Green walls can purify your air, add growing space to your garden, improve mental well-being, and help reduce the urban heat island effect—among other benefits. They’re one of the latest trends in commercial architecture, where they have huge potential to enhance livability inside and outside of office buildings. You can easily bring this technology into your own home, too, with fun do-it-yourself projects or with the help of professional landscapers.   

Green Walls in the House  

Many of us wait for the end of the workday before we go outside and connect with nature. Imagine if you didn’t have to wait, but could work alongside plants the whole time. Houseplants are already well-known to increase health, boost productivity, and add beauty to a space. You may already have a few to refresh your air and brighten your corners with low light, but why stop there? Space permitting, you can turn a whole wall into a living, breathing sanctuary. 

Houseplant Shelves are one way to layer plants into a wall of greenery. Instead of an old bookshelf, you can set up a shelf for orchids, ferns, succulents, and even some ivy to trail beautifully over the lower levels. You can grow mint, basil, and rosemary within arms reach of the kitchen. Pothos, spider plants, and dracaenas can purify the air while you sleep. But with a sturdy enough wall, you can take it to the next level with a stylish green wall.  

Interior Green Walls consist of rows of small pots mounted on a backboard to a wall. A drip irrigation system does all the watering for you, with no mess or effort required on your part. Once it’s set up, the plants sit gently in their pots, quietly filtering the air and sending you good vibes all day. Tradescantia, Marble Queen Pothos, and Brasil Philodendron are just a few of many low maintenance plants that can cover your walls in green beauty.         

Green Walls Outside  

The latest green wall technology helps turn the hot concrete of our cities into lush, breathing greenery. By drawing on our natural desire to be around plants, these biophilic designs make our places more inviting and healthier. They cool stone walls, filter the air of toxins, absorb greenhouse gases, muffle noise pollution, and make habitat for insects (and thus birds) in what would otherwise be a biodiversity desert. We can bring the same techniques right into our backyards, whether we wish to expand our growing surfaces or simply enjoy all the benefits of more greenery. 

DIY Climbing Facades give us a whole new dimension to cultivate. When garden space is at a premium, we can grow plants to climb up our fences and walls. Give them a trellis and let them climb! We’re talking pole beans, indeterminate tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach, peas, summer squash, and melons. Have enough vegetables? Plant some vines, like cross-vine, honeysuckle, American Wisteria, and Yellow Jessamine. These native plants of Virginia and Maryland have been creating green walls long before we invented the word. They’re as easy to grow as any shrub or perennial. 

Exterior Green Walls consist of rows of small pots anchored to a backboard on a fence, garage wall, or any exterior wall. Like the interior green walls, a built-in drip irrigation system waters them automatically. They let you grow a diversity of plants that are not limited to climbing species. A colorful display of heucheras and ivy can fill in a whole wall with greenery, hiding the surface behind it completely. They’re also perfect for growing herbs and salad greens. You can grow hundreds of plants without breaking any new ground or using any more property. They turn an unused wall into a living, growing space that breathes, nourishes the butterflies, soothes your mental well-being, and adds beauty to your home. 

Walls are like unused gardens that we never knew we had. Mother nature has been growing moss, lichen, and vines on vertical surfaces for eons. Now we’re just waking up to the possibility of growing green walls, and the trend is catching on. Green walls are one of our specialties. Contact us to learn more about our professional design services, or to know more about how you can transform your landscape with a green wall.