Armando Raish
Green Walls, Living Walls or Vertical Gardens as they are sometimes known, are souring in popularity and are being installed on iconic buildings all over the world. Here are a few examples of the most famous living walls.
The National Gallery in London's Trafalgar Square delighted tourists in 2011 with a Van Gogh inspired green wall. 'A Wheatfield with Cypresses' was re-created with vertical planting. Excitingly, once the plants grew and became more established, the picture became more visible. The wall incorporated over 8000 plants and was situated immediately outside the gallery itself. It took only three days to install, and remained in place throughout the summer months.
Installed in 2005, this vertical garden wall covers 4 stories and 8600 square ft of wall, in fact, the entire north west wall. It's prominent location (on the banks of the Seine close to the Eiffel Tower), makes this example one of the most famous (and most photographed) living walls in the world.
The Semiahmoo library in Vancouver, Canada, is the largest of its type in North America. It covers 3000 square feet and contains over 10,000 plants, including perennials, shrubs and even small trees. The design company aimed to encourage 'bees, butterflies and hummingbirds' to the area. The wall was installed in 2010 and continues to flourish and delight.
Installed on the side of an old power station, the vertical garden wall of the Caxia Forum is four stories high and contains 15,000 plants. Now a modern art gallery and museum, the building contrasts the green of the wall with the rusted iron on the surrounding roof, to provide a dramatic landscape in this cultural Spanish hotspot.
Amazingly, living walls have now made their way onto the high seas, in the form of a green wall on board a cruise ship. The wall measures 37.7 ft by 7.9 ft with its design inclorporating, quite fittingly, a map of the world.
In recent years, green walls and vertical gardens have become a regular feature of the main horticultural shows, including Chelsea and Hampton Court. Many show gardens feature living walls heavily. As a rule, once they have appeared at Chelsea, it's only a matter of time before they start appearing in back gardens across the land.
