Greenwall Mojo

In the built environment, retaining walls are an absolute necessity.  Retaining walls ensure slopes are stabilized while maximizing developable space on our properties.  Unfortunately, most retaining walls protrude from the landscape like vertical parking lots.  On top of that, most retaining walls offer none of the ecological, hydrologic, thermal, or aesthetic benefits that are available with living retaining wall systems!  (See some of the research on living retaining walls)

This cast-in-place concrete wall held up a parking lot for a church in St. Louis.  Not only was it an eyesore for the neighbors, but it was already beginning to fall apart as The Living Wall Company arrived.

MQP Project Old Retaining Wall.  Click to enlarge.

Upon completion of the SmartSlope Living Retaining Wall, we planted a variety of Sedum and native plant species to prepare for success.

MQP Project New Living Retaining Wall (August 2012). Click to enlarge.

Spring is here!  Despite the drenching rains and late-season snows, this retaining wall is already beginning to disappear behind beautiful foliage.  We can't wait to see the Sedum and Purple Poppy Mallow in flower soon!

MQP Project Living Retaining Wall (April/May 2013). Click to enlarge.

This project provides the church with a stable retaining wall, the neighbors with a pleasant view, and nature with some great habitat.

View the entire MQP Photo Progression on Facebook!

Let us know if you have comments or questions!

Happy New Year!

About a week ago, my colleague Mark Ostendorf, posted an article and some pictures of our "snow covered" green wall test site at SIUe. Click here to view it on our FaceBook page. That was fun to see and it reminded me that I have shot a good amount of winter-wall video the last two years and have never published it. I have hundreds of hours of video and not enough time to produce it, so this is likely to be the theme for many upcoming segments. Kind of like the "fish that got away" being the largest ever --- all the unpublished video is better than anything yet produced. Keep checking back for updates and feel free to prod me along by suggesting topics for future segments. It's probably already shot!

This has been one hot and dry summer all over the country! The selection of living walls and more directly, Living Retaining Walls means that you and/or your client value the environmental service of plants covering the wall. A great move and once the structure is built, the  "Living" part comes in to play. To be successful, careful planning must be given the task of planting and surviving the establishment period of a new living retaining wall.

Many steps have to be handled correctly in order for the new living structure to successfully grow-in and become the mature green wall that was intended at the outset. No matter what region you are in, the use of irrigation can be a valuable tool for ease of establishment in difficult weather periods or a long-term component for drought intolerant plant species

Let's start with a list that will help owners and specifiers understand the steps we take to meet owners needs and guarantee a beautiful, strong and sustainable wall.

 • selection of a system that holds a lot of media in order to facilitate the root structure necessary for long term plant health

• use of well blended growth media in the wall facing with emphasis on pH, percent organics, porosity and moisture retention capacity to name a few

• proper micro-climate analysis along the entire length and height of the wall and the effect of anything near the wall that might impact it in the near term and long term

• maintenance intensity and budget

• salt tolerance, shade tolerance and similarity of water need

• interaction with people and animals ( sometimes one in the same )

• top growth preference - flowering, creeping, trailing, wall hugging, upright, size at maturity, pollinators, other habitat considerations and the list could go on

• annuals, perennials, ornamentals, groundcovers, natives or how about a mix of them all

• can drip irrigation be included in the wall facing modules or will the use of pop-up heads elsewhere in the landscape be utilized

• where can access to water come from and is it potable or from some form of runoff harvesting

Our Library page has information regarding the inclusion of drip irrigation into our living retaining walls that may be very helpful.

You may want to visit our current, featured video page to see how SmartSlope, LLC in Baltimore is breaking new ground with a commercial project utilizing integrated drip irrigation in their SmartSlope System to successfully grow healthy plants while also serving as a stormwater management tool to keep runoff water on the site, rather than into the Chesapeake bay watershed.