which is fastened to the

wall itself. The plants receive water and nutrients from within the vertical support instead of

from the ground.

Green Veneer

A support structure that allows vines to row up or onto a vertical element to screen it. Roots and

soil are not housed in the wall but rather on the ground or in

separate planters.

Living Wall/Green Veneer Hybrid

This product by Turnesol demonstrates how the two

vertical garden typologies can be effectively blended.

Indoor Vertical GardensLiving Wall (Wooly Pocket)

Green Veneer (Jakob Wire)

Outdoor Vertical Gardens

Living Wall (FloraFelt)Green Veneer (Greenscreen)

Living Wall Systems

• Wooly Pocket• FloraFelt• Optigreen Wall Garden• Gsky Plant Systems• Hydroponic

Wooly Pocket

Our Living Wall Planter are totally modular. Create living walls of almost any size, indoors and out. Calculate how many wall planters you’ll need by dividing the width of your wall area by 18” and

height by 13”. Use our box as a horizontal template to help you mark holes. Example: Four

planters cover a 36” W and 26” H wall area. 

Living Wall Planter dimensions are 13” H x 18” W x 8” D. Each planter holds 0.50 ft3 of soil volume with a maximum weight of 50lbs. Planter hooks to

back of Water Tank for easy plant exchange. Planters come with hardware: self

tapping #8 screw & poly ribbed insert.

http://www.woollypocket.com

FloraFelt

Create Custom Vertical GardensExplore the 2-layer Cut and Staple method

made famous by Patrick Blanc.Use Grow Felt by the yard to make custom sized

pockets and free-form shapes.Use 7-inch Grow Strip with custom 6 x 6 inch wire grids to create extremely robust vertical

gardens.Or use the pre-assembled Florafelt Pro System

Modular Unit to make any size living wall.Engineer mega-scale plant walls.

http://www.florafelt.com/

Optigreen Wall Garden

The “Wall Garden” system solution is a facade-mounted greening system on a

substrate basis without ground connection. The core unit of the Optigreen “Wall Garden” system solution is a high-

grade, substrate-filled aluminum cassette system (Optigreen Facade Element) that can be delivered filled and, upon request, ready-planted. The horizontal suspension rails must be bolted onto the substructure before the prepared facade element can

be attached to them.

http://www.optigreen.co.uk

GSky Plant Systems

GSky’s three Green Wall systems are the Pro Wall System, Versa Wall System and the Basic Wall

System. Each product is unique in terms of design flexibility,

installation location versatility, plant selection variety, desired

size, cost, coverage time-line, and system components.

http://gsky.com/

Stacked Hydroponic Systems

Hydroponic growing systems are a way of growing plants without

soil using nutrient solutions applied directly to the roots of

plants. These systems have may variations. There are several

which accomplish the look feel and other virtues of vertical gardens as discussed in this

presentation. WindowFarmsIndoor R&D.I.Y.

hydroponic growing system

NFT Hydroponic(Nutrient Film Technique)Outdoor installation

Green Veneer Systems

• Trellising• Masonry and Wood Walls• GreenScreen• Jacob Wire

Trellising

A simple garden trellis can be used to create the verdant effects of a green veneer. The larger the

trellis the more area the vines will have to sprawl out and

provide coverage. This is most effective with twining, tendril and

climbing vines.

Greenscreen

greenscreen® is a three dimensional, welded wire

trellising system. The distinctive modular trellis panel is the

building block of the greenscreen® system. Rigid and

lightweight standard 3" thick panels are 4' wide x 6', 8', 10',12’,

or 14' tall.

http://www.greenscreen.com

Jakob Wire

Specializes in the manufacture of stainless steel wire ropes from 2 mm to 28 mm. Webnet and Wire Rope products are often used to create both indoor and outdoor

green veneers.

https://www.jakob-usa.com/

Masonry & Wood Walls

Natural walls can be a perfect place for suckering vines to

unfurl their leafy coverings. Be careful to maintain the walls on a

regular basis and don’t let the vines overtake the structure.

Plants for Vertical Gardening

• Tropical Understory Plants for Interior Living Walls

• Air Filtering Plants• Alpine Plants for Exterior Living

Walls• Vines for Green Veneers• Annuals vs Perennials• Native, Naturalized & Invasive

Plants• Espaliered Trees

Tropical Understory Plants for

Interior Living Walls

The Understory layer, or strata, of tropical rainforest vegetation lies

between the Canopy layer, where there is plenty of sunlight, and the Forest

Floor layer, where there is almost none. This layer of the rainforest produces many popular house plants. Zebra plants, Ferns, Philodendrons and

Prayer plants are among some of house plants from this layer that do well in

dimly lit conditions.

http://www.tropical-rainforest-facts.com/Tropical-Rainforest-Layer-Facts/Tropical-Rainforest-Understory-Layer-Facts.shtml

Plant Selections for Improved Indoor Air

Quality& Interior Living Walls

A NASA study has demonstrated that some plants have the ability to

improve indoor air quality by removing volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

This is known as phytoremediation of the air. These plants employ a range of

techniques to accomplish this feat including: Phytosequestration,

Phytoextraction, Phytostabilization, Phytotransformation,

Phytostimulation, Phytovolatilization, and Rhizofiltration

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Clean_Air_Study

Alpine Plants forExterior Living Walls

Alpine plants are plants that grow in the alpine climate, which occurs at high elevation and

above the tree line. Many different plant species live in the alpine environment. These

include perennial grasses, sedges, forbs, cushion plants, mosses, and lichens. Alpine

plants must adapt to the harsh conditions of the alpine environment, which include low

temperatures, dryness, ultraviolet radiation, and a short growing season. Adaptations

include: Low to the Ground, Cushions and Mats, Evergreen Foliage, Red Leaves, Thick, Waxy Leaves, Fuzzy, Curled Leaves, Slow Growth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_plant

Delosperma Yellow Ice, Iberis SnowflakePhlox Candy Stripes, Sedum Dragon's BloodMazus Reptans, Veronica Christy

Vines for Green Veneers

• Twining• Tendril• Clinging• Running

• Evergreen• Deciduous• Flowering• Fruiting

Vines for Green Veneers

Twining Vines Tendril Vines• Twiners, such

as honeysuckle, climb by winding around supports. These can quickly cover a trellis, arbor or wall screen.

http://www.finegardening.com/types-climbing-vines#ixzz3c1pcOrlQ

• Some vines, such as sweet peas, have tendrils that twist around a support. They also grow quickly and support themselves given a structure to cling to.

Vines for Green Veneers

Clinging Vines Running Vines• Some plants such

as English ivy (Hedera helix) climb by aerial rootlets. These can grow without any support on masonry, wood and other natural surfaces.

http://www.finegardening.com/types-climbing-vines#ixzz3c1pcOrlQ

• Some plants use hooks to grab toeholds on a support and climb skyward. Others like tomato have no way of holding on. You’ll want to weave them through a trellis occasionally or tie them to a support.

Evergreen (& semi-evergreen)

Vines

Evergreen plants retain their foliage throughout the entire year. Evergreen vines

are problem solvers in the garden and can be used for vertical gardening for year round

foliage. Some other uses include: Green winter color, for spring or summer flower color, food

for birds and butterflies, to mask or soften unsightly structures or views, for a privacy screen, to decorate a trellis, fence, arbor or

pergola, to help prevent erosion on a slope, as a fast-growing ground cover, to create shade. Unfortunately there are not many evergreen

vines that grow in our climate zone.Lonicera sempervirensTrumpet honeysuckleNative, semi-evergreen, twining, flowering vine

Hedera helixEnglish Ivy

Evergreen, non-native, clinging vine

Deciduous Vines

Deciduous plants lose their leaves seasonally (most commonly

during autumn). There are many deciduous vines that are suitable

for exterior green veneers.

Parthenocissus tricuspidataBoston IvyNative, deciduous, clinging vine

Wisteria frutescensAmerican WisteriaNative, deciduous, flowering, twining vine

Flowering Vines

Flowering vines, whether evergreen or deciduous, can add

a colorful pop to your vertical garden, drawing the eye up and

attract pollinators.

Morning gloryAnnual

Growing on chain link fence

ClematisNative, perennial vineGrowing on an arbor

Fruiting Vines

Fruiting vines, whether evergreen or deciduous, can add

utility to your garden by producing food for yourself or for

birds and other fauna.

TomatoAnnual, fruiting, running vine.

GrapeDeciduous, perennial, fruiting, tendril vine.

Annuals & Perennials

Annual Plants• An annual plant is a plant that

completes its life cycle, from germination to the production of seed, within one year, and then dies. Summer annuals germinate during spring or early summer and mature by autumn of the same year. Winter annuals germinate during the autumn and mature during the spring or summer of the following calendar year.[

Perennial Plants• A perennial plant or simply perennial

(from Latin per, meaning "through", and annus, meaning "year") is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also widely used to distinguish plants with little or no woody growth from trees and shrubs, which are also technically perennials

Native, Naturalized & Invasive Plants

Native Plants Invasive PlantsNaturalized Plants

A plant that is a part of the balance of nature that has developed over hundreds or thousands of years in a particular region or ecosystem. Note: The word native should always be used with a geographic qualifier (that is, native to New England [for example]). Only plants found in this country before European settlement are considered to be native to the United States.

A plant introduced with human help (intentionally or accidentally) to a new place or new type of habitat where it was not previously found. Note: Not all non-native plants are invasive. In fact, when many non-native plants are introduced to new places, they cannot reproduce or spread readily without continued human help (for example, many ornamental plants).

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/ct/technical/ecoscience/invasive/?cid=nrcs142p2_011124

A plant that is both non-native and able to establish on many sites, grow quickly, and spread to the point of disrupting plant communities or ecosystems. Note: From the Presidential Executive Order 13112 (February 1999): 'An invasive species is defined as a species that is 1) non-native (or alien) to the ecosystem under consideration and 2) whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.' In contrast to item 2) of the Executive Order, which includes plants invasive in agricultural settings, the Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group lists non-native plants as invasive only if they invade minimally managed (natural) areas.

Espaliered Trees

There are several varieties of trees that take well to shaping in this way. Espalier requires annual

pruning and care to maintain proper form.

Other Vertical Growing& D.I.Y. Ideas

• Hydroponics (indoor and outdoor)• Planted Pallet Walls• DIY Wooly Pockets• Planter/Container Wall• Green Cloaking

DIY Vertical Garden Ideas

Gutter Garden Retaining Walls• Storm gutters,

PVC pipe or other horizontal troughs can be hung on a wall and planted in to achieve vertical interest on an otherwise blank wall.

http://www.finegardening.com/types-climbing-vines#ixzz3c1pcOrlQ

• Some garden designs incorporate retaining walls. These often have nooks and crannies where alpine and succulent plants can be tucked in to soften the edge in your garden space.

DIY Vertical Garden IdeasConglomerate Green Wall Milk Crate Innovations• Many size and shapes can come together

to create a impressive display• These readily available containers can be lined

with a landscape fabric, stacked and planted for an interesting garden-on-the-go.

DIY Vertical Garden Ideas

Pallet Garden Wall Soda Bottle Garden Wall

Walls of Pots

Using many pots or other containers

Moss Graffiti

By mixing a slurry of moss material…Ingredients:

One or two clumps (about a small handful) of moss

2 cups of buttermilk(You can substitute with yogurt or

beer)2 cups of water1/2 tsp. sugar

Corn syrup (optional)

Green Cloaking

This is a fairly new idea which suggests that a vine covered

support suspended above a roof can act as a light weight,

inexpensive, quick and easy alternative to an extensive green

roof.

Algae SkinA very new

green building innovation

Cloaking Lab StudyResearchers test the vines ability to capture rainwater, reduce interior building temperatures and clean the air.

Resource Pages• Plant lists:

• Definitions: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/ct/technical/ecoscience/invasive/?cid=nrcs142p2_011124

• http://www.scotscapelivingwalls.net/plant-list.html• http://www.greenscreen.com/Plants_main.html• http://www.florafelt.com/plants/• Alpine Plants - http://northernwoodlands.org/articles/article/flowers-adaptations-alpine

• Benefits• http://www.greenovergrey.com/green-wall-benefits/overview.php

• Considerations for Advanced Green Façade Design:• http://www.greenscreen.com/direct/Considerations/AdvancedGreenFacadeDesign_CEU_F12.pdf