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Since he was a little boy, botanist Patrick Blanc, was mesmerized by plants that grew without soil or sunlight. He made his first vertical garden when he was twelve years old. Quite simply, a vertical garden or living wall is one that grows up instead of out. Blanc patented a method of assembling rods, PVC and non-biodegradable felt into a structure that would germinate and sustain various kinds of plants. Sort of like an ivy-covered wall, except the plant roots attach to the felt and the lattice and not the building. In fact, according to Blanc, climbing vines are right out. If one were to lay a living wall on the ground, the plants would be growing upwards. In the vertical position, these gardens grow outwards. Mr. Blanc calls its The Vertical Garden, Le Mur Végétal or Vegetal Walls.
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The design of a living wall is rather elementary. Strong rods act as a grid/lattice, PVC pipe at the top, waters the felt in a downward drip. The plants take root in the non-biodegradable felt and literally live on water, minerals and bacteria. One installs a living wall perpendicular to a real one or the wall can be freestanding. Some stand-alone vertical gardens are shaped like towers or columns. A vertical garden takes up very little horizontal space and today more than ever, space is running out.
To own a true, Living wall, you would have to commission Mr. Blanc because he holds the patent to the Vertical Garden. Mr. Blanc insures that his project will use plants that are both suited to your particular environment and are aesthetically pleasing. Patrick Blanc may be a botanist but he is also an artist. His designs are installed in museums, the most recent being the musée du quai Branly in Paris.
As we near the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the human race has begun to look around and notice that there's something missing from our perfectly planned cities. Vegetation.
While we were busy spreading out with office structures and apartment high-rises, we either forgot or ignored the flora. Instead of lofty forests we have forests of cement towers. Instead of mossy covered paths we have asphalt roads. We have parks and protected lands but gates, distance and toll fees separate those swaths of nature from us. A balcony garden is a comfort but that bit of foliage is not enough to satisfy the basic, human need to see something green and alive. Humans don't just like plants. They can't live without them. Remember grade school biology. People breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Plants feed off of carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. Plants also absorb pollutants from the air and water and process them into minerals.
When we are surrounded by plant life, the air is better, our moods are better, and our lives are better. Living walls are the answer to the clinical, soulless aspects of urban living.
Living walls are gaining in popularity. Watch almost any home-design or gardening show or visit any such website and you'll find Living walls/vertical gardens are the new, hot trend. The urban agriculture/gardening movement is gaining strength each day as developers and ordinary people attempt to rectify the mistake of bulldozing over nature.
Submit the term "vertical garden" into the search box at Google and you'll get over two million results. What little land is left needs to be preserved, not dug up. People want Living Walls because they make sense in a crowded, polluted, concrete world.
Vertical gardens can grow anywhere - outside or in, ala carte or affixed. They belong in office buildings, shopping malls, hotels, hospitals, schools, universities and private homes. Clientele love them because when properly set up, the vertical garden requires no soil or pruning and minimal water. Some living wall installations (called Active Walls) act as property-wide air purifiers when conjoined with a building's circulation system. Plant life cools off the environment by absorbing heat. Living walls are being used as a sustainable method for curing 'sick building syndrome'. The gardens remove pollutants naturally. They supply pleasant-looking sound insulation. Most important of all, Living walls expel oxygen. There isn't a place that is inappropriate for a vertical garden, given that one hires a professional.
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Living Wall Tidbits
* Patrick Blanc was born in Paris, France in 1953. He studied Botany and hold two Doctorates – awarded by the Pierre and Marie Curie University of Paris. A colorful man, Blanc's own small home is his laboratory and is filled with “Vegetal Walls”. He is a prize-winning designer and scientist and a much-requested speaker.
* The musée du quai Branly is known to the west as the Quai Branly Museum of Paris. An 200m long by 12m tall portion of the building's facade is covered with Patrick Blanc's living walls. The Museum opened in June of 2006.
* The Building, Design & Construction website offers some very helpful vertical gardening advice on their page titled: 6 Things you need to Know About Green Walls. For example, there is a big difference between a Green Façade and a Living Wall. That ivy-covered house is a Green Façade. The outside of the Quai Branly Museum is a Living Wall. Go here to read it.
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"Humanity is living more and more in cities, and at odds with nature, the plant wall has a real future for the well-being of people living in cities. The horizontal is finished — it's for us. But the vertical is still free." - Patrick Blanc |
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The most dramatic and most healthful version of the Living wall is the literal wall-type model. If you plan to improve your home or structure, take the job as seriously as you would any remodeling or construction project. You don't want a floor full of water or your homemade lattice toppling over onto the neighbor's cat. These are big pieces and should be handled by pros. If possible, you'll want to hire people that specialize in this kind of (for want of a better word) landscaping. You'll want to plan the where and the how because the idea is to install something that will last for decades, not just a season.
If you want a Living wall, that means you want more green in your environment. You want to bring the outdoors inside or you want more of it outside, on your house. You will want a vertical garden for its functionality but also for its beauty. A professional designer will be able to furnish you with a Living wall that looks lovely and that lasts long.
This isn't some tray of wheat grass on the windowsill. A vertical garden is for the discerning owner with an eye towards an improved lifestyle. If you insist on doing it yourself or need an economical alternative to hiring a contractor, consider ELT – providers of the Easy Green Living Wall System. They sell self-contained Living wall kits that are affordable and attractive. The decision is up to you, your pocketbook and your commitment to eco-centric design.
When the New York Times wrote an article about Patrick Blanc ("All His Rooms are Living Rooms" - Kristin Hohenadel / May 3, 2007) Stéphane Martin, the director of the Quai Branly Museum, said this about the Le Mur Végétal:
"It puts me in a good mood when I come into the office," Mr. Martin said. "His walls are at once beautiful, friendly and funny. They look from certain angles like a forest that is standing up on its own."
Mr. Blanc says this:
"Humanity is living more and more in cities, and at odds with nature," he said. "The plant wall has a real future for the well-being of people living in cities. The horizontal is finished — it's for us. But the vertical is still free." 
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