Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Living wall , 1 by bwilliams

bwilliams wrote:
That is a good question. The truth is I am not exactly sure what all will happen come winter or through the seasons. My idea is to turn the pump off once the wall has frozen. Then I will let it stay frozen until warmer weather returns. Most of the plants used are extremely hardy for my area and most if not all should survive the winter. This type of wall can be grown anywhere in the world outdoors the key would be to pick the right plants that can grow in this situation.
I have been hiking a lot and it is not uncommon to find large rock cliffs or rocky creek banks with ferns mosses Sedums Heuchera and other plants growing in the cracks of rocks or hanging just on the edges. So this is not an uncommon thing for plants it is however very uncommon in the garden. It can also produce some very unusual micro-climates that most people never get to use in the garden.

Here is a photo of a natural rock waterfall the plants growing on and around the rocks would work fine for a system like this. A lot of them though if placed in a garden in the ground would die in just a few days. My wall is on the north side of the house and gets very little sun. I used all shade loving plants and though a lot of what I used are hybrid nursery stock. I did add some natural mosses and plants that grow in this situation. So it is not uncommon for plants to be growing this way it is just uncommon for use see them in gardens this way.