Lexington, KY - Designing a garden is a creative endeavor, one in which the artist gets a sunburn and dirt under the fingernails. It's like creating a painting except the planting canvas is horizontal. Usually.
Imagine taking a garden and hanging it on a wall. This concept, called living walls, green walls or vertical gardening, is becoming very popular in the gardening world, both indoors and out.
John Michler, owner of Michler's Gardens & Greenhouses and Michler Florist on Maxwell Street, is known for his perennial border artistry. Swirls and sweeps of color and texture are his trademark. A perhaps lesser known attribute is his ongoing business innovation, required for the continued success of any small company. The family business, started by John's great grandfather Carl Michler in 1901, started out growing blooms for their florist trade. John has guided the company through many changes, introducing culinary herbs, followed by perennials, and then offering the design and installation of his trademark perennial borders that now account for 40 percent of the overall business.
Michler's is a Lexington landmark, where visitors stroll through 100-year-old greenhouses filled with the sight and scent of blooms and moist soil. And now, tucked away in the greenhouse, you will find John's newest project - a living wall.
John was inspired by pioneering vertical garden artist and French botanist Patrick Blanc after seeing a magazine article about Blanc's vertical garden installed at a New York City boutique. After seeing this wall on a visit, John was impressed by the passion these plantings inspired in the employees. They all simply loved their walls. And so did John. A few months later he began constructing his own living wall system, patterned after Blanc's method.
Blanc's vertical gardens cover huge buildings and use no soil, because, as he says, "Only water and the minerals dissolved in it are essential to plants, together with light and carbon dioxide. Wherever water is available all year long, as in tropical forests, plants can grow on rocks and tree trunksÖwithout any soil."
To ensure that his vertical gardens are both stable and weatherproof, two layers of felt are attached to plastic sheeting (which also acts as a root barrier), which is attached to a metal framework that provides an airspace between the wall and the plant layer. The plants are placed in pockets in the top felt layer, which retains water fed from a drip irrigation system and provides a good micro-environment for plants. A gutter at the bottom collects any runoff. Blanc notes that when the plant selection is correct, there is no need to change the plants.
John's construction, developed as a learning experience, is a bit different. Over a wooden frame he fastened a backing of 4-foot by 8-foot sheets of PVC board. Over that board is one layer of landscape fabric, followed by two layers of synthetic felt, all held together by stainless steel staples. The bare rooted plants are tucked into slits cut in the top layer of felt. An irrigation system, augmented with micronutrients at very low doses, drips water between the felt layers. Overflow water is caught in a gutter at the bottom of the wall. A peek shows the virtually soil-free plant roots already extending their tendrils along the inner felt layer.
These growing tapestries add visual interest and beauty in places where one would not expect to find plants. In addition to this important benefit, these living walls can also provide insulation, help filter the rainwater that flows across their surface, create a cooling effect, dampen street noise and help to purify the air.
Many living wall systems are now on the market, often using pockets to hold the plants along with some soil. Some of these systems (such as woollypocket.com) are being used in schools' edible garden programs.
John is excited about this new planting opportunity. He notes that "a business can have a vertical garden without taking up valuable retail space." In addition, "a green wall shows that a business is progressive."
And, while he is interested in experimenting with an outdoor installation, John senses that indoor installations may be more important, saying that an indoor living wall "evokes a feeling that is a bit less tamed. Besides, we have plants outdoors already."