RUNNING OUT OF GARDEN SPACE?
JOIN THE UPWARD TREND OF VERTICAL GARDENING…
ONE of the disappointing aspects of our urban areas becoming more populous and congested is the reduction of green spaces and, in general, the amount of plant life that can be supported in a confined area.
As councils allow houses and other dwellings to be built on smaller blocks, sometimes even sharing common walls, the “typical” yards of residential spaces are being reduced to cramped courtyards or even tiny balconies.
This, of course, quite often limits the size and range of plants that can be grown on the property. Many homeowners with limited “ground” areas rely on growing plants in containers, whether they be pots or raised garden planters, which all take up valuable space due to their on-ground footprint.
In the last 10 or so years there has been an increase in what could be considered the answer to lack of horizontal space for plants, particularly in many city landscapes.
Of course, I speak of gardening in the vertical plane, often referred to as “green walls”, or vertical gardening.
One could be forgiven for thinking that vertical gardening was a relatively recent innovation, but it’s a fact that an Illinois professor of Landscape Architecture, Stanley Hart White, patented his invention of “Botanical Bricks”, considered to be the first vertical gardening system, back in August 1937.
It was a shame that his invention of the “Vegetation-Bearing Architectonic Structure and System” was not fully understood and put into commercial practice until after his passing in 1979.
The modern version of Stanley White’s visionary idea has been credited to French botanist and artist Patrick Blanc, whose vertical gardens have been installed in over 250 projects around the world since 1986.
Notably, in Australia, his designs can be seen at Sydney’s One Central Park, Qantas Lounge and Trio Building, Melbourne’s Shot Tower and Qantas Lounge, and Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art.
Blanc devised a clever soil-less planting substrate of artificial felt layers, with plants being supplied by a closed-system hydroponic solution for moisture and nutrients.
One advantage of this system is the incredible longevity of the planting medium, resulting in reduced maintenance costs (Blanc’s own home vertical garden has been growing for 31 years without a change of planting medium).
My interest in this “innovation” was sparked by a recent visit to a large city shopping centre in Toowoomba, where I was surprised to find some interesting examples of green walls planted on a northern façade between a carpark and main shopping area, “greening up” what would have been an otherwise drab alleyway.
However, it begs the question – Can home gardeners successfully utilise vertical gardening systems in their own spaces?
To answer this, it’s probably best to look at some current versions of residential vertical gardens and possible uses for home gardeners.
It’s important to understand that some very basic “vertical garden systems” are purely pots hung on a wall frame of sorts, with water and nutrients applied by any method and in any form the gardener chooses – let’s call this the “ad-hoc” system.
These systems rarely are successful, with the eventual breakdown of potting mixes, lack of consistent irrigation or loss of nutrients being reasons for common failures.
Research into vertical gardens suitable for residential use shows that there are a number of Australian companies with various forms of systems available to the home consumer.
There are basically three types of systems: 1. Soil or potting media-based systems in plastic containers or pockets, 2. Soil or potting media-based held within felt or fabric membranes, or 3. Hydroponic systems.
Examples of soil/potting media systems in plastic containers or pockets are marketed by companies such as ANS Global, using a “natural soil green wall system”, Atlantis and their Gro-Wall 4.5 soil-based system, and Wallgarden, whose potting mix-based system claims a greater ability to support vegetable and herb growth.
As an interested horticulturist, my main concern with this style of container-based system is the almost inevitable need to replace the potting media after a period of time, which would be dictated by the types of materials used to manufacture the media.
Some specialist companies, for example Brisbane’s eCo-Environment produce a Green Wall Soil mix, said to last much longer than “standard” potting mixes.
There is a current trend towards low-maintenance hydroponic systems for decorative green walls such as those produced by Australian company Fytogreen, who have been supplying green walls in Australia, New Zealand, California, Singapore and Dubai since 2002.
Amongst their products are indoor or outdoor green walls, Florafelt vertical gardens for residential and small commercial spaces (which can come complete with irrigation controller, fertiliser injector and soluble fertiliser), Cylinder and Pole planters and “Living Beams”, based on their FytoArbour system.
All systems use soil-less materials through which hydroponic solutions pass, providing a constant flow of moisture and nutrients. More information at fytogreen.com.au Many types of plants can be grown in vertical gardens in shaded situations, including a large range of succulents such as Sedum, Crassula, Aptenium and Aeonium, foliage plants such as Philodendron, Bird’s Nest ferns and Stag/Elkhorns, Maidenhair ferns, Liriope, Mondo grass, English Ivy, Spider plants and Devil’s Ivy.
Full sun plants can include Acorus, Convolvulus, Erigeron, Geraniums, Santolina, Thyme, and Lamb’s Ears.
If you have a warm, almost tropical position, then try Anthurium, Bromeliads, Chlorophytum, Dracaena, Spathiphyllum, Syngonium and many epiphytic orchids as well.
And don’t forget the air-purifying qualities and health benefits from many of the plants on this list!