I love living walls and South Bay Botanic Garden has one of the best living walls I’ve ever seen. Besides the interest of the plants, I liked the design, different from the usual squares.

Living walls are panels of plants, grown vertically – using hydroponics or substrate-based growing media – on structures that are either freestanding or attached to walls.  Greenroofguide.com

Greenroofguide.com talks about green roofs and DIY green roofs as well as livings walls and vertical gardens. The first photos are simple but scroll down on any of the pages to see more elaborate and beautiful examples.

When we lived in Cleveland, we had a flat roof on our garage where I grew tomatoes and some other vegetables to keep them safe from the depredations of animals such as evil chipmunks and deer. It didn’t really qualify as a green roof but any animal attempting to reach the veggies would have had to pole vault or be shot out of a cannon, in which case I would have gladly surrendered my veggies in exchange for a video or two to make my fortune. But seriously, explore the site and perhaps you’ll catch a bit of my excitement if these photos don’t do that.

Descanso Garden has a vertical wall, which is much higher and on the side of a building. This is part of it.

But living walls or vertical gardens don’t have to outdoors or elaborate. You can also do living walls indoors as The Spruce shows beautifully here and in a variety of types and sizes. Plants have been shown to improve mental health, purify the air, muffle background noise, lower stress and the various “walls” shown aren’t difficult to put together, so what’s not to like?

Or any of you familiar with any or all of these features? Do any of you have a vertical wall or something similar? Inquiring minds like mine want to know. 🙂

Comments
  1. They are beautiful, I don’t have the skills or the patience to create one, but I do appreciate them

  2. macmsue says:

    Wow! That top one is a real stunner, I”ve never seen them created in a design like that.

  3. restlessjo says:

    The first is fabulous, Janet. I gather from friends who’ve tried it that it’s not an easy act to pull off.
    Hope you resolved the Inbox issue. I did change one small thing in my Comments last night after I heard from you, but I don’t think it would impact you.

  4. beth says:

    these are amazing

  5. susurrus says:

    I love the semi-circle design. I have seen a lot of these, including some big expanses, and the only issue is that they sometimes look bad after a few months or years. When they are done well and the plants manage to thrive, they look great. My sweetheart recently said about a green roof that perhaps we ought not to worry whether the roof looks good, just be glad that it is green.

  6. Well, now, isn’t this a nice way for this nerdy gardener to start the day. Gorgeous and what a unique design! I’ve only seen a couple of green walls. One was at Longwood Gardens which is inside and beautiful, and there is a local restaurant with a small one. In this part of the country, outdoor green walls don’t do that great so it’s not photo worthy.

    • I think they’re quite a bit of work but they really are unique and lovely. I haven’t been to Longwood Gardens yet, even though I tell myself every time I’m in Philly I should go. One of these visits…

  7. peggy says:

    This is exciting. The living wall is gorgeous. You don’t see walls like this in Arkansas. I laughed about your rooftop garden. I could just see a chipmunk pole vaulting up there to get those veggies. Ha Ha Such a sense of humor Janet – love it.

  8. That’s the best one I’ve seen!

  9. Dan Antion says:

    I have read about living walls and green roofs, but I’ve never seen either. Lovely photos.

  10. That is so beautiful!!

  11. Cee Neuner says:

    What gorgeous walls you found and captured. Aren’t they fun to come across 😀 😀

  12. Resa says:

    No living walls in my home. I do however, takes care of about 50 House plants. A few are like small tres.
    Love these shots, Janet!

  13. de Wets Wild says:

    I love those old cottages all overgrown with creeping ivy plants. This takes that to a whole different level!

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