Little pond with vertical garden

I thought I would share my latest project, that was inspired by Patrick Blanc's vertical gardens.
I have his book 'The Vertical garden' Its a very good book for those interested in that kind of thing. He goes into detail on how he developed his method and how he constructs his living walls.
I think that vertical gardens go great with ponds. They make a great backdrop to a pond and the fish wastes nourish the plants, while the plants purify the water.
They are also fairly easy to construct.

I copied Blanc's system but I had to use Capillary cloth covered with polyester felt, instead of irrigation fabric because I couldn't source it. I also used corflute (real estate signs) instead of expanded pvc because I'm cheap..

here are some pics of the wall. Its been planted for about 6 weeks

The pipe running along the top has holes drilled into it to spray water into the capillary cloth. The pump is on a timer- three minutes every hour.


I used cuttings and plants from the garden, because I wasn't sure of how well plants would do growing in just fabric, and I hate wasting money..
Most of the plants are growing well but its still a work in progress.


This close up shows how the plants grow in the fabric. The babies-tears is growing especially well.


This is the most exposed part of the wall. I've planted* crucifix orchids, fuchsia, babies-tears and native grasses and mosses. In a few weeks all the fabric should be covered with new growth.
*planting it done with scissors and a staple-gun


I will post update pics over the next few weeks as the wall fills out for those who are interested..

Flaringshutter said:

This is totally my dream project. It's like you're in my head! Just this week I was thinking about doing vertical gardens on our patio walls to keep the heat down in the summer.

What's the capillary cloth you used? Since I'm going to be using low-water plants like creeping thyme I was thinking about just using polyester felt pockets (similar to the Wooly Pockets, only handmade by me) backed with pond liner. They'll be outside so I can water with a hose. Do you have pockets of soil there or are the plants just stapled to the flat cloth?

Your vertical garden is so beautiful, you really did a great job planting. I can't wait to see it filled in either! It's really gorgeous.

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You really need to get hold of a copy of Patrick Blanc's book. I got it out of the library first, then I bought it. I've been interested in vertical gardens for years, and Blanc's method is by far the best IMHO. Especially If its combined with a fish pond, then it becomes ornamental aquaponics.
Most of the plants are planted in just the cloth, but I planted a few in small pockets with some potting mix. Time will tell if it makes any difference.
The capillary cloth is white and kind of like dense polyester wading like the stuff used in filters. I only used it because I couldn't find a supplier of the grey irrigation fabric
blanc uses.

I think that a lot of people are a bit put off by the reliance of a pump and a timer, and the chance of it breaking down. But the pump actually makes it much more low maintenance. No watering just feed the fish and top off the pond now and again..

xsdbs said:

Your garden looks so nice. Will something like this last thru the cold snowy winter months? If not then do you have to restart it (replant) each spring?

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? I've never even seen a frost where I live.
There are plenty of examples of P Blanc's gardens in Europe that survive the winters over there, and he does mention the non woven cloth not being damaged by freezing.