Are you bored with your old, ordinary garden? Are you looking to
take your gardening skills to new heights this year? Then it's time for
you to explore what's new in vertical gardens. From planter frames to
growing walls, today's gardens have gone upright. Here are five new
types of gardens that grow vertical rather than horizontal, giving you a
new twist on an old, favorite past time.
• Planter Walls and Frames
When space is a problem and you still have the need to cultivate, you
can always go vertical. Planter walls and frames are the current trend
in gardening. Created with rows of pockets on a wall, vertical planter
frames are a unique microenvironment that facilitates the growth of
succulents, herbs or other plants in a self-contained unit using
synthetic, felt-based growing pockets. These units can be planted,
arranged and rearranged to make living sculpture of natural texture on
your walls.
• Growing Walls
If you want to go
vertical in a really big way, consider an all-out growing wall. Large
panels of wire mesh are used to create the outer wall of a building. The
wire frame is then covered in vine-growing plants. When mature and
full, the walls present a unified wall of plant life that envelopes a
living or working space.
• Stacked Cinder Block Container Walls
Create a wall of vertically-stacked cinder blocks for your own version
of a homemade vertical garden. Arrange the blocks in random,
cross-stacked configurations to house pockets of plants in exposed
middle openings. This do-it-yourself project is both budget-friendly and
clever.
• Vertical Planters
Vertical planters
come in all shapes and sizes. Wood or metal structures hold planter
boxes in vertical alignment to carry your flower or herb gardens in
small spaces like decks, patios or balconies. Some are designed to take
up no more than six to eight inches of floor space.
• Leaning Planters
Just like the modern designs of leaning wood shelves or magazine
racks, leaning planters are sleek, simple creations akin to ladders for
plants on your wall. These vertical gardens are light, airy and open
structures that don't close in the space they occupy and work well in
any contemporary-styled room.
The Vertical Gardens ideabook on Houzz
has great examples of what's new in vertical gardens this year. Stop by
and see which vertical garden would bring a spark of life to your
space.
