Wired Magazine recently posted an article on Patrick Blanc that showcases his recent green wall for the Athenaeum Hotel in London. Amidst the glowing praise and gorgeous photos, what I found interesting was the slagging going on in the article comments. Lots of criticism regarding the expensive upkeep (both in terms of water/fertilizer and maintenance efforts), the technological limitations of green walls, and the poor track record of sustainability for green walls. Food for thought. Art at what price? There is also a link to building a green roof – a Wired How-to.

Flora Grubb Gardens is a San Francisco-based garden and plant shop that is becoming known for its ‘vertical garden’ installations.

Headed up by Flora Grubb (you have to think that isn’t her real name), their green wall installations use plants like art on a wall – framed and strikingly visual, but on a smaller habitable scale. Their supplier of choice is Woolly Pocket Living Walls – a company that makes plant pockets from recycled plastic bottles. These seem like a relatively straightforward product for home-owners to install and use.

Flora Grubb blogs, and her entries about vertical gardens can be found here.

A green wall is a vertical garden. Think beyond the realm of stone walls covered with moss or a building blanketed in ivy. The latest self-contained systems take the advanced technology of green roofs and turns it sideways for a garden that everyone can see and enjoy. Green walls today can be as basic as a living picture frame that hangs on your fence, to the outrageously artistic stylings of Patrick Blanc who coats entire buildings with his creations.

The basic green wall system consists of a frame that houses slanted plant pockets and irrigation channels. Plants are specially chosen for their growing patterns and hardiness. A system of hydroponics or a lightweight moisture-retaining soil mix is used to sustain plant life.

The environmental benefits of green walls are similar to those of green roofs – improved building insulation, noise reduction, and air quality. Indoor walls can be be engineered to provide bio-filtration of ambient air. Outdoor green walls will protect a building from the effects of urban pollution (acid rain/smog), provide wildlife habitat, and reduce the heat island effect of urban centres.

Regardless of the benefits, green walls are gorgeous and put your garden right where it should be – in a place everyone can enjoy.