Super Easy DIY Living Wall on the Cheap

Included here are several photos of a one year old living wall planted with native coral honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens and wild muscadine grapes, Vitis spp.

DIY Living Wall with Coral Honeysuckle and Muscadine grapes

This living wall approach was super simple to construct and importantly, inexpensive.

DIY Living Walls can be Inexpensive and Beautiful with Native Plants

I would say this wall has been one of the best living wall designs that I've put together.

I've been trying different living wall approach approaches for over twenty years now.  I like both the trellis approach and the vertical planter approach.

Trellis Grid Panels are Held Together with Hose Clamps

However the trellis approach has delivered solid screening results with faster coverage and much less maintenance.  Since the vines are installed in the ground they tend to require less additional irrigation than walls designed around vertical planters.

The Vines Also Hold the Grid Panels Together

This system contains about a half dozen retail store merchandising wall grids and another six aluminum porch columns that I attached to concrete bases in the ground via 1/4" anchor bolts.

I sealed the grid panels with an exterior epoxy then attached them to each other and the aluminum columns with stainless hose clamps.

The entire wall cost less than one hundred dollars and covers 25' in length x 8' in height.  We just went through strong category two Hurricane Sally and the wall was unhurt.

We rooted the coral honeysuckle from cuttings so the plants were 'free'.  The muscadine grapes were volunteer sprouts from around the yard.

Because the living wall is adjacent our previous chicken yard, the soil is extra fertile.  Fertile soil is just what the vines want and they have really grown up the grids.

I am always amazed with the structural cohesiveness twinning vines impart to the grids they weave themselves into.

Coral Honeysuckle is a Favorite Among Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds love coral honeysuckle.

So consider finding some retail store wall grid on the internet marketplaces and allowing native plants like grapes, coral honeysuckle, Carolina jessamine, trumpet vine and others to provide you with beautiful screening flora.  No need to buy expensive living wall systems when you can easily build your own.

Survival Garden Perimeter Plants: Maypop, Passiflora Incarnata

Passionflower, aka Maypop & Passiflora incarnata, an important plant for Survival Gardens

Maypop - passionflower. Passiflora incarnata grows crazy wild over the yaupon perimeter shrubs here. 

Not only is passionflower beautiful, it is also a Florida native plant possessing both wildlife value and human ethnobotanical importance.

Passionflower tea soothes & relaxes, making the plant a good choice for de-stressing hectic times.

From a wildlife perspective, Gulf fritillaries lay eggs across this larval plant.  Sometimes just one vine will be hosting thousands of butterfly eggs.

Fast growing deciduous summer privacy vine for solar lattice screens.  With its fast growing propensities, Maypop also makes a great, low maintenance living wall vine.

In addition to the medicinal tea & butterfly larval properties, passionflower is an important part of site integrated pest management. Birds are attracted to the vine because of the butterfly larvae. In turn these birds forage other unwanted insects of our property. 

As a homesteader & prepper I'd always make sure this vine is growing across my plot.  Good prepper homestead design is fully integrated with nature’s help. 

Florida Green Roof and Living Wall Plants, Salt Tolerance Lessons from Mother Nature Ferns

One of the greatest learning centers of #greenroof and #livingwall knowledge can be found on and across the buildings in any local downtown, urban core area.

Ferns growing unattended on old brick adjacent downtown ocean pier, Kevin Songer 

Every living wall and green roof designer, as well as landscape designers and botanists should carry a 'found plant' journal to record information when they come across such resilient plants as those growing in the cracks and crevices of building walls and roofs, without soil media or added irrigation.

Ferns growing unattended on old brick adjacent downtown ocean pier, Kevin Songer 

Looking back across the decades, this is how I learned what I did concerning shallow root growing systems, nature irrigation and plants suitable for hot, windy, salty environs.

Ferns growing unattended on old brick adjacent downtown ocean pier, Kevin Songer 

These ferns are growing on a wall adjacent the downtown pier in Pensacola, exposed to desiccating winds and a barrage of salty mist.  And they seem to be thriving.

Always keep an eye out for those free lessons from Mother Nature about living wall and green roof plants!

Wednesday Native Plant & Wildflower Poetry - Haiku (Senryu), Smilax spp.

Wednesday Florida native plant & wildflower haiku (short verse), Smilax spp.

Florida Haiku, Wildflowers & Native Plant Art, Smilax spp.
by Kevin Songer

…
wily cat brier
scampers up tall long leaf pine
hold tight sharp tip thorns
…

Catbrier provides the hungry hiker a quick energizing snack with its tender, tasty vine tips. Some sauté the green vine ends in butter and say the flavor resembles asparagus. 

Catbrier’s vines are loaded with thorns, making the mature, thickly vining plant a veritable evergreen barrier and providing wildlife with protected communal habitat.

Though a bit on the rambling side, many Smilax species make great green roof and living wall plants as they are drought tolerant and grow well in full sun (think of the beach dunes where they grow lush and thick).

Florida Living Walls and Green Roofs, Nature Designed

Florida Living Walls, Vertical Urban Core Green by Mother Nature, Daytona Beach Church

For most my adult life I've been fascinated with understanding how plants colonize, live and proliferate on urban core structure roofs and walls.

Florida Living Walls, Vertical Urban Core Green by Mother Nature, Daytona Beach Church

Here are a few pictures of ferns finding a home on a church in Daytona Beach.  The benefits of urban green are many, including; carbon sequestration, urban heat island effect mitigation, habitat and pest control, rainwater attenuation and purification, oxygen production, sense of place and beauty and much more.

Florida Living Walls, Vertical Urban Core Green by Mother Nature, Daytona Beach Church

Examining how nature adapts plants to masonry provides insight into successful living wall design.

Next time you see a building with plants adorning the walls, stop and take a look.  Think about porosity, surface texture, locale, sun exposure and other variables contributing to the successful vertical green.

Florida Living Walls, Vertical Urban Core Green by Mother Nature, Daytona Beach Church

So much to learn and so many walls to plant!

Green Roof and Living Wall Soil Media - Vertical Green Begins Below Ground

Vines provide great vertical screening and greening capabilities, especially here in Florida where strong desiccating winds can quickly overwhelm and dessicate a planted exterior living wall,

Coral honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens offers interesting color and texture as a living wall

 (unless one uses a non-native invasive species like Boston Fern, Nephrolepis cordifolia, which is never recommended).

One of the most important aspects of creating a beautiful, thick and lush living wall is sometimes never even considered, that being the quality and characteristics of the soil in which the vines are planted.

Unfortunately, many designers only consider the flowers or foliage, forgetting the roots though not seen, are so critical to leaf and flower development.

Native Carolina jessamine, Gelsemium sempervirens should be nice and thick but is planted in bad soil

In urban development projects the soil can be concrete rubble with a high pH.  In situations like these a beautiful stainless and expensive trellis and nice, hot house grown plants can end up looking terrible in a matter or weeks.

Coral honeysuckle planted in poor soils looks terrible

I've written about the Jacksonville Whole Foods living wall trellis system before - an expensive living wall system that looks pitiful, all due to high pH and other soil problems.  Soil pH is a measure of acidity or alkalinity in the dirt.

Living wall vines can become woody without proper soil, loosing their leaves

The health food grocer has a high-quality stainless trellis system installed near the front entrance and on the south side of the store building.  Yet the plants have not successfully established themselves and grown well.  The store has been open now for several years, allowing plenty of time for the plants to send down roots and add  upper biomass.

The present store facility was originally constructed where another building had been demolished.  It appears some of the original slab was reused, and significant amounts of concrete, crushed block and other previous building material was integrated into the soil during site preparation.

Most plants prefer a soil pH of between 5.6 up to 7.0.  Many native and adapted Florida Friendly plants vines require an even lower pH to thrive.

Soils with a high pH, such as the urban soils in the Whole Foods living wall planters, restrict nutrient availability (specifically iron, zinc and manganese), stunting planted vine growth and causing yellowing of leaves.

Although some soil amendments appear to have been added during final landscaping, the type and quantity were not adequate to encourage strong plant growth.

There are several simple remedies available to the Whole Foods site.  The living wall was installed in 2010-2011 and could have easily be supporting massive amounts of flowering, fruiting and beautiful vines by mid summer 2012.  Today it is 2014 and the vines still struggle to maintain a tiny about of leaf cover.

But a remedy is possible.  First there needs to be a minor excavation of existing planter soil, both around the front columns and then within the southern wall planter box.  This soil does not need to be discarded.

Second, an appropriate amount of ammonium based fertilizer should be mixed into the soil.  Ammonium based fertilizers typically contain ammonium sulfate or sulfur coated urea.  Ammonium and oxygen react to form nitrite/nitrate, water and hydrogen ions.  The hydrogen ions then work to acidify the soil.

One advantage urban soils usually have is the variety of soil particle sizes and if not over-compacted, can provide for adequate oxygenation of the soil.  Oxygen and ammonium provide nutrients for the plants and help counteract the higher pH of the urban soils.

A quick field test of the Whole Foods planter soils reveals significantly higher than normal  pH.

Amending with organic matter is another possible approach.  Composted pine bark, pine needles, oak leaves, properly composted food scraps can also release both needed nutrients and hydrogen ions into the soil.  Another benefit of the organic mulch route is that earth worms and other soil life will quickly create extensive micro-communities, contributing additional nutrients and providing for nature based soil aeration.

Once the Whole Foods planter soils are amended with the proper amount of ammonium based fertilizers, the soil can be replaced and plants installed.

Of course, care should be taken not to over-fertilize.  Excess amounts of ammonium based fertilizers can burn the roots of installed plants, creating a whole new set of problems.

Native and landscape vines alike can add vertical interest, privacy, screening, color and texture to a landscape project under almost any atmospheric conditions if they are growing in adequate soils.

Remembering that vertical green begins far below the ground is the first step to living wall design and construction success.

Biodiversity, Habitat and Florida Urban Green

Vertical green in the urban core is so important for biodiversity and habitat.  Unappreciated weeds have significant ecological value.  Here is a short clip about 'weeds' growing in concrete and wildlife.

Imagine if the sides of bridges were intentionally landscaped as part of construction!

Florida Living Walls, Vertical Green in the Urban Core

I just love this building in downtown Orlando covered in vines!

Creeping fig, Florida Living Walls, Orlando

Yes I know it is a common vine, creeping fig, Ficus pumila, one that is not even native species. But despite the fact that this low maintenance, drought tolerant is an exotic landscape plant, I still appreciate its use in covering otherwise, blank concrete block walls.

It is important to always check to make sure a landscape plant is not listed by regulatory agencies as invasive, and creeping fig, Ficus pumila, is not on any invasive lists I am aware of.  The plant is actually a relatively slow grower.

Here the plant is also shown growing on the historical Lady of LaLeche Chapel in St. Augustine.

Creeping Fig, Ficus pumila, living walls, Chaplel LaLeche, St. Augustine

Creeping Fig, Ficus pumila, living walls, Chaplel LaLeche, St. Augustine

Living walls offer so much.  They;

• Reduce urban heat island effect
• Provide habitat for wildlife and insects
• Sequester carbon
• Produce oxygen
• Create a sense of place and add immense beauty
• Integrate in natural pest control
• Serve as insulation
• and provide so many more benefits!

Kudos to creeping fig and those who have planted it at the locations shown above.

Florida Living Walls by Mother Nature

Really there are not adequate words to use here with the photos of living walls created by mother nature in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Natural living walls on Florida coquina rock walls comprised of ferns and other plants.

 Amazingly, these lush living walls have no added soil nor do they boast an irrigation system.  They are buffeted by hard desiccating coastal winds and beat upon with hot sun's rays.  Yet they rival the most beautiful living walls made by us humans.

Nature is the ultimate instructor for green roofs and living walls

Natural living walls on Florida coquina rock walls comprised of ferns and other plants.

Natural living walls on Florida coquina rock walls comprised of ferns and other plants.

Natural living walls on Florida coquina rock walls comprised of ferns and other plants.

Natural living walls on Florida coquina rock walls comprised of ferns and other plants.

Natural living walls on Florida coquina rock walls comprised of ferns and other plants.

Natural living walls on Florida coquina rock walls comprised of ferns and other plants.

Natural living walls on Florida coquina rock walls comprised of ferns and other plants.

Tropical Living Wall and Green Roof Design, Factoring in Frost and Pseudomonas Ice Nucelator

Winter is around the corner.

Ice-frost around a green roof web supporting succulents

 For many green roofs and living walls the change in seasons really does not matter because the system and plants are expected to go into dormancy until the next spring arrives.   For equatorial areas, cold and frost are not typically common concerns either.  Yet for green roofs and living walls  in Florida and other regions where that unexpected frost may or may not occur, ice crystal damage can potentially kill an entire living wall or green roof planting.

And sometimes these unwelcome weather events can happen well above the freezing point.

Understanding the bio-mechanics of frost can help the living wall and green roof designer prepare for possible ice crystal stress on plants used in these systems.

In general, plants used in exterior living walls appear to be more resilient to cold than those flat on the ground. Dismantling one of my oldest walls last night, I was amazed to see one of the cactus plants, Disocactus flagelliformis, not only survive the cold but thrive. Amazingly, most of the literature on the web specifies a minimum temperature of 50 degrees F and clearly warns against frost exposure.

Last year we experienced several nights in the low twenties. However the cactus keeps on growing.

With my curiosity peaked, I researched frost, cold and plants on Google trying to sort through the thermodynamics of air movement, heat and cold transfer and the five different types of frost. It seems that as the ground layer of air cools, the warm air rises. So the vertical positioned plants on the wall could actually be several degrees warmer than those plants on the ground. There are several interesting stories of how orange grove owners use helicopters to keep warm air blown back down into orchards in California on occasional nights with freezing temperatures or where frost may become a threat.

Additionally and to my surprise I read where many plants on the ground support epiphytc bacteria growth of Pseudomonas bacteria, a gram negative bacteria that also acts as an ice nucelator.

From the available literature it seems that the presence of ice-positive Pseudomonas can actually cause ice/frost to form on the plant surface, even at temperatures well above freezing.

Frost damages the epithelial layer, in many instances killing the plant.  Frost can act like a butcher knife on some succulents and cut the leaf surface to shreds, exposing the once protected vascular system to desiccating winds and debilitating sun.  For those cold-tender succulents and living wall plants, an unexpected frost encouraged by unexpected Pseudomonas bacteria may ruin a tropical or semi-tropical living wall or even green roof.


And Pseudomonas bacteria is typically found almost everywhere.  Sometimes there presence is persistent for some reason, possibly due to a per-existing environmental factor that may serve as a natural attractant to Pseudomonas.  In these areas, frost my occur well-above the normal freezing temperatures.

Interestingly however, there is a ice-minus strain of Pseudomonas also, a mutant bacteria that also occurs naturally that does not possess the ice formation encouraging mechanism that its non-mutant sibling possesses.

Leave it to capitalism to go figure out how to profit on these two types of bacteria. SnoMax - made by Johnson Controls - see SnoMax's website, is a product made from the ice-plus variety and is used for making snow! On the other hand, FrostBan - see article - creates a crop resilient to frost. FrostBan was the subject of many GMO battles during the 1980's and early 1990's.

I don't have the testing equipment to see if my Disocactus cactus had the ice-minus Pseudomonas, or if the plant growing vertically with excellent air flow had just avoided the dispersal of common Pseudomonas.

But the fact that it survives the cold and continues to grow on the wall is another piece in the green roof and green wall plant database we are all developing.

There really is so much to learn concerning tropical and semi-tropical green roofs and living walls.

Living Walls for Sustainable Commercial Design

I was visiting the Town Center in Jacksonville Florida's Southside area this past week when I was impressed with the success of a series of living walls constructed in varying locations throughout the large commercial development.

Living Walls are a great, ecologically friendly architectural addition to any building

The design included several different species of vines and multiple commercially products made specifically to support living wall plants, like the Green Screen free standing system pictured immediately below.

Green Screen trellising system screens a refuse collection area

Unfortunately, the plants used here were not native Florida evergreen vines but rather somewhat aggressive horticultural non-native species.  Substitutions with native species such as coral honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens (an evergreen) or Carolina jessamine, Gelsemium sempervirens (another evergreen vine) with beautiful yellow flowers would have added to the biodiversity and provided amazing habitat and beauty.

However I am not knocking the design.  Any vertical green in the urban core has its benefits, from cooling urban heat island effect to cleaning stormwater and air.

Living walls add an interesting architectural twist to design

Living walls create beauty and shade

The important idea is to use and integrate plants in urban settings.  The more vertical green, the more benefits.  Trees also, as we are well aware, can be utilized to create visually interesting architectural points.

Palms as a center piece in the Town Center design

Palms are used to create visual height here along this walkway

On a more limited scale, vertical green systems can be created by the homeowner for a fraction of the cost of more expensive commercial systems and incorporate recycling into the process.

The photo below depicts an example where old chain link fence was used on a vertical wall section below a green roof.  The chain link fencing is quite strong and will provide a trellis system capable of supporting most vines.

Chain link fencing used to create a living wall trellis system

Remember, adding vertical green to the urban core has many ecological benefits.  It is always good to see projects such as Jacksonville's Town Center incorporate vertical use of plants into the architectural and landscape design.

Florida Living Walls for the Urban Core - Stormwater, Ethnobotany, Habitat & Heat Island Cooling

Florida Living Wall using Native Plants

Living walls are a popular method of adding vertical green to the Urban Core.  Living walls contribute important environmental benefits to the city.  Habitat is created, stormwater attenuated and purified, heat island effect calmed, air cleaned and oxygen produced.  There are numerous reasons to install a living wall anywhere downtown.

Florida Native Plant, Horsetail, Equisetum hyemale

Unfortunately though, when considering living walls many people think only in terms of very expensive vertical planting systems and trays.

There are many ways to create an Urban Core Living Wall.

One of the most simplest living walls here in Florida is the type where vines, such as Virginia Creeper, Coral Honeysuckle or Carolina Jessamine grow vertically across walls.

Rows of trees are an alternative example of living walls.

Even tall plants, such as those pictured above, can create stunning living walls.  The Florida native plant, Horsetail, Equisetum hyemale is used here to create a living wall against a concrete block wall.  The plants are thriving in heavily urbanized, high pH construction soils, surrounded with concrete foundations and concrete driveways.

I like using horsetail because the plant is evergreen, has a low leaf-litter habit, adds structural interest, grows well in low organic substrates and provides immense habitat.  Additionally, Horsetail acts like a living grate, filtering out most all trash from stormwater runoff.

Combined with vines planted in a living roof container and draping over a roof's edge, an entire facade can be covered with plants without having to install expensive and hard to maintain planting systems.

Finally, installing vertical green in the Urban Core has many benefits, a few being;

• cleaning and attenuating stormwater
• providing wildlife habitat
• cleaning air, removal of CO2
• fresh oxygen production
• heat island effect mitigation
• landscape beauty & plant art
• noise insulation
• integrated pest management

and so much more.  Think creativity when exploring living wall options.

Answers to Living Wall Dilema, Whole Foods, Jacksonville

High soil pH and urban soil composition is the reason the Jacksonville Whole Foods living walls are not flourishing.  Soil pH is a measure of acidity or alkalinity in the dirt.

As we mentioned, the health food grocer has a high-quality stainless trellis system installed near the front entrance and on the south side of the store building.  Yet the plants have not successfully established themselves and grown well.  The store has been open now for several years, allowing plenty of time for the plants to send down roots and add  upper biomass.

The present store facility was originally constructed where another building had been demolished.  It appears some of the original slab was reused, and significant amounts of concrete, crushed block and other previous building material was integrated into the soil during site preparation.

Most plants prefer a soil pH of between 5.6 up to 7.0.  Many native and adapted Florida Friendly plants vines require an even lower pH to thrive.

Soils with a high pH, such as the urban soils in the Whole Foods living wall planters, restrict nutrient availability (specifically iron, zinc and manganese), stunting planted vine growth and causing yellowing of leaves.

Although some soil amendments appear to have been added during final landscaping, the type and quantity were not adequate to encourage strong plant growth.

There are several simple remedies available to the Whole Foods site.  The site could easily be supporting massive amounts of flowering, fruiting and beautiful vines by mid summer 2012.

First there needs to be a minor excavation of existing planter soil, both around the front columns and then within the southern wall planter box.  This soil does not need to be discarded.

Second, an appropriate amount of ammonium based fertilizer should be mixed into the soil.  Ammonium based fertilizers typically contain ammonium sulfate or sulfur coated urea.  Ammonium and oxygen react to form nitrite/nitrate, water and hydrogen ions.  The hydrogen ions then work to acidify the soil.

One advantage urban soils usually have is the variety of soil particle sizes and if not over-compacted, can provide for adequate oxygenation of the soil.  Oxygen and ammonium provide nutrients for the plants and help counteract the higher pH of the urban soils.

A quick field test of the Whole Foods planter soils reveals significantly higher than normal  pH.

Amending with organic matter is another possible approach.  Composted pine bark, pine needles, oak leaves, properly composted food scraps can also release both needed nutrients and hydrogen ions into the soil.  Another benefit of the organic mulch route is that earth worms and other soil life will quickly create extensive micro-communities, contributing additional nutrients and providing for nature based soil aeration.

Once the Whole Foods planter soils are amended with the proper amount of ammonium based fertilizers, the soil can be replaced and plants installed.

Of course, care should be taken not to over-fertilize.  Excess amounts of ammonium based fertilizers can burn the roots of installed plants, creating a whole new set of problems.

With amended soils in place, plants can now be chosen to highlight the wonderful health food selections available within the Whole Foods store.

Selecting beautiful, sometimes unusual and otherwise ethnobotanically important plants is the fun part of site living wall design.

Our next post will describe what plants we'd suggest for the Whole Foods living walls.

Florida Green Roofs & Rooftop Permaculture in Arid and Cyclone Prone Areas

Recently, one of the original field trial green roofs was temporarily removed to allow for installation of a solar hot water system piping.  The roof's slope was approximately 7/12 and originally the lightweight extensive mat system was installed over the existing asphalt shingles (with a root barrier/waterproofing liner).  The green roof system used a soil media comprised of primary organic mixtures, had a variety of sedum, succulents and native Allium species planted (A. canadense and others).

Florida Green Roof, MetroVerde Extensive Mat System

The sedum and original Aptenia struggled over time, eventually giving way to the A. canadense, primarily due to fungal attacks during the steamy hot, humid summer months (not necessarily rainy just high water vapor months).

Once removed the underlying roof appeared to look the same as the day the green roof was installed seven years ago, free of water damage and quite nicely preserved.

The green roof system was a simple.ost-effective system defying all odds and wagging-tongues - (don't use high organic soil media, the roof is too sloped, can't put a green roof over asphalt shingles, a nature-irrigated green roof will not survive, etc...).   The system easily survived several tropical cyclones, one rainfall event where we had eighteen inches of water in over two days (Tropical Storm Fay), extended periods of brutal drought and more).  The roof never had additional soil or plants added to it.

 Once the solar piping was in place the intent was to  add a recycled section of old, heavy duty chain link fence to the wall under the roof and plant and grow luffa gourds in the gutter, allowing them to cascade down over the guter edge across the chain link living wall fencing. I can hear the wagging tongues now - growing plants in gutter!

Florida Green Roof, Luffa Gourds in Gutters

Importantly, over the years of watching the roof preform the plants adsorbed and drank most of the rainfall events - especially any rain less than one inch (most of our afternoon rainstorms here are les than one inch) rendering the gutter useless.  The gutter was useless in the eighteen inch plus rainfall event too.  Though I would not do this on a commercial application, we do push the limits at the nursery to see what systems can do.  I am confident the green roof system we've replaced on the roof will handle any and all precipitation events, even with the luffa planted in the gutter, and just as the organic matter did not clog and wash out or decompose as predicted or the roof wash off during tropical cyclones, the luffa planted gutter - filled with a fast draining soil media will pleasantly surprise us.

The luffa is deciduous and will allow winter sun to hit our masonry walls, adding heat in the cooler months yet shading out summer solar radiation.

So with skyrocketing food prices in the grocery markets, a food based schema was designed for plantings.  The original mat, removed during the solar renovation process was replaced, adhered using a low VOC roofing glue.

Florida Extensive Green MetroVerde Green Roof, Mat installed

Once the mat was in place and inspected the soil media was added.   This is the process where the greatest leap of faith occurs for me.

Florida MetroVerde Extensive Green Roof Soil Media

A leap of faith because placing soil on a quite steep roof surface seems to be a futile approach, one probably washing off during the first rain storm, covering outside walls with a muddy mess.  Of course we watch the weather predictions as would any roofer and don't start if rain is predicted for a couple days.

The soil media is a fine material, free of aggregate - important when designing in a cyclone prone area.  Our soil media specifications call for microscopic sharp, geometric edges capable of locking together and when roots are added to the blend a highly stable, well-drained monolithic system is created.  The trick lies in initially adding fast growing C3 plants to bind all together then incorporating a purposeful evolution to a blend of more C4 and CAM plants to allow for drought tolerance and wind resilience.

Florida Extensive Green Roof, Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes

Since I love Wild Cherry Tomatoes and cannot get enough of them I decided on Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes to accompany the luffa's.  This wild breed produces more delicious cherry tomatoes than any other variety I have seen.  I am expecting thousands and thousands of cherry tomatoes this year.

Florida Green Roof, Food Roof, Rooftop Permaculture by MetroVerde

Cherry tomatoes are ramblers and will cascade down alongside the luffas, down the living wall so I won't have to actually climb the roof to fetch the round red scrumptious fruits.

Florida Green Roof - Rooftop Permaculture

Expect update photos as the luffa's and tomatoes grow and fill in the living wall, cascading down from above, providing us and countless hungry insects, birds and other Urban Jax Core wildlife with fresh organic nectar, food and beauty.

I'll add a video clip of a hard rain too, to show how well the drainage actually works.

Constructing a 60mm Thick, Extensive Living Wall "La Paix Pour Le Piaf"

Starting a new living wall project, small or large, always brings mixed emotions.  For me living walls are difficult, more so than green roofs, yet as important with different reasons.

Green and living roofs are a reflection of habitat that exists locally on the ground around the site, an extension of habitat, stormwater treatment, biodiversity and a refuge for wildlife.

Living walls are different.  Sometimes it is difficult here in Jacksonville where the ground is flat, very flat, to find an existing natural habitat that living walls mimic, unless maybe it is a large Live Oak tree with resurrection fern growing up the side of its bark.  

So, from my perspective I consider living walls to be more of a work of ethno-bio-art.  I love to create ethno-bio-art.

However for me there significantly different approaches in creating living walls and green roofs.  When I am doing a green roof I follow more of a purist design approach.  'Follow what nature is doing on the ground' is the standard theme I generally follow for biodiversity habitat roofs and then 'Follow what a Good Garden should be like' for rooftop permaculture projects.

There are many beautiful native plant and biodiversity living roofs around the world to draw design inspiration from.

Likewise there are many successful rooftop permaculture projects to learn from too.

However most living wall projects I've seen are mostly beautiful works of art and not a reflection of local habitat, though there are a handful of stunning native plant walls.  Most living wall design combines the use of contrasting colors and textures to make an artistic statement.

I'm rambling on here only to justify my use of a copper sheet I recycled from an old solar panel to form the basis of the new small living wall panel.  The living wall is a blending of metal and plants together into a fun living art project.

Living Wall Copper Finish Cut

60 mm thick Living Wall Panel, 'La Paix Pour Le Piaf'

The frame is a structural ploypropylene frame in which will be embedded a growing media and mesh.

When complete the living wall design will be similar in structure to the following typical diagram.

The copper 'Peace Sign' will be attached to the frame and the entire wall panel planted with yet to be decided species.

I'll post more photos as the project progresses.

The living wall is entitled 'La Paix Pour Le Piaf' in recognition of the green roof efforts of those across the earth with particular mention to 'Toits Verts' in France.

Ethno-Bio-Art.

Living Walls.

Bringing the world together in Peace.

Happy Green Roofing

Kevin

The