Vertical Gardens by Patrick Blanc

Welcome to my Hub Page on Vertical Gardens or Green Walls, which are essentially gardens grown on a vertical structure such as a wall of a building, where plants are attached to the wall via a metal frame containing soil or medium and linked with systems for watering and lighting. The garden are often designed with an artistic element and serve as a living sculpture.

I first heard about Vertical Gardens when researching sustainability in the design industry and even had the pleasure of attending a talk given by the French Botanist, Patrick Blanc who created "Vertical Gardens" and has since popularised the Vertical Gardens concept globally. Here you will find a brief introduction to the concept of vertical gardens and other useful information to create your own.

If you are interested in Vertical Gardens, you may also be interested in my other hubs on Vertical Farming by Dickson Despommier.

I hope you enjoy discovering and learning about Vertical Gardens, If you found this Hub interesting and useful please leave a comment or like this Hub Pages.

A vertical Garden or Green wall is a wall, either free-standing or part of a building, that is partially or completely covered with vegetation. The creator of the vertical gardens concept is Patrick Blanc. A French botanist who specialised in tropical forest while working at the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

A vertical garden is made up of a metal frame and a network of PVC pipe which is attached to a wall or other vertical structures. The frame is then layered in polytamide felt which mimic cliff growing mosses and can support the roots of other plants. The network of pipes are used to soak the felt medium, with a nutrient solutions there by supplying the plants nutrients through capillary action. Extra nutrient solution or excess water is able to flows down the wall via gravity and is collected and recirculated, creating a closed system.

A vertical garden can be grown both outdoors and indoors, which will determine the species of plants selected for the garden. One of the factors that will determine the success of the vertical garden it the selection of various plant species that can be grown together in a ecosystem, creating a mico-climate for other species. This is as much a science as it is the artistic element of vertical gardens.

Vertical Gardens are also called living walls, biowalls or more scientifically Vertical Vegetated Complex Walls.

In addition to their aesthetics, a Vertical Garden are ideal in urban environments where the plants can reduce the overall temperature of a building. "The primary cause of heat build-up in cities is insolation, the absorption of solar radiation by roads and buildings in the city and the storage of this heat in the building material and its subsequent re-radiation. Planted surfaces however, as a result of transpiration, do not rise more than 4-5 °C above the ambient and are sometimes cooler." resulting in the cooling of the surrounding area.

Other benefits of a Vertical Gardens is they can be a means for recycling grey water. The plants could be used to purify slightly polluted water by absorbing the dissolved nutrients.

Vertical Gardens also has health benefits towards humans and may be built indoors to produce fresh oxygen, helping to alleviate sick building syndrome.

In any city, anywhere, says Patrick Blanc, a naked wall can be turned into a Vertical Garden and be a valuable shelter for biodiversity. Drawing on travels to Taiwan, India and Malaysia, Blanc began developing his living walls inside using mainly tropical plants. Today his green tapestries are being planted externally in an increasing number of cities including New York, London, Madrid, Paris, Tokyo and many other cities around the world.