
How to Plant a Lush Living Wall

There’s no need to stick to the expected succulents when planting a living wall.
San Diego landscape designer Amelia B. Lima (858/243-4470), inspired after seeing one of Patrick Blanc’s vertical gardens in Paris, hatched a plan to try his technique at home.
One purpose of soil is to support roots, Lima says―if you create another way to hold them up, you could even plant shrubs. Along a 40-foot wall, she built a 7-foot frame fronted by marine plywood and corrugated plastic (ridoutplastics.com). She stapled on two layers of synthetic Tuf-Felt (sutherlandfelt.com), cutting slits in the outer layer, then slipped in and stapled down 400 plants.
Now her sideyard is a jungle of ferns, bromeliads, coral bells, spider plants, and elephant ears.