At the design stage, it is apparent that the colors and textures of the leaves are taken into consideration, which would definitely lead to an impressive array of plants on the green wall.
However, would this design actually last you 2 months, a year, or 5 years?
Well, that is the true challenge. How the plant would eventually mature on the green wall in a year’s time, or even longer. The way a plant is grown horizontally may not necessarily mean that it follows the same growth patterns vertically. This in fact poses a challenge for most people when designing a sustainable green wall. An example would be Desmodium on the green wall, it would mature to be a drooping plant on the green wall; Philodendron Gold, on the other hand, would mature to climb upwards on a green wall. Hence, effective assignment of plants onto the green wall would require comprehensive understanding of ‘green wall plants’; a.k.a plants that grow vertically.
This is just one aspect of designing for a green wall, there are still many of the other decision-making processes that should be considered in the process. For ‘Green wall plants’ to be specified on a green wall, many components have to be taken into consideration such as access to light, irrigation and nutrients, as well as some other factors.
In a nutshell, to design for a Green wall, it is not as simple as just choosing the type of plants by looking at shape and colour of the leaves. Conceptualisation of a true sustainable green wall requires much information and expertise to specify the type on plants for the specific spot it has on the green wall design.
– Zac Toh