Living Walls 101

Vertical gardens have been around for thousands of years as architectural elements. It is recently that they have been growing in popularity for their beauty, ability to provide food in limited space and new technology that has increased performance.

There are three types of living walls.

	Trellised: Trellised living walls use grids to support climbing plants. Generally, plants are placed at grade or in growing medium throughout parts of the living wall. Trellised living walls planted with perennial plants is the best type of system for curbing heat gain in the summer when the plants are foliated. Trellised living walls are generally the least expensive option for living walls and run in the range of $25-$75 sq/ft installed. They also provide the fewest planting options.
Provider: Tournesol Siteworks
	Engineered Modular: Engineered modular systems are trays of plants engineered with supports to keep the growth media in the module when placed on a vertical wall. These systems generally way around 20-25 lbs/sf so the support systems can be quite complex and expensive. Engineered modular systems can provide very fine details so they are an excellent choice when logos or words are a part of the living wall design. Irrigation is more difficult in engineered modular systems as they are susceptible to wet and dry spots. These walls generally range from $75-$200 sq/ft installed.
Provider: ELT
	Hydroponic: Hydroponic living walls provide some of the best elements of trellised and engineered modular living walls in that they are light weight and still allow for a large variety of planting options. Hydroponic living walls incorporate plants with little or no soil placed in pockets attached to a support structure. The roots of the wall eventually expand out of the pocket and the geo-textiles become interwoven with the roots of the plants. Hydroponic living walls can use 75% or less water than engineered modular systems because irrigation can more easily direct water to roots of the plants. These walls generally range from $50-$100 sq/ft installed.
Provider: Custom Design by SolTerra Systems