The largest green wall in Britain had been unveiled at the new Leamouth Peninsula development in London's Docklands. Covering over 820sq metres, it covers an area larger than 3 tennis courts!
To learn about the insulating and financial benefits of installing a green wall, see my recent posting 'How your garden can help you cut down on your heating bills"
PATRICK BLANC - GREEN WALL EXPERT
The green wall is the first UK commission for French designer Patrick Blanc who is famous for his vertical planting and green walls. After training as a Botanist, Patrick studied plants growing on rock faces and tree trunks in the wild to develop his 'murs végétaux'. He found plants could do without soil and were happy to grow vertically as long as they had a steady supply of water and nutrients.
You can find out more about Patrick Blanc and his Vertical Gardens by visiting his website
The idea of green walls and vertical plantings has really taken off, and green walls can now be seen all over the world.
HOW PATRICK BLANCS GREEN WALL WORKS
Plants are rooted in a layer of felt laid onto PVC sheeting, which is then stapled to a metal frame attached to the wall. Water and nutrients are delivered from the top, spreading by capillary action to all the plants on the wall.
ABOUT THE GREEN WALL AT LEAMOUTH
The planting shcme for the green wall at Leamouth uses 160 different varieties of plant. These range from tough shrubs such as Buddleja and Berberis to Patrick's trademark Iris japonica and Corydalis, planted in drifts across the surface of the building. To install the planting scheme, it appears the design was simply spray painted on to the wall, and then planted up.
Work on a second green wall in the UK designed by Patrick Blanc, at a nightclub in Kings Cross, is due to begin next year.
To learn more about the work of Patrick Blanc, I would recommend his excellent book,The Vertical Garden: In Nature and the City
MORE INFORMATION ON GREEN WALLS
To learn more about Green Walls and Living Walls, I would highly recommend Planting Green Roofs and Living Walls
Or to learn about the insulating and financial benefits of installing a green wall, see my recent posting 'How your garden can help you cut down on your heating bills"
* all images are reserved Patrick Blanc
3 comments:
The slideshow on his site is incredible. Green roofs... now green walls. There is no reason for a city to be a concrete jungle any longer. They can be green also.
Such a shame that the greenwall in Leamouth is so 'ungreen' The water used to feed it simply flushes through the planted panels and then disappears down the drain. No recycling or collecting takes place. The energy used to pump the flow through, too much mount up over time. A lovely idea and a visually stunning creating but very poorly designed form a sustainability principle.
I Couldnt agree more philippa, looks great i must admit, but there is such a huge amount of maintenance, the waste of water, the weight on the structure, after the building has been modified / or designed to take the green wall the benefits must be severely hampered.
Still think a more natural approach is better, using a trellis system so the plants choose where and how to grow, i know Jakob do a system and even have an irrigation system which collects spent water.
I really hope the idea catches on though,looks much better than concrete.
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