Expert Living Wall Design and Installation
What Are Living Walls?
A living wall is a vertical planting system fixed to a wall or a freestanding frame. Plants grow in modular trays filled with a lightweight substrate and are fed by a concealed irrigation line rather than by roots in the ground. It is a way to bring a generous amount of planting to a space that has no ground left to give.
That suits the sites we see most often across Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire. Courtyard gardens in town centres like Beaconsfield, Amersham and Thame. Side returns and boundary walls on newer estates. Office receptions where every square foot of floor is spoken for.
We have installed them for clients across all three counties, from a single interior panel in a hallway to full-height outdoor walls, and the effect is the same each time. A surface that was doing nothing becomes the best thing in the room.
Types of Living Walls
Indoor Living Walls
An indoor living wall turns a blank internal surface into the focal point of the room. Receptions, stairwells, open-plan living spaces and meeting rooms all suit them, and so does any large flat wall you have never quite known what to do with.
The pleasure of them is immediate. Texture, depth and movement where there was flat paint, and a quality of light and softness that no artwork quite achieves. Rooms with a living wall are calmer places to sit and better places to work, and clients tell us it is the first thing every visitor comments on.
Planting is chosen for the conditions a real building offers rather than the conditions a plant would prefer. Ferns, philodendron, spathiphyllum, epipremnum and calathea all hold their form well away from direct sun, and we combine them for contrast in leaf shape and shade of green so the wall reads as a composition rather than a block.
Every indoor wall we install is fed by an automatic irrigation line with a concealed reservoir and drip tray. Watering by hand is not practical at height, and retrofitting irrigation later means taking the wall apart, so we build it in from the start.
Outdoor Living Walls
Outdoors is where a living wall does the most work. Fences, retaining walls, garage flanks and pool surrounds are usually the least attractive surfaces on a plot and the hardest to plant in any conventional way. A living wall turns the problem into the feature.
They also do more than look well. A planted surface absorbs sound rather than bouncing it back, which makes a noticeable difference on a boundary facing a road. The layer of foliage and still air between the plants and the masonry shades the wall from summer sun and slows heat loss through the winter. Rainfall is held in the substrate rather than running straight off hard surfaces, which helps on sites where drainage is under pressure.
Best of all is what they bring in. A fence panel feeds nothing. A planted wall offers forage and shelter for bees, hoverflies, butterflies and nesting birds, and we plant for a long succession of flowering so there is something available from early spring through to the autumn.
Planting is chosen by aspect rather than by catalogue, because aspect decides whether a wall thrives or struggles. North-facing walls take ferns, heuchera, tiarella and evergreen euonymus. South-facing walls take sedum, thyme, lavender, erysimum and grasses that will not scorch in July.
We recently installed an outdoor wall in a large Beaconsfield garden to soften the swimming pool wall, and you can see that project alongside others in our residential portfolio and commercial portfolio.
Benefits and maintenance
Living walls give back more than the space they take up, and they are easier to live with than most people expect.
Key benefits
Noise softened. A planted surface absorbs sound instead of reflecting it, which tells on a boundary facing traffic
Wildlife welcomed. Nectar, forage and shelter for bees, butterflies, hoverflies and birds, on a surface that previously offered none
Warmth held in. Foliage shades the wall in summer and slows heat loss in winter
Rainfall managed. Water is held in the substrate rather than running straight off hard surfaces
Spirits lifted. Green in the eyeline through a grey British winter, and a room or garden that people want to be in
Across Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire we build these for period cottages, new-build courtyards and busy town-centre offices alike. Clients consistently tell us the wall became their favourite part of the project.
Keeping it looking well
Automatic irrigation on a timer, so watering takes care of itself
Proper drainage designed in from the start, which matters in our climate
Plants grown on off site and delivered already established, so the wall looks full from the day it goes up
Light pruning once or twice a year, and a harder cutback for outdoor walls in late winter
Feed delivered through the irrigation line, topped up when we visit
We handle everything from the frame and irrigation to the planting itself, and we can take on the ongoing maintenance or leave you a written schedule and plant list if you would rather look after it yourself.
Why Choose Vivid Gardens?
Designing and building gardens across Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire is our everyday work, and living walls have been part of it for years. Every wall is specified for its own site, using a modular tray system that lets an individual plant be swapped without disturbing the rest, and British-grown stock wherever the species allows.
Before you commit to anything, we will tell you whether your wall can carry the load, whether the aspect suits the planting you have in mind, and where the water and power will come from. On the occasional site a climber on wires does a similar job for a fraction of the cost, and we will say so.
You can read what previous clients have said on our testimonials page and see how a project runs from first visit to handover on our process page.
Book a free consultation or call 07856 296131.