Adding A Living Wall To Your Home Can Provide A Serious Splash Of Life And Color: Here’s How You Can Make Your Own
Being in close proximity to greenery has major benefits on our mental health. When we’re around plants, our stress levels are reduced, and we feel happier. It’s been scientifically proven! All the more reason to fill your home with plants.
Living walls are on trend right now, and they can provide a serious splash of life and color to your surroundings while lifting your spirits and mood.
A living wall is a collection of plants hanging vertically on a wall and grown on a panel. It can cover an entire wall or just a small section. And it can be located either indoors or outside.
If you want to jazz up your garden or have limited space for potted plants in your home, a living wall will fit your needs. Here’s what you need to know before installing your living wall. We’ll cover the lighting, watering, and wall-mounting requirements for both indoor and outdoor living walls.
Indoor Living Wall
Living walls require a significant amount of sunlight. The placement of your living wall will depend on which area of your home can provide sufficient lighting. If you don’t receive a lot of natural daylight, consider adding some grow lights.
When installing a living wall indoors, you must take into account the weight of your plants and shelving.
Too heavy, and it might damage your wall. But usually, they don’t cause a problem since living walls hang vertically, pulling the weight straight down instead of outwards.
To water your indoor living wall, you’ve got two options. You can water it by hand or set up a self-watering system. Hand watering can be a challenge because it might get messy, and it’s hard to find the balance between over and underwatering.
Sergii Figurnyi – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
For a more manageable choice, turn to drip irrigation. This method will save water by using gravity to allow water to drip down to the plants’ roots. There are self-watering systems you can buy from stores.
Outdoor Living Wall
If you’re going to add a living wall to an outdoor space, you must also consider your climate zone. Is your area hot or cold? Sunny or shady?
Let’s just say it’s harder to find plants that will tolerate harsh winters. And in winter, your living wall will just look dead, which diverts the whole point of adding more greenery.
Outdoor living walls can be mounted on any type of wall. You won’t have to worry about it collapsing. They also use the same types of watering systems as indoor ones. Don’t count on rainfall to adequately water your plants. With all the different directions the wind blows, not enough water can actually reach them.
Plants for Living Walls
For indoor living walls, you’re limited to houseplants, such as pothos, philodendrons, ivies, spider plants, and ferns. Succulents are also a great choice if you have lots of bright sunlight around.
And for the outdoors, choose plants that will thrive in your specific climate. Try flowers that will attract the bees, the birds, and the butterflies. You can even plant food! Herbs, peppers, and cherry tomatoes tend to work well.
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