Monday, October 15, 2007

Blog Action Day - A bio wall environmental project

Joining in with my fellow bloggers across the world I thought it would be appropriate for me to share the environmental project that I am currently working on ; a bio wall.

First let me say that as a horticulturist, environmental sculptor and landscape designer I am usually working on some kind of environmental project every day but the current project that I am working on is providing me with much inspiration and professional satisfaction.

The living green plants that will form the bio wall are currently being propagated in my small 8x10 foot back yard green house.




So far I only have about 23 flats planted up which means that I have 12 more to go before I have the frame of the bio wall completely covered.


Below is bio wall plan. It was my original concept and since then it has been revised so that
it is 8 feet long, 17 inches wide and four feet tall..





Below are some of the flats that have been planted up and will go into the wall






12 comments:

EAL said...

Where would the biowall be used?

Deviant Deziner, aka Michelle said...

The bio wall that I am building is going to be used as a living green screen at the 2008 San Francisco Garden Show.

We are also working on one for a client who lives in a 0 lot line development , meaning that her neighbors house is her side yard.
She basically looks out to a small square of dirt 13 x 14 and a looming 2 story empty wall.

The bio wall will be a vertical garden .

For more information on bio walls check out Patrick Blancs website.
He has been creating bio walls for several years.

Anonymous said...

OK, the flats are wired to the frame, but what's holding the plants in the flats?

Doesn't Blanc use folds or pockets in fabric?


Man I might have to go to the Garden show this year to see this. I like big-ass bromeliads.

Deviant Deziner, aka Michelle said...

The root mass holds the plants into the flats
.. with luck !!

if not, I've got plan B in place.
slightly angle in the bio wall so that it is wider at the bottom than at the top.

Phrago said...

Way cool living wall! I grow a lot of plants on mounts and I have an idea to keep the plants in the trays. How about securing hardware cloth over the tops of the trays , filling them with a soiless mixture of peat and orchid grade bark and then packing the tops of the trays with spagnum moss through the holes of the cloth. Then you can plant your seedlings between the holes (you might have to cut the holes bigger for some of the plants. I grow a lot of succulants in bark mixes and they grow very well. And I grow a lot of epiphitical Orchids in hardware cloth baskets with a bark and spagnum treatment and they hang great. Mylar fishing line is helpful to secure heavier plants to the side of a vertical growing medium until they root on to the medium securely. Its easy to hide with spagnum and is strong and cheap. I like your Idea of using nursery trays on their side to make a living wall, Michelle. Very inventive, Bravo!

Anonymous said...

Plan B: batter it like a yew hedge.

Also: check out nature's green wall. (Sorry if you already saw that on my blog).

Annie in Austin said...

Hi DD,

My friends the Divas of the Dirt worked on a living fence as one of our garden projects last year. The structure was made by the homeowner. Wooden fenceposts were installed in two rows then wrapped with landscape fabric to make two walls. The space was filled with soil from a local organic nursery. It was intended as a sound and vision screen for her house, since the street is a busy one. It wasn't planted solidly - stuff like Fig ivy was planted at the base with other plants draping down.

I should go back and take a photo to show how it held up after a year in Austin.

I love all those succulents!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Deviant Deziner, aka Michelle said...

Thank Patrick, MMW and Annie for the links and the tips.
I plan on researching and probably using all your suggestions.

I've worked on another bio wall several years ago but the construction technique was quite different as was the location and the environmental conditions.

I hope that this project is a successful as the last.

Thanks for all the helpful links and tips
michelle

Robin (Bumblebee) said...

This looks fabulous. I am considering a large-scale project with succulents like this--a sort of topiary like I've seen at the big botanical gardens. Nice to see how you can get a lot of plants going. Must copy.

Glad to have found you so I can follow your progress on this and other projects.

--Robin (Bumblebee)

kipper said...

HEY GUYS, YOU SHOULD WATCH OUT THE WORK OF THE QUÉBECOIS FRENCHY BOTANIST-ARTIST ERIC BOND..
I SAW ON HIS FACEBOOK GROUP (MUR VÉGÉTAL / GREEN WALL / LIVING WALL / TOIT VERT / GREEN ROOF)
SOME OF ITS WORKS.
HE'S DOING RESEARCHES ON VERTICAL GREENING, GOT 4 DIFFERENTS SYSTEMS, 2 PATENTS..HAVE DONE MANY HUGE INSTALLATIONS AND ONE IN WASHINGTON DC FOR THE SOLAR DECATHLON..ECO-VERTICAL..IT'S AN EXTENSIVE SYSTEM !? AND HE HAVE AN AMAZING HYDRO-FELT GREEN WALL STUFF THAT NOBODY HAVE UNDERSTAND WAY ITS WORK YET !!!
TO SEE.. WWW.ENVIROZONE.CA..STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Hipppy said...

I would love to see pictures of the green house! I built one with 1/2 PVC pipe, and the wind took it away........

groovyhipppy@icqmail.com
(3 p's in hipppy)

I love it, and want to do one with plants, just like yours.

Do you have another site, with more detail and pictures?

Hope to hear from you. If you do, put GREENHOUSE in the subject line.

Just Awsome!

Anonymous said...

well.. it's like I thought!