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Sedum and Black Prince Fytowall on a Brighton Town House, Melbourne. |
Vertical Gardens
What is the Vertical Garden?
The Vertical Garden is a vertical living Fytowall full of healthy growing plants.
Suitable for indoor or outdoor use. The vertical garden consists of series
of Fytowall panels. This could be one panel high covering many meters in length
or 10 panels high (5m) and only 1m in length. These panels offer more, with
the ability to be interchangeable. The vertical garden can be used as a feature
using different plant types or colours. Highlighted using lights or made into
different shapes.
Why use Fytowall in the ‘Vertical Garden”?
Fytowall is an aminoplast resin foam. This results in a light,
but very stable and firm white spongy pH neutralised growing
media.
Product Range:
The Vertical Garden has a range of panels. However the panel FWG14
is the standard size, which is wrapped in UV stable shade cloth.
These panels are planted with a series of individual plants.
The effect of the shade cloth wrapping is three fold. It adds
stability, lowers evaporation and gives an opportunity to change
the background colour to, either black, green or wheat/sandstone.
Size:
The interchangeable panels come in a standard size of 100cm long
x 49cm high x 14cm depth. (FWG14). This equates to 0.49m2 in area
and 68 litres of volume. We can also custom make panels of different
lengths to suit a project.
How do I get plants to grow on the Fytowall foam panels?
Fytowall has a balanced air/water ratio over the panel height
which enables plants to grow in both the top and the bottom of
the panel.
Numerous species have been tested for their suitability in growing
vertically and typical ground cover type species are most suitable.
Fytogreen will plant and grow in all panels for installation
of the Fytowall.
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Fytowall installation at Frankston Private
Hospital January 2007 (prior to surrounding frame). The installation
features a turf background with specimen plants of Seaside
Daisy, Black Mondo grass, Festuca Glauca and Rock Daisy to
create a "Living Art" picture in the outdoor area
of the hospital.
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Weight:
The standard panel FWG14 has an absolute saturated weight of 44kg
per 0.5m2 or 88kg per m2 without plants. However under normal watering
conditions, you could expect the panels to be at approximately
25-35% saturation by volume. ie . holding 25-35L of water and nutrients.
This equates to 12.5-17.5kg per 0.5m2 panel. Plant weight per panel
will depend on the species and age, but when fully grown, you could
allow 12kg per m2 for plants like mondo grass up to 24kg for turf
panels.
Are there limits to Vertical Garden panels?
The interchangeable panels must be placed lying on their long edge.
This means that the maximum vertical height of one panel can
only be 50cm. Each panel must have a physical barrier between
it and the one above or below. This applies to a wall 1m high
or 5 m high. The minimum gap required between panels is 20mm,
enabling irrigation lines and panel support.
The Vertical Garden can be grown in exterior or interior spaces.
The overriding factor will be plant selection and available UV
light.
How do I hold the Fytowall vertical garden in place? – see Design Section
Fytogreen or it ’s nominated contractors will install and
commission the Fytowall vertical garden, inclusive of installation
of the irrigation and fertigation system.
 Where a picture frame
is required to finish the garden as “living art”,
different options will be available on request.
Irrigation Design & Installation
Fytogreen offers a separate service to design and install the
required irrigation system.
Things to keep in mind are that each panel requires water to be
applied to the top of the panel. As there is no potting mix/soil,
fertiliser has to be applied through fertigation. This is fertiliser
mixed with water and applied in liquid form through the irrigation
lines.
Each tray has to have the ability to take excess water away, either
dripping to a drain below the wall or from each tray individually.
Fytowall Projects
Brighton, Melbourne
Brighton townhouse in Melbourne before Fytowall installation. One of two townhouses.
Brighton townhouse side 1 . A mix of sedum and black prince echeveria
Brighton townhouse side 2. A mix of black mondo and baby’s tears.
Braddon, Canberra
A series of four frames creating a montage. The panels consist of black mondo under planted with baby’s tears and pratia blue. The swathes consist of bilforous on top and standard mondo underneath.
Melbourne, Cremorne
Fytowall, a natural solution for small courtyard spaces.
A new 6m2 Fytowall in Cremorne, Melbourne.
Examples Species
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Species such as Dichondra
"Emerald Falls" and Campanula "Serbian Bell
Flower" thrive in this vertical wall. |
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Species such as Scleranthus Biflorous and
Woolly Thyme, 14 weeks after planting.
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Species for part sun / shade
areas like Heuchera, Doone Valley Thyme and native Viola
make a stunning soothing background. |
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Impatians make a stunning
display and with the ability to interchange the panels, a
different colour scheme is easily available. |
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Your perfect Vertical Herb
Garden, a collection of mint, oregano, taragon and thyme,
all easily grown and available for picking. |
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