Durban - Vertical gardens are not just aesthetically pleasing, but can help reduce electricity consumption and provide you with more room for planting.
Jeff Thomas from Vertical Plantscapes, which erects living walls, says a vertical garden can change the temperature inside a home or building by up to 10%, so it can either cool a building in summer or reduce the cold in winter.
This was helpful during load shedding, when heaters, fans and air conditioners could not be used.
“The more plants you have and the bushier they are, the more it protects the wall of the building,” Thomas said.
He explained that there was a space of about 2cm between the wall and the vertical garden, which prevented the sun from hitting the wall.
He said this space had its own micro-climate: watering the plants created humidity while butterflies and birds nesting in the wall added to the insulation.
“Living walls and vertical gardens have taken off around the world, but South Africa is behind the times when it comes to their benefits compared with other countries,” Thomas said.
The largest vertical wall in Africa could be found in Nairobi, Kenya, where 21 000 young plants were installed, he said.
“You are looking at a 30% energy saving on a garden roof. When you have a big wall, you are also looking at energy savings.”
Thomas said the layer of soil on the roof, in addition to the plants, insulated the building against hot and cold weather conditions.
Living walls, some with a lifespan, could also be set up inside buildings and depending on the available light, anything could be grown, including herbs, vegetables and fruit.
Thomas said he grew peas, strawberries, baby carrots, tomatoes and spinach.
“It’s so much easier growing on the wall because being in the air you don’t have slugs and bugs,” he said.
Design consultant Michelle Ludwig said vertical and roof gardens were invaluable in a time of climate change, energy crisis and food shortages.
She said if you were in an urban space, just seeing nature led to health benefits even when fake plants were used, although she would not promote plastic in any form.
Ludwig said worldwide, the practice of Biophilic design was being adopted because humans had an innate connection to nature, and this type of design brought plants, textures and patterns into our space.
One of the first living walls in Durban was erected by Dean Gorrie, the owner of Mark Gold jewellery store in Morningside.
Gorrie said he was in France when he saw the beauty and popularity of living walls and, on his return, decided to erect one at the entrance to his jewellery store and coffee shop in Innes Road.
He and his mother-in-law, who had an award-winning garden, set about installing the living wall themselves and decided to use indigenous plants.
He said there were many fancy systems to keep the plants hydrated, and you could get a company to maintain the wall, but he believed it was best to keep things simple.
“There is nothing like a good old-fashioned hosepipe,” said Gorrie, who agreed that a vertical wall definitely cooled down the area where it was erected.
The Independent on Saturday