Planting a Vertical Garden

My first blog about gardening -- vertical gardening that is!  People who know me well know that I'm an avid gardener.  Hand me a stainless steel shovel, nice looking dirt with worms galore, and a trip to Linden Hill Gardens and I'm a happy woman. 

I've been an admirer of Patrick LeBlanc's vertical masterpieces for years.  With all the hoopla about vertical gardening I thought about giving it an honest try myself.   After careful consideration I decided not to tackle my own structural designs.  I could have spent countless hours trying my hand at my own cedar structure, shoe holder planter , rescued & rotted wood pallet beast, a bold & ugly plastic thingamajig, the stacked and cracked clay pot garden, cool resin shaped forms, or lastly the ever popular hairy coco-nest vertical concoction. Instead I took the easy way out.  I bought one.  

I ordered FloraFelt's patented felt vertical garden system.  It's a modular system so just to make sure I was ordering the right size I ventured outside and measured my stucco wall facing Sycamore street.  I imagined the luscious vertical greenery attracting passersby.  The thought quickly transformed itself into a "see but don't touch" type of art installation.   I like that.  SOLD.  

The felt is made from recyclable plastic bottles.  I have bought a similar eco-friendly felt textile at the local fabric store but it is not as durable and thick.  This came complete with root wrappers, rigid plastic sign board, instructions and loops for hanging.  I did refer to their handy video eight times to see how the bulging wrappers nicely tucked themselves into the pockets.   Don't ask me how the roots manage to grow into the felt.  Regardless, it seemed like a great concept.  I love plants and I love industrial felt so this project had to be done and better yet documented.

Photos can be so inspirational, yet oh so deceiving.  One learns this early on as a practicing designer.   I'm sure the vertical wall seen at the San Francisco's Decorators Showcase 2012 took some strategic planning regarding color, exposure, and size.  I, on the other hand, unplucked my root wrappers out of their felt nest numerous times before I was happy with the draping of the spring growth.  I'm still plucking.   I'll be putting it up for Mother's Day and hopefully the plants won't take a beating in the hot afternoon west sun.  If they do I'm replacing them in the dark so everything looks fresh and perky for everyone to see.   For more photos and further details about this interesting project see: www.barerootdesign.com and click on Blog.