Creating a vertical Living Wall

Creating a vertical Living Wall

One of our amenity sales reps, Andrew Barker, has set about creating a vertical living wall in his backyard during the lockdown period.

Andrew was influenced to create his living wall after seeing customer Brambledown Landscapes Ltd build a living wall for retail giant Barker and Stonehouse along with the many benefits it has for the environment.

Barker and Stonehouse's living wall planted and maintained by Brambledown Landscapes Ltd

A variety of our plants including, Cyrtomium fortunei P9, Carex oshimensis 'Everest' P9, Heuchera 'Caramel'  P9, Pennisetum alop. 'Hameln' P9 and Asplenium scolopendrium P9 were used to complete his living wall project.

A living wall has many benefits, including the improvement of air quality, reducing energy costs (if placed alongside a building), reducing noise levels, aesthetically pleasing and water management.

We asked Andrew his top tips for creating a living wall and what he used to do so, here is what he had to say below:

1. What equipment did you need to create a living wall? Pressure-treated timber, premade plant pocket material and a lot of screws.

2. What plants did you choose and why? I wanted a mixture of evergreen and deciduous perennials to achieve some structure with seasonal interest and tried to use some older lines that we had on the nursery to reduce waste.

3. How long did it take you to build?  It took a day to build the frame, half a day to fix in place and nearly a full day to plant up

4. What aftercare does a living wall require? With a small amount of substrate in each pocket water monitoring or an automatic irrigation system is needed—also, the use of a balanced liquid feed schedule throughout the year. The rest of the work will be standard cultural work to the individual plants to keep them looking their best.

 

Posted 1st Jul 9:24am