Every person constantly strives to decorate his life, trying to bring a touch of beauty and freshness into everyday life. The original solution of the modern world has become vertical gardens - green oases grown in a limited area of the territory. They can be placed both outdoors, decorating the facade of the building, and in your favorite room, filling it with a piece of nature.
Vertical gardens: a new art direction to surround yourself with beauty
What could be better than a green wall turned into a gloomy gray facade of a city building? Or a restaurant, on the walls of which there is a picturesque garden that causes sincere admiration of visitors? Or a balcony revived with elegant natural colors? Or…?
Vertical gardens (photo above), which have a huge number of placement options, can be "settle" not only in your favorite place, but also in your own home, and in such an interesting landscaping solution, only advantages are observed:
- decorative enhancement of the aesthetic appearance of the whole structure or certain parts of it;
- multiple increase in landscaping area;
- compactness and the ability to place a huge amount of flowering greenery at hand;
- protection of the premises from external factors: overheating, moisture, street noise, dust, ultraviolet radiation;
- limitless design possibilities in planning and shaping natural beauty;
- improvement of the microclimate and oxygen enrichment;
- smoothing existing external flaws in the structure;
- creating a new ecological space for planted plants.
Green garden on the wall: is it possible?
What is a vertical garden? This is a perpendicular structure in which a variety of flowers and plants are planted. It is attached to the walls, thus creating a certain geometric shape and originally dividing the territory into certain zones.
Such an unusual design idea attracts a lot of attention and makes you want to be in this environment. "Green" walls, undemanding to technical conditions, can be used both temporarily and permanently.
The history of vertical gardens
The founder of artistic and natural innovation is the French designer and botanist Patrick Blanc, who identified a huge number of tropical plants that can grow vertically, in a small amount of soil and even with a lack of lighting. Such a discovery, which prompted the "master of green solutions" to plant plants on any desired plane, allows you to create chic paintings.from plants that change seasonally. This invention of the last century, which has turned into the art of forming vertical flower beds and lawns, is effectively used on building facades, columns, interiors and as “living” walls.
The most famous wall gardens
The largest vertical garden in the world is the Tree House (Singapore), covering an area of 2289 square meters. meters on a 24-storey condominium building of City Developments Limited (CDL), one of the major developers in Asia and Singapore. The green walls of the building, in addition to the external presentable appearance, provide the expected savings in energy (more than 2.4 million kWh per year) and water (about 30 thousand cubic meters per year). In addition, the ingress of harmful substances from the street into residential premises located in the very center of Singapore is reduced.
No less impressive with its green composition is the Fjordaliso shopping center (Rozzano, Italy), listed in the Guinness Book of Records. The largest vertical garden in the world is located on an area of 1263 square meters. meters; a huge composition in total consists of 44,000 plants. This garden was conceived and brought to life by the architect Francesco Bollani, who spent a year growing plants in the greenhouse and 90 days planting them in front, resembling the assembly of a giant constructor.
Madrid can also boast of its vertical garden, which is 24 meters high and 19 meters long.
Do-it-yourself green beauty? Easy
Perhaps, looking at such beauty (simple andcomplex at the same time), you will want to try to make a vertical garden with your own hands. This process is not difficult. Most likely, he will give pleasure by joining the beautiful. Plants can be planted in plastic or metal boxes, which are then assembled into sections of various heights and widths according to the type of constructor. Can be used for planting a vertical garden textile pockets.
The main element of the whole composition is a design created like a picture frame, which can be made from scratch, or you can pick up unnecessary items (wooden pallets, old drawers or unnecessary frames) under it.
Structural strength is an important factor for a vertical garden
The finished frame needs to be put in order (ennoble, so to speak), boards can be attached to its front side with nails to prevent plants from falling. Then you need to plant flowers in the structure, and then fix the finished garden on the wall.
When creating a vertical garden with your own hands, you should pay attention to factors such as:
- design installation method;
- her estimated weight;
- light level of the location of the man-made garden.
Vertical garden systems come in many varieties, ranging from cloth bags filled with earth to box-sections. Since watering a vertical garden is problematic, most systems are equipped with water tanks or connected to a water supply for automatic drip irrigation, in which water and fertilizer are supplied according to establishedtop of hose design.
Excess liquid accumulates in containers located at the bottom of the structure or walls, and then pumped up for the next irrigation.
Selection of plants for an unusual garden
Vertical landscaping of the garden does not require planting seeds and a long wait for the first shoots. You can plant seedlings, and you need to do this tightly enough to get a solid carpet.
Succulents are ideal for a vertical garden - absolutely unpretentious evergreens that occupy a small space and do not require abundant watering. You can also stop your choice on lichens, mosses, alpine flowers, ground cover plants, simply created by nature for such purposes. Extremely adapted to fluctuations in temperature and atmospheric precipitation, they quickly and easily fill empty spaces, giving the green composition a solid original background.
A vertical garden can be built in a room, however, here you should carefully consider the selection of plants, because not every one of them easily tolerates room temperature. The ideal solution would be evergreen ferns or plants with large leaves (monstera, philodendron, dwarf ficus). You can combine plants with different heights and colors, or you can create a monochrome picture, focusing only on some representatives of the flora. To create a green wall requires the selection of hardy plants, goodgrowing in partial shade. Sometimes, in order not to depend on daylight, vertical gardens are supplemented with lamps.
Subtleties in caring for a vertical garden
When creating a vertical garden with your own hands, plants should be selected with similar care requirements, so that later you do not care for each separately.
An unusual flowerbed with several types of inhabitants planted in it can be placed in any suitable place (even on the ceiling with a strong desire). The main thing is to choose the right plants with similar conditions.
Caring for greens growing in an unfamiliar garden is similar to regular plant care and includes regular system cleaning, plant pruning and pest control. In spring and autumn, mandatory plant nutrition is required, during the flowering period - removal of dried inflorescences and extra sprouts.
Green novelty in every home
Vertical gardens, attractive, unique, providing a pleasant microclimate, will fill any room with green natural colors, making it richer and richer. In the summer, a man-made miracle keeps cool, in winter days it keeps warm.
Green walls reduce temperature fluctuations by providing higher air humidity. They enrich the room with oxygen, filtering the harmful substances contained in it. The greenery of the vertical garden calms the nervous system and has a relaxing effect, so bring an unusually wonderful touch of nature into youreveryday life is worth everyone!
