| | The Green Walls Column
October 2008
Successful Maintenance on
Green Walls
By George Irwin, The Green Wall Editor
All Photos Courtesy George Irwin
For
many of us the summer is almost gone except for the occasional spike in
temperature - the last long rays of sun and the ever changing colors of
explosive reds, oranges and yellow leaves are upon us. For others
the change of season is a minimally noticed drop in temperature and a
little less sunshine; for others it’s the rainy season. No matter
where you live, some type of change is inevitable.
As our green walls change how do we maintain them and ensure their
success? As you may know, "Green Wall" is used as a global term
for both living walls and green facades, for definitions refer to “An Intro to Green Walls and Green Roofs: Living Architecture at its Best
- Green Walls Part I Nomenclature.” We will talk about
maintenance variables that will affect the changes and the “How To”
application of maintaining green walls.
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Variables of Maintenance. |
A long overdue topic, I apologize for the
limited writing schedule and to talk about exterior maintenance may be a
few weeks late for those in the regions experiencing extreme changes
from summer to fall, but nonetheless maintenance can be defined by using
many variables. The five topics to maintaining a green wall we can
clearly identify as: location access, structural inspections,
irrigation, and drainage and plant maintenance. For a formal
maintenance plan, our commercial maintenance technicians utilize our
standard task of events or a simple checklist for all five variables on
a monthly basis. We refer to the checklist as a preventative
maintenance program.
Before we dive right into the maintenance, a
reminder that the non-vegetated components, whether part of a soil based
modular system for a living wall or a cable / modular trellis system for
a green facade, are mechanisms to hold plants in place and to offer the
basic needs for plant survival. Rethink a simple potted plant. (I
have referenced this point in other writings.) The pot, no matter
how large or small, clay, plastic or metal, is a holding mechanism for
the plant. Traditionally, the pot is filled with a growing media
that can support a root structure, hold nutrients and when placed in the
correct amount of light and provided with enough
CO
2
will usually survive.
If the pot contains a plant that needs sun
and you keep it in the shade and it does not survive, do you blame the
pot? The point is to choose a plant type that is relevant to the
sun aspect and microclimate of the green wall structure and therefore
conducive to the environment in which it will thrive. Back to the
case of the potted plant, can we really blame the pot if the plant fails
or doesn’t perform? Or should we rethink our choice of plant
material relevant to the needs of the individual plant, its environment
and the green wall mechanism? The point is green walls are simply
tools that allow us to host the living plants and help sustain vertical
growth, so don’t always blame the system for plant failure: first
evaluate the needs of the plants, plan your maintenance and plant
characteristics for survival accordingly. Although not all green
wall products are created equal and some do a better job of maintaining
plant health, most can be constructed of various materials such as
metals or plastics and offer a variety of options including depths,
which can all be taken into account by the designer.
That simple statement, “First evaluate the
needs of the plant” will lead us to the components for the plants'
survival…and ongoing maintenance. The plant world can be difficult
for the untrained botanist, so read the plant tags carefully prior to
purchasing or stand by the advice of the green wall manufacturer.
Each plant species has a list of characters that depict what the ideal
conditions should be. Characteristics can be identified as what
describes the plant. It may include phrases such as, “A rapid
growing ground cover that can turn red, bronze or brown in full
sunlight.” On the tag look for key words such as “sun” and
“water,” “heat and drought tolerant,” “needs constant moisture,” “fast
growing,” “potentially invasive,” and “hardiness zone.” These are
very important buzz words that describe the plant, what they need for
survival and will define the maintenance needs! We
would have to write a lengthy book in order to decipher all the possible
maintenance topics for individual plant types.
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Physical Advantages on a wall. |
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When it comes to plant material in a green
wall, there are no secrets. The same plant in the green wall
has the same requirements as if it were planted in any horizontal plane.
The green wall, however, does provide some physical advantages.
The green wall provides an ergonomically advantageous position to
working in the vertical plane. This is especially true when an
edible crop wall is installed.
With crops, it is uncommon for the wall to
be above six feet high so it is easy to work on by standing in an
upright position, unlike traditional vegetable gardening where you
are always bending or kneeling. The green wall panels can also be
planted at a height comfortable for almost anyone making green wall
panels ideal for healing gardens, assisted living activities, children
and other physically disadvantaged scenarios.
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Genie Lift
to Access a Parking Garage. |
We identified the five components to
maintaining a green wall to include location, structural inspections,
irrigation, drainage and plant maintenance. Although maintenance
is conducive to the plant type, the five headings are common threads to
any of the green walls.
Location Access
Location in this sense is defined as the
physical area the wall is located. For example, is the wall behind
a secondary structure, is the wall only on an upper location of a
building or is the wall fifty feet off the ground? No matter what
the plant type, the first item of consideration is how to access the
green wall. Usually a similar method used during the installation
would be ideal. If the installer used a scissors lift or a man
lift the same equipment would be acceptable for major maintenance such
as plant replacement and major pruning. For general service and
site visits a ladder may suffice.
Structural Inspections
It is recommended that any of the green
walls be approached from a preventative methodology. The fact of
knowing the potential issues that may occur allows planning maintenance
around these issues, creating a simple task analysis and level of
hierarchal importance. Even the most experienced installers are
not exempt from mechanical failure so check your waterproofing and
penetration methods. In addition, if you are a customer or client
of a green wall manufacturer/installer, question these methods and ask
for specific details - remember that water will find the smallest
penetration. The structural bracket assembly on some systems is
very complex and warrants an in depth inspection, while others are
designed with simple functionality allowing for simple physical
performance and free water and air flow behind the green wall.
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Left: Ladder used for an
indoor installation; Right: Scissors Lift. |
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Green
LivingTM Wall
Bracket Installation |
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Upon accessing the wall the first order is
to visually inspect the structural integrity of the mounting mechanism,
the waterproofing, if any, and the interior wall (for any signs of
moisture). For trellis and cable systems check the penetrations of
the anchors, spacers, and supplementary equipment in addition to the
cable tension.
Irrigation
The second order of events is to operate and
visually inspect the irrigation system. Some items to look for
include: clogged emitters, leaks at the coupler and connections and
small drips within the irrigation manifold. At this time it is
ideal to remove and clean or replace the filter or screen from the drip
irrigation system. This will prevent any sediment from entering
the thin tubing of the drip line creating clogs and emitter
malfunctions. The irrigation is easier to assess with a trellis or cable
system assuming the plant and the root system is at the base of the
mechanism used to support the climbing plant. The irrigation, no
matter a bubbler, soaker, drip or other low volume technique, should be
working to the original specification. It is also a good idea to
check the mechanical components such as the timer, zone valves, screens
and any connections.
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Left: Greenscreen; Right:
Stainless Steel Anchor |
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A ccessing the irrigation for inspection. |
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Drip Irrigation Filter |
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Drainage Maintenance
During the irrigation inspection is also the
opportunity to check all the connected drains that collect the excess
irrigation and rainfall. No matter the location, interior or
exterior, a drain is essential to prevent water collection in the event
of a heavy rain or an irrigation failure. If the irrigation is
left on or becomes the victim of a faulty irrigation zone valve, there
is the possibility of the water overflow. The drain acts as an
overflow thus inspection of the intake must be part of the inspection
process. Materials such as dead leaves, soil, mud and even public
garbage have been removed from the irrigation drains!
Plant Maintenance
The last order of inspection includes the
actual plant material. As mentioned earlier each plant has its own
maintenance requirements. A common maintenance requirement for
exterior green walls is to weed the wall. In this step, the
trellis and cable systems are more susceptible to weed growth since the
area the climbers are planted is on the horizontal surface. Unlike
the soil based green walls, weed seeds have a harder time rooting on a
vertical plane. Nonetheless, weeding is a common practice in all
system types.
Other common practice includes the physical
inspection of all the plant material. The visual health would be
obvious - disease, dieback, dead foliage and the noticeable and
acceptable levels of overgrown plants. It is common that some of
the indoor plants suffer yellowing leaves that can be easily pinched or
some climbers may become woody and can this can be solved by pruning.
It is at this time that the plants can be pruned, trained and cleaned.
Interior plants may require a dusting to
keep them healthy. After wiping any dust from indoor plants, you
can also apply a thin coat of a non-toxic plant shine to bring out the
plant colors and textures. This is also the time to inspect for
any erosion or media loss and the look of the non-vegetated component of
the product itself. Look for cracking, and in some green walls
there is a growth media bag that may require replacing. On the
exterior, the metal-based products are not susceptible to expansion and
contraction nor suffer from the heat and cold of the elements and
exposure to the sun. Also during the plant maintenance
checkpoint, inspection of the structural integrity of the wall mechanism
may be easier. This is an opportunity to see the internal portions
of the green wall that are usually covered by foliage!
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Left: Fungus development
due to improper watering; Right: Leaf Shine product |
Finally, as a miscellaneous item, if the
green wall system has artificial lighting this is a good time to check
the bulbs for replacement. With a planned preventative maintenance
program the physical structure and integrity should be inspected on a
monthly basis. Irrigation operational failures will be more
obvious since the plants will be on the decline, and leaks could become
a costly event.
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Supplemental Indoor Lighting is like jewelry, accessorizing
and highlighting the green wall's best feature - the plants!. |
No matter if you are a do-it-yourself green
wall owner or a professional maintenance technician and installer,
preventative maintenance will retain the safety and integrity of any
project, plus add years of sustainable beauty to any wallscape.
George A. Irwin
George Irwin is President and CEO of Green Living Technologies, LLC (GLT) which manufactures and designs Green Living™ Walls and Green Living™ Roofs, in addition to other Green Living™ Accessories. He is also a trainer for Green Walls 101. Mr. Irwin lives in Rochester, New York, with his wife, son and daughter.
Green Living Technologies, LLC: A leader in green wall technology, GLT is the only soil based green wall manufacturer and designer in the United States. The standard Green Living™ Wall systems are available as a 2’ x 2’ x 3“ configuration or as a custom dimension and depth for both commercial and retail markets, and is also used as an extreme sloped green roof application. The Green Living™ Roof system is a modular pre-vegetated or planted in place green roof system.
Contact George Irwin at: George@AGreenroof.com, www.agreenroof.com, or 1.800.631.8001.
The opinions expressed by our Guest Feature writers and editors may not necessarily reflect the beliefs of Greenroofs.com, and are offered to our readers to simply present individual views and experiences and
open a dialogue of further discussion, debate and research. Enjoy, and if you have a particular comment, please contact the author or send us an email to:
comments@greenroofs.com.
July 2008
How Does Your
Garden Grow?......Vertical!
By George Irwin, The Green Wall Editor
All Photos Courtesy George Irwin unless otherwise noted
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Green
peppers on the vine. |
The
early Spring is normally our busy show season and between the
Go Green Expo
NYC and GRSC in Baltimore, it is great to be back home. Beside the busy
spring show season it is also time to garden! Personally, my gardens have
become my time to relax, and even better an opportunity to involve my
family. The kids help plant and my wife makes jam and pickles from what we
harvest.
Since 3,000 BC families produced crops for their own consumption and some
marginal barter. In 1840, 69% of the labor force was farming, in 1930 it was
21% and in 1990 only 2.6% of the labor force is farming (www.agclassroom.org/gan/timeline/index.htm). There has been an obvious decline in farming in North America since the
1800’s. Before we talk about green walls I want to review some key points in
history about American agriculture.
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Planting a
Victory Garden for the cause was patriotic and sustainable. |
From 1939 to 1945 the world was at war, and Americans were asked to divert
materials and efforts to the war effort. At the time this was a call for
self-reliance, recycling, and conservation of raw materials. Sounds like
another definition of Sustainability … Compare the circa 2008 vs. the 1940 definition of
self-reliance, amazing how history repeats itself. The public was encouraged to
plant “Victory Gardens” in all shapes and sizes. “Nearly 20 million
Americans answered the call. They planted gardens in backyards, empty lots
and even city rooftops,” (http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org).
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A small
spot will do. |
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture an estimated 20 million
victory gardens were planted. Fruit and vegetables harvested in these home
and community plots were estimated to weigh 9-10 million tons, an amount
equal to all commercial production of fresh produce. The program made a
difference except after the war, the promotion of gardens stopped and the
commercial agriculture industry was not prepared for the demand, creating a
shortage of fruits and vegetables. During these times of urban gardens there
was also a significant decrease in transportation going to and from the
market.
As I write it makes me realize that either my wife or I are at the
grocery store at least 4-5 times a week for bread, milk or some type of
produce. What if we would simply grow all of our own produce and eliminate 3
trips to the store? As the farming labor force decreased and the urban farms
changed so did agricultural technology, including the introduction to
pesticides, machinery, seed altering genetics and growing methods.
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Homemade
pickles and strawberries for jam grown at home in the Green
Living™ Wall. |
Let’s go back to basics; you don’t need a plot of land to maintain your own
crop-producing gardens. With evolution and urban development, the removal of
fertile land was replaced with concrete and buildings and there arose
alternative ways to produce crops - you guessed it, green walls for crop
production. As per my last article it’s not all about the “Outer
Beauty…..it’s also the Inner Function.”
My wife is a traditionalist and we prefer not to purchase pickles, jams and
jellies; we do our own canning when possible. In fact, we grow our own
strawberries for strawberry jam, harvest our own salad and spinach and even
grow thumbnail carrots, squash, cucumbers and more.
Re-visit “Green Wall” (Green Walls Part I) as a global term used to
reference a variety of vegetated wall surfaces. Within the term “Green Wall”
we have two specific categories, Green Facades and Living Walls.
• ‘Green Facade’ or facade greening features a training structure that
support vines or climbing plants growing upward from the ground away from
the building (GW101, 2008).
Green Facade can now be dissected into two additional categories of product
applications:
• A multidimensional, welded wire trellising system;
• A variety of stainless steel cable and mesh systems.
Both systems support a variety of climbing plant material, can be
customized, and some are available in a variety of colors.
• ‘Living Wall’ is part of a building envelope system, comprising
pre-vegetated or planted on site panels containing plants, growing medium or
liquid nutrient installed in or on a frame, secured to a structural wall, or
it can be free standing (GW101, 2008).
Living Walls can also be migrated into two distinct categories:
• Hydroponics wall which uses recirculation water to deliver nutrients
directly to the roots of the plant material;
• Soil or growing media based walls. T hese walls are made up of a variety of
modules that retain growth media to support plant material.
You want to have a vertical garden, what system do you use? The question is
for you to question or talk with one of the manufacturers mentioned. When I
lecture about green walls I make it clear each system has their limitation;
each has pros and cons. Many features include plastic vs. recycled metals,
powder coating, growing media depths, drainage, watering systems, mounting,
maintenance and more. The common point is that when vegetation survivability
issues arise, the system itself is not to blame for plant failure.
Look at the system just as you would a terracotta pot. If you plant the
correct plant in relation to the pot, allow for proper lighting, nutrients
and care for your plant, it will thrive. If the basic needs of the plant are
not met or the plant is not right for the pot and the plant dies, do you
blame the pot? The same hold true to the green wall systems. You need to
choose plants that are conducive to the environment and care you apply in
relationship to the systems limitations.
The cable and wire mesh systems (Greenscreen, Jakob, CarlStahl) would be
more then adequate for climbing grapes, beans and supporting tomatoes, but
require an area below to support the root structure. Without a planter or
space requirements these systems are limited for vertical crop production,
unless the plant is a climber. Some of the living wall systems have more
limitations then others.
The standard ELT living wall panel has a 2.25”
depth and would be best suited for fast growing leafy greens and some
shallow rooted herbs that can be harvested during the early season. The
Green Living™ Wall by Green Living™ Technologies offers a wide range of
planting depths from 3” to 6” and has shown long term success with
everything from tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, eggplant,
strawberries, peppers and even watermelon. Both systems can produce edible
foods with the use of growing media supported on a vertical surface or free
standing.
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Left:
ELT
Living Wall Panel; Right: Green Living™ Technologies |
Making a choice of systems for your garden may be dictated by the area you
have to work with, and most of the systems are very flexible from a design
perspective. Greenscreen will customize the project to specification; Jakob
and CarlStahl are very flexible since they are cable systems and can be
assembled with average carpentry skills to meet any dimension. The ELT
system consists of a single plastic 20”x 20” panel that can be cut
horizontally. Measure carefully because cutting the structure vertically
will remove one of the side walls and irrigation will flow outside the
structure, so try to keep your measurements of the ELT panel even in order
to prevent cutting them vertically. The Green Living™ Wall has very flexible
dimensions and has standard stock in 1 foot increments and they can
customize any other measurement or curve you request including planting
depths from 3”, 4” and 6”.
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Left:
ELT
Living Wall Panel with Leafy Greens; Right: Strawberries for
jam in the Green Living™ Technologies standard 4” depth. |
Other options for growing vertical or at least elevated crops can be
demonstrated here using an old cat litter container with a hole drilled in
the bottom and painted green. The owner also planted Basil in the top. Special thanks to
www.marshalllee.net for sharing.
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A kitty
litter bucket-turned vegetable planter! Source:
marshalllee.net |
Here are some examples of some of year's Irwin family's crops including
watermelon in the lower left hand side of the picture on the left. In the
past we found that the following can also hold themselves on the wall
without any problems or soil loss: tomatoes, peppers, leafy greens,
strawberries, herbs, thumbnail carrots, and dandelion.
In addition to the above examples, the following is showing a 100% success
rate with the help of a rack system under the panels to support the fruits
which include: watermelon, zucchini, cucumbers and squash.
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Left:
Cucumbers at 9 weeks; Right: Tomatoes on the vine with GLT. |
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Wheat grass
is a snap on a wall. |
How about growing your own wheat grass? In my travels I found energy shots
of wheat grass selling for as high as $9.00 per shot. The truth is, you can
grow your own for pennies. The picture at left is a juice bar that has panels
of wheat grass growing out back while the one below is in the store is cut for use in
a variety of energy drinks and smoothies.
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If you grow
it, you know it! |
How does your garden grow? I hope you enjoyed these gardening ideas,
agriculture history and the rejuvenation of what I like to call the
“Sustainable Garden” instead of the Victory Garden.
Remember that each
system has various limitations, space consumption, potential mounting
possibilities, and applications as some units can be indoors. Even the
material it is manufactured from can play a role in a successful vertical
garden. It's not rocket science if we can grow our own produce, especially
during the geographic growing seasons, and if we could we eliminate trips to
grocery store, what would the residual results be? How much in gas could we
save? How much carbon can we offset? And the issue of food security would
rest with us at home.
Go out and garden - the worst thing that can happen is you end up with great
organically grown tomatoes and you spend time with your family doing it. George A. Irwin
April 2008
Green Walls: Outer Beauty, Inner Function
By George Irwin, The Green Wall Editor
All Photos Courtesy George Irwin unless otherwise noted
As a child I was mesmerized by the bean seeds starting to poke up over the rim of old cafeteria milk carton that had the top cut off. I clearly remember my teacher lining up the milk cartons, mostly chocolate, along the window sill. As the week went on the mass of bean seeds look like a single carpet - I thought that was neat. And as a teenager I always admired the clean cut and straight lines of a professionally manicured lawn. Seeing the dark and light striped green color variations of the outfield grass I would ask myself how they did that - and I thought that was cool. As a young landscape entrepreneur the site of mass annual plantings, over grown trellises and displays of natural wild flowers would make me stop and look, and that too, was pretty awesome. These are all very specific things that caught my attention.
 | Touchy, feely and gorgeous in
Rochester, NY using Green Living Technologies, LLC;
Design by Pietro Furgiuele. |
These visual experiences are all related to color, shape, texture and presentation; the point is it was eye catching. You don’t need to be a psychologist to realize that visual affects are an attractant and at times stimulating. Of course there is more to just visual attractants than plants; in fact, anything can be a visual attractant depending on what it is and who it is perceived by - but green walls are different, and I haven’t met anyone yet who didn’t think a green wall wasn’t “cool.” Here we will discuss the use of green walls as visual attractants, artistic expressions, marketing campaigns and one of a kind pieces of art. Although most will find the green wall itself a work of art, you have to look beyond the initial beauty to see that there is also environmental and economic function.
In my last article, “An Intro to Green Walls and Green Roofs: Living Architecture at its Best,” we left off with the understanding that seeing plant material on a vertical surface stimulates curiosity and verbal excitement with words like: Cool, Wow, Neat, Different, and sometimes even words of disbelief: “Is that real?” It is these same people that are bringing the green wall to the attention of others with expressions like, “Look at that, Isn’t that neat, and Check this out;” they express a call to action that recruits others to share the visual experience with them. The Austrian designer Friedenreich Hundertwasser could be considered the modern artist and visionary who promoted the concept of living vertical architecture, and even to this day visitors are amazed at his integration of vegetation and architecture on green wall and greenroofs. See some of his work green wall below:  |  | Hundertwasser-Haus, Vienna, Austria: 1977-1986; Photo Copyright Glenn Bristol;
Courtesy Greenroofs.com |
 | RIT Green Living Wall™ |
A recent example came from a project at a much respected college, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). A small monolithic 100 square foot Green Living™ Wall system, nothing of vibrant color, was being installed in a brand new LEED™ certified building there. If the installer hadn’t tied off caution tape, students and faculty alike would have walked right up to where the installer was working to touch the wall. In addition, those same passers by came back with more people to show them, and the audience soon multiplied.
Right now, 100% of our calls about green walls come as a desire for a cosmetic addition to an indoor space or outdoor facade. But, it is also becoming more prevalent from our other business partners and corporate clients that incorporating a green wall can also be a stoke of marketing genius. My inaugural article also described in brief about the Anthropologies green wall in Huntsville, Alabama. One of the unanticipated benefits about that green wall is that it attracted people resulting in an increase of retail traffic. Since then, we are not the only ones who have realized the marketing potential; we have been working on three additional green wall projects for the same company, and they, too, realized the impact.  | Lexus and Pangea Organics' “Nurture Nature” event specialty GLT display. |
Earlier this year we were contracted by Lexus and Pangea Organics for the NYC kick off event “Nurture Nature” wanting to rent a full 10’x10’ custom green wall and logo as a backdrop for the guest speakers! Using a combination of indoor plants and wheat grass grown in between the Pangea logo, the backdrop maintained the attention of all the guests long after each speaker was done, and of course they walked right up to it and touched it in disbelief. The green wall gave the guests something to remember and in addition they will more than likely remember the sponsors commitment to being green. To infuse the attendee's memory even deeper with the message of cool green, a single cell Green Living™ Desk Top (a mini green wall specifically designed to accommodate a single plant) had been created with the sponsor's name and logo and given away as a parting gift.  |  | Lexus and Pangea Organics' “Nurture Nature” organic, living parting gifts.
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 | Pure Yoga in New York City; GLT rendition. |
Pure Yoga, an Asian based company, has expanded into NYC with its first international location and is making a public statement by using the Green Living™ Wall system as its facade. Opening in June of 2008, the 1,000 square foot Green Living™ Wall was designed by plant artists, creating a mural of vegetation. Currently there are multiple blue chip corporations working on a green wall realizing it is a visual attractant. These are small but influential marketing examples of companies who are seeing the visual impacts of implementing green walls.
The aforementioned are green walls of marketing substance, so how does one embrace the green wall as part of their own lives? Let’s take it one step deeper, the "Green Walls as Art" term coined by Green Living™ Technologies, creates or better yet incorporates limited edition, one of kind pieces or the adaptation of the vegetation to complete an application that is outside the standard. The Green Wall as Art is not a square mural on a building facade. Rather, plant material combined with geometric shapes, a variety of material finishes, sizes, colors and even the perception of the green wall itself makes up the artistic venue.
 | MFO Park in Zurich, Switzerland |
In fact, the inspiration of Green Walls as Art came as a combination of plants and the structural element inspired by the MFO Park in Zurich, Switzerland. The custom cable system allowed the plant material to resemble starbursts, intriguing and ironic that the park is used as a platform of multi media and artistic events such as a place to gather socially, concerts and art festivals - unbeknown that the park itself is art. This urban park raises form the ground as the vegetation reaches for the sky. The work of Green Living™ Technologies sculptress Susan Rowley (Rochester, NY) has also included the aesthetics of green wall technology and custom sculptures. Pictured above is a limited edition green wall hand crafted from stainless steel. Each piece has a one of a kind finish since each one is done by hand. Also pictured is the work of Greenscreen’s columns and 3D curves. Combining geometrics and architectural design to the green wall will always provide visual impact.  |  | Technology meets art: Left: NY sculptress Susan Rowley combining sleek stainless steel with soft plant material; Right: Look at this shape - imagine the possibilities! Source: Greenscreen |
A leading designer of stunning visual green wall mural art is Patrick Blanc, who hails from France, and author of the soon to be released The Vertical Garden: From Nature to the City. His "vertical gardens" are renown for their scale, innovation and great variety of plant material, and he is the creator of Le Mur Végétal, a copyrighted system:  |  | Musée du quai Branly vegetated "Vertical Garden" wall by Patrick Blanc in Paris, France;
Courtesy Greenroofs.com |
Can we agree that the green wall is a form of art that attracts people to it like the sound of a waterfall? So then is the green wall the silent waterfall? Green walls are more then beauty, the added bonus is they are also functional. Go figure that they do more than look good, who would have known! Enough sarcasm, let's get serious for a second: did you know according to the American Farmland Trust the usable farmland in the U.S. is shrinking by 2.2 million acres per year (http://www.wvfarmlandprotection.org)? The changes in land use to our urban society have caused huge increases of runoff and flooding. The same changes are causing habitat destruction for flora and fauna and, of course, there are the common results of increased urban heat island effect, noise pollution, poor air quality, etc. This is not an excerpt to explain the effects of over-development but to stimulate thinking how green walls are also functional. Let’s assume our society stops the clock on development. Using farmland, for example, we may not have enough to sustain the growing population, but be sure there are plenty of new developments with zero-land lots with plenty of vertical space. Who is to say we couldn’t utilize the green wall as crop production? Yes, we have seen grapes on trellises, but really how about growing peppers or tomatoes? Vertical growth is already happening across the globe on roofs in many cities like Toronto, New York, and Singapore, for example.  |  | Changi General Hospital in Singapore. The Hydroponic microfarm on its atrium roof since 1988 feeds patients;
Courtesy: Greenroofs.com |
 | Green Living™ Technologies, Strawberry Establishment for Green Wall |
And from our end, Green Living™ Walls are being manufactured in 4” (11cm) to 6” (15.25cm) depths to accommodate a variety of deeper rooted plant material and editable crops. The first commercialized walls (4) will be installed this summer (2008) in the Los Angeles California region in collaboration with www.urbanfarming.org and Cal Poly Tech to produce editable crops for homeless people. Green Living Technologies has partnered with Cal Poly to conduct further research to consist of storm water collection, heat absorption and acoustic values. The edible walls will contain a variety of crops that can be eaten raw to include: beans, tomatoes, peppers, leafy greens and strawberries. The lower cells of the wall will contain larger crops such as cucumbers, melons and eggplant supported by the ground itself while the roots thrive in the media within the green wall. In R&D look for dwarf blueberries and no-bog cranberries and let’s not forget vertical herb gardens! Many butterfly feeding and breeding habitats have been destroyed by pesticides and urban development (http://www.projectwildlife.org). Butterflies are easy to attract; you just have to know what they like to eat. Caterpillars eat "larval" plants like milkweed, marigolds, Queen Anne’s lace, and violets. Butterflies like "nectar" plants, like the butterfly bush, the beauty bush, sunflowers, lilacs, snapdragons, and zinnias. So select plants that are diverse in color and bloom at different times, and you will attract butterflies all summer long. Using butterflies as an example, green walls can be planted to refurbish and repopulate natural areas that have been destroyed quite effortlessly.
 | Green Living™ Technologies |
Poor indoor air quality (IAQ), also known as “Sick Building Syndrome,” can be many times worse than the air outside (www.epi.state.nc.us/epi/air). Pollutants can cause or contribute to short and long-term health problems, including asthma, respiratory tract infections, allergic reactions, headaches, congestion, eye and skin irritations, coughing, sneezing, fatigue, dizziness and nausea. Some facts:
• Indoor air pollutants can cause discomfort, and reduce attendance and productivity. Recent data suggest that poor IAQ can reduce a person's ability to perform specific mental tasks requiring concentration, calculation, or memory.
• Indoor air pollutants hasten building deterioration. For example, uncontrolled moisture can result in mold growth that leads to the structural decay of building components.
• Poor indoor air quality strains relationships among employees, family members, parents, teachers, students and school administrations.
• Indoor air quality problems can result in liability issues or lawsuits.
 | Green Living™ Technologies |
According to NASA, the use of indoor plants has proven to remove such chemicals as Benzene, Formaldehyde and Trichloroethylene. My experience with this is that we have an indoor growing facility in the same area of manufacturing and although we haven’t done a formal study, it is true that the area with the plants is a much more comfortable area, supporting the psychological benefits argument to having indoor plants. Indoor plants are also supported by the U.S. Green Building Council. Numerous studies including those done by over 10 prominent researchers worldwide demonstrate that the ability of plants to metabolize Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) increases with extended exposure to VOCs. The health effects of exposure to VOCs are consistent with Sick Building Syndrome effects, including eye/nose/skin irritation, headache, and lethargy. Several studies have also shown lower workplace stress, a decrease in fatigue and enhanced productivity by adding indoor plants to their interior environment. Two points are available in LEED - Office Interiors Indoor Environment Quality Credit IEQ-15 'Indoor Plants' to encourage and recognize the installation of indoor plants that improves indoor environment quality.
Green walls also improve exterior air quality. Air quality is directly linked to the urban heat island effect. Adding green walls results in a reduction in urban temperatures through the reintroduction of plants that would positively affect air quality by the reduction of smog days and air born particulates.
 | Green Living™ Tabletop w/ Basil |
Remember that kid in the beginning of the article who was impressed by the bean plants? He is all grown up now with his own kids and refuses to let another bean plant die. Seriously, green walls can be introduced to the classroom. Instead of growing that little bean in a washed out milk carton we can now open up the minds of students from 1st grade to higher educational studies with opportunities to introduce data and newer technologies.
Without assuming, there may have been a notion of the same song and dance about the obvious benefits of green walls in comparison to green roofs such as the prevention of storm water runoff, curbing the heat island effect, monetary savings and doubling the life expectancy of the roof membrane, etc. And all are valid and key points. This article was to get you to think outside the box - who would have thought to use green walls as a major contributor of crop production and to replenish butterfly habitat? Well, we're not quite done, either. How about job creation? Green walls in all their beauty and function create green jobs through manufacturing, training, installation and maintenance contracts and so yes, the obvious theory in comparison to green roofs becomes more apparent.  | Musée du quai Branly by Patrick Blanc in Paris, France;
Courtesy Greenroofs.com |
Thanks for reading and it was my intention to get you to think about the many possibilities for green wall applications, how they are used and what some of the benefits are that we can implement now. For now, green walls provide a visual impact that cannot be denied and our feedback from clients say that since there are plants it must be “green,” when in fact the beauty is only as deep as the wall itself - what you don’t see is just as important. George A. Irwin
March 2008 guest feature and inaugural column for The Green Wall Editor An Intro to Green Walls and Green Roofs: Living Architecture at its Best
By George Irwin, Industry CEO and President
All Photos Courtesy George Irwin Green Walls Part I: Nomenclature Since the days of Babylon, vegetation has been growing on, in or around both the horizontal and vertical planes of buildings, more specifically the roofs and walls. The most recent green trends have been including a variety of what the industry is calling “Green Walls, Living Walls, and Vegetated Façades,” and we have heard many more names, too. The green roof movement has naturally evolved to green walls - no pun intended, but the green roof has now climbed over the parapet and down, or up the walls.
Designers, architects and engineers now have the possibility of encasing a building in some type of live vegetation whether for aesthetics, function or notoriety. This article is the first in a multi part introduction to “Green Walls” that will define the nomenclature contributed by the leaders of green wall manufacturers, installers, designers and architects with support from Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) and Green Walls 101© (GW 101).
Green roofs have multiple design and material components and so do green walls. Each project must be addressed with a variety of application possibilities, limitations, functionality and aesthetics. In order to understand the potential components relevant to specific applications we have to define the terminology of “Green Walls.”
The term “Green Wall” is a global term used to reference a variety of vegetated wall surfaces. Within the term “Green Wall” we have two specific categories: Green Façades and Living Walls.
• ‘Green Facade’ or facade greening, features a training structure that supports vines or climbing plants growing upward from the ground away from the building (GW101, 2008). Green Facades can now be dissected into two additional categories of product applications:
• A multidimensional, welded wire trellising system.
• A variety of stainless steel cable and mesh systems.
Both systems support a variety of climbing plant material, can be customized and some are available in a variety of colors.
 |  | ‘Green Facades’
Left: Welded Wire Trellising System, Source: Greenscreen; Right: Cable and Mesh System, Source: Jakob |
• ‘Living Wall’ is part of a building envelope system, comprising pre-vegetated or planted on-site panels containing plants, growing medium or liquid nutrient installed in or on a frame, secured to a structural wall or it can be free standing (GW101, 2008).
Living Walls can also be migrated into two distinct categories:
• Hydroponics wall which uses recirculation water to deliver nutrients directly to the roots of the plant material.
• Soil or growing media based walls. These walls are made up of a variety of modules that retain growth media to support plant material. Recognizing the correct terminology is the start to deciding on a green wall system. Be warned not all systems are the same there are pros and cons to each system. Not all are “Do it yourself” applications, some perform only with a specific plant type or have a variety of mounting procedures and structural requirements...and more. For more information contact the manufacturer.
Green Walls Part II: The New Green Roof?
In case you don’t read the newspaper, watch the news, have internet access or any other media attention whatsoever, green roofs have proven themselves over and over again long term to be part of a Best Management Practice (BMP) in the fight of global warming. Long term data has proven that Green Roofs, when constructed correctly can:
• Retain and / or slow down a significant amount of stormwater runoff resulting in less erosion, reduced heavy metals in our water ways...etc…
• Double the life expectancy of a roof membrane
• Add acoustical value
• Regulate a building's internal temp
• Clean the air
And etcetera, etcetera, etcetera…
 | The Marketplace at Oviedo Crossing, Oviedo, FL; System: Greenscreen |
There is one problem with the green roof and all its beauty and function...Unless it is yours and you have access to it, no one else can see the green roof (unless you are in an adjacent building).
Green Walls, on the other hand, can be a public display of beauty, art, expression and just as important as green roofs...functional. Green roofs have long term quantifiable data associated with them. Without boring you with statistical details, it can be theorized that a green wall will provide similar or associated benefits. Here is where the benefits may vary, depending upon the array of systems available; trellis systems, cable systems, growth media based systems, or a hydroponic system. With multiple systems come multiple benefits that may or may not carry from one to another.
A true correlation of green roof related benefits must be under a similar design. For example, the use of a 3” growing media based system should have a benefit correlation to a 3” depth green roof with similar vegetation properties. These same benefits cannot be expected with a trellis or cable system. However, the facades (trellis and cable system) can offer a multitude of other benefits not offered by a soil based system. This is part of the pros and cons mentioned in Part I. As a designer or architect it is up to you to decide on the system and its functionality. (Note: As a designer why not incorporate a multitude of systems in one project?)
The connection to the benefits will rely on the system, we can agree on that. Specifically speaking, what benefits do all the systems share? Cosmetics and aesthetics...fact is, when constructed correctly the green wall applications are very alluring and appealing. What do aesthetics do for me? As a non environmental benefit we used the example of the 2,000 square foot Green Living™ Wall for Anthropologies, a high end retail store in Alabama, and it attracted additional pedestrian traffic immediately to the store front - it can only be assumed that the increase in traffic equates to a rise in internal traffic / shoppers, increasing revenues for the retailer as a result of the extra attention, capturing those sales based on an interest in the green wall. No matter what the system or plant material, there is a definite attraction to seeing a potpourri of plants cascading from the vertical heights of what would otherwise be an orthogonal boxlike structure. Some of the manufacturers have the ability to custom manufacture specific dimensions, create curvatures, and are now are incorporating green walls as art both indoors and out - green walls and green roofs as living architecture!
 |  | Left: MFO Park in Zurich, Switzerland; Right: National Wildlife Federation Headquarters in Reston, VA |
Whether you are an interior decorator, architect, landscape architect or just simply interested, visit www.greenroofs.org for more information on attending "Green Walls 101 Introduction to Systems and Design" in a city near you. You can also visit Green Living™ Technologies in NYC on April 26-27, 2008 at the Go Green NY Expo and on April 29 – May 3rd in Baltimore, MD, at the 2008 Sixth Annual Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities Conference.
Be sure to visit Greenroofs.com again for additional Green Wall articles!
George A. Irwin
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