living walls. This is not so new when you think of the ivy-covered walls of the past (technically not a living wall but a green wall, according to the purists). But taking the concept indoors requires a little more ingenuity. You have to account for irrigation and its inevitable fall out, not to mention providing enough light for you plants’ survival and good air circulation.


Living walls H


ere’s an idea that has been creeping into the consciousness of garden- ers and has now exploded: green or


Green walls in your home’s interior can help keep the air clean and pure. And it’s one of the hottest trends out there today.


Choose plants for any living wall with


some thought and care. Succulents are a good choice for the novice because they are relatively carefree and there are many varieties, including some stunning trailers. The plants you choose should like to live in a similar environment. Think about where they will be placed in your wall arrangement – where will they get the most water? The


h y


least? Plant accordingly. Outdoor living wall features are a lot less


risky and may be the place to experiment as you learn about the issues to be faced. Cer- tainly, watering will be a lot simpler! Living walls are a cool idea, but only time


will tell if the technology will be able to mas- ter the challenges and make maintenance of these features more care free.


NOW AVAILABLE


There are a number of systems available;


some of them as simple at a wall hanger of pockets in which to install potted plants that can be taken out and watered. The pock- ets are waterproof. Other systems are more complicated and while all have some sort of “pocket” for the plants (some where the plant is permanently installed) not all have built in irrigation or water collection – those are for the outdoors. For the indoor living wall gardener, some


have an aquatic feature at the bottom where you can utilize the drained water to grow aquatic plants and at the same time incorpo- rate a recirculating fountain system that can be used to keep roots systems moist. Even in this system, watering and plant maintenance can be tricky because the system will always be dryer at the top that at the bottom. Indoor living walls are meant to have a


real purpose. They can clean and purify the air. Some of the plants you may want to con- sider for cleaning indoor spaces include trop- icals such as azalea, bamboo palm, chrysan- themum, spider plant, aloe vera, English ivy, elephant ear philodendron, golden pothos, and peace lily; all of these plants are good at cleaning the air and each has it specialty so it’s a good idea to include all of them.


www.localgardener.net


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