Living walls are bang on trend

Vertical gardens are on the up!  They’re a huge trend at the moment.  The numbers are growing, and they crop up regularly in features on beautiful garden spaces or urban greening.  The attraction is obvious.  Not only is a living wall a beautiful thing visually, it also has environmental benefits and even economic ones!

Why is a living wall so great?

As we said, the aesthetic benefits of a green wall are clear.  This is especially true when it covers an otherwise unattractive wall or other structure.  However, there are other qualities that make green walls a great choice.  They insulate the walls they cover, so they keep a building warmer in winter and cooler in summer, reducing the need for heating or air-conditioning.  Plants purify the air by absorbing both carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide during photosynthesis.  The vertical mass of plants also suppresses dust particles.  Both of these improve air quality.  Large areas of greenery also absorb ambient noise, creating a barrier against traffic sounds in urban areas.  And looking at living plants has a great effect on human well-being.  It just makes us feel better than staring at manmade structures!

These are just a few of the reasons why we think living walls are a good idea, but if you want to know more, there’s plenty of information out there.  Take a look at the Urban Greening website by clicking on this link: benefits of green walls

Biodiversity

One other extremely important thing about a designed living wall (rather than a naturally occurring one such as ivy covering a fence) is that a huge variety of plants can be used.  Whereas a natural green wall consists only of plants that climb and can cling to the surface without help, this is not the case when we set out to create a living wall.  We use a support that includes pods of growing medium.  This means that individual plants can be tucked in as they would in a hanging basket or any other planter.  Sometimes the supports have self-contained irrigation or, as with the Plantbox system we reported on a few weeks ago, they can be watered manually like any other area of a garden.  Whatever the system, it allows us to use a huge variety of plants.  And a diverse variety of plants makes a habitat that supports an equally diverse number of insects and other wildlife.  Installing a living wall creates a whole new ecosystem!

Rosewood can help!

So, in conclusion, we think that the trend for vertical gardening is not only a fashionable fad.  We think it’s here to stay, for many excellent reasons.  If you’re interested in creating your own living wall, we can help.  Call Rosewood Living Walls on 01727 811448 and ask for Calum.