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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Instant privacy trees 9/20/07 • Another way to block out the neighbor's RV 8/30/07   CONTACT THE HERALD Melanie Munk, Features Editor munk@heraldnet.com   Published: Thursday, August 30, 2007 Vertical green spaces By Debra Smith Herald Columnist A living wall is a vertical expanse of plants, a green fence of sorts. The plants can be free-standing or cover walls, installed indoors or out, and they're used as much for the wow factor as for the environmental benefits. Large-scale versions of living walls are popping up in urban settings worldwide. The largest, at 500 feet long and 50 feet high, is the Bio-lung in Aichi, Japan, a vegetative wall with 200,000 plants. Its name is meant to convey the smog-combating capacity of this giant wall of plants. Plenty of companies are introducing smaller versions inside and out, and some of these patterned green walls qualify as art. These are more than green eye candy. Just like green roofs, living walls on homes and buildings provide sound and temperature insulation and combat the urban heat island effect by cooling surrounding spaces. In a gritty urban setting, living walls are a cool place for the eye to rest and a clever way to block an undesirable view. You'll likely be seeing more of them here in private gardens and public spaces as the idea catches on. The city of Seattle recommends them as one way commercial developers can meet new requirements meant to encourage more vegetation. One of the first living walls in a residential garden in Snohomish County generated attention recently at the Seattle Street of Dreams. The fetching 6-foot high, 23-foot long wall served as an alternative to a traditional fence at one of the luxury homes, providing some privacy at the edge of the property and an attractive backdrop for the rest of the landscape. The living wall includes swaths of black mondo grass, the sedum Angelina and wild ginger. People have found ways to garden vertically throughout history, said the wall's designer, Bryan LaComa of Bothell-based In Harmony Sustainable Landscapes. In fact, most gardeners probably already have a living wall of sorts. The term encompasses simple versions such as flowering vines growing up a trellis or laced through a fence. The technology for building more complex living walls is improving, he said. It includes elaborate metal lattices that can be designed in virtually any configuration, and panel systems that can be hung on a frame or mounted on a wall. The living wall LaComa created used a panel system by a Canadian company that specializes in green roofs and walls. A frame fitted with panels of angled trays holds the soil and plants. The roots eventually grow together into a mat. A built in irrigation system keeps the plants watered. Other systems are designed to be irrigated from the top using a soaker hose or a drip-tray system. Appropriate plant choices include herbs, small vegetables and perennials, although LaComa prefers drought-tolerant and native plants. Since there isn't much soil to insulate plants, they must be tough and hardy to survive, he said. This is the first living wall LaComa created and he described the wall installation as tricky, like piecing a puzzle together. Setting up the structure and planting all those trays took about 90 hours. LaComa anticipates the wall he designed will require little care for the homeowners, other than routine fertilizing. If a homeowner likes things just so, he could primp and snip the foliage that dies back. Other than that, LaComa estimates the wall should live many years. In Harmony is still calculating how much this system would cost to replicate for another customer, but LaComa indicated the panels weren't cheap. One of 20-by-20 inch panel like the type used in this project cost $39.99, according to the Elevated Landscape Technologies, the company that produces the panels. Of course, you'd need quite a few for a large wall. This company and others also sell smaller versions for indoors and outside that can be mounted easily on a wall. If you've already using living wall technology in your garden, I'd like to hear from you. I'll also post some links to photo galleries of living walls and resources at my blog at www.heraldnet.com. Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com

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