Articles
Plants and polyester: suitable plants for a textile-based living wall system
Article number
1345_25
Pages
189 – 196
Language
English
Abstract
The vertical greenery system, a living wall (LW), helps green our cities and offers many other positive effects.
LWs help us adapt to the consequences of climate change, promote biodiversity, and serve local recreation, but they must look good year-round to be accepted by society.
The functionality and well-documented benefits of LWs are achieved by the plants.
Knowledge of plants for use in LWs is limited to too few climate zones and empirical values with unconfirmed validity.
We studied plants in a new LW system using textile vegetation mats in a temperate oceanic climate.
We monitored plant development, growth, and visual appearance.
At the research location, four experimental walls facing north, south, east, and west were built.
The pre-cultivated mats were fixed onto the experimental walls and remained for three years.
Only plants from moist or wet habitats were chosen because the mat had no substratum and was constantly irrigated.
Based on common designs from landscape architecture, we created two plant modules cascade and ground cover with 34 perennials.
The plant modules were analysed randomly with four replicates.
We determined the survival rate after two winter periods.
Most plants survived the mild winters.
After a cold winter with a late frost period, almost all plants showed damage, and many died.
We recorded differences in plant development depending on exposure, especially with ferns.
Further results showed that evergreen shrubs remained visually attractive throughout the year.
We discovered occasional, nice flowering from some shrubs and geophytes.
The plant module ground cover produced an attractive appearance and beautiful foliage decoration all year.
Until the beginning of winter, we observed an attractive appearance with grasses, shrubs, and ferns, and we discovered the unexpected establishment of moss.
LWs help us adapt to the consequences of climate change, promote biodiversity, and serve local recreation, but they must look good year-round to be accepted by society.
The functionality and well-documented benefits of LWs are achieved by the plants.
Knowledge of plants for use in LWs is limited to too few climate zones and empirical values with unconfirmed validity.
We studied plants in a new LW system using textile vegetation mats in a temperate oceanic climate.
We monitored plant development, growth, and visual appearance.
At the research location, four experimental walls facing north, south, east, and west were built.
The pre-cultivated mats were fixed onto the experimental walls and remained for three years.
Only plants from moist or wet habitats were chosen because the mat had no substratum and was constantly irrigated.
Based on common designs from landscape architecture, we created two plant modules cascade and ground cover with 34 perennials.
The plant modules were analysed randomly with four replicates.
We determined the survival rate after two winter periods.
Most plants survived the mild winters.
After a cold winter with a late frost period, almost all plants showed damage, and many died.
We recorded differences in plant development depending on exposure, especially with ferns.
Further results showed that evergreen shrubs remained visually attractive throughout the year.
We discovered occasional, nice flowering from some shrubs and geophytes.
The plant module ground cover produced an attractive appearance and beautiful foliage decoration all year.
Until the beginning of winter, we observed an attractive appearance with grasses, shrubs, and ferns, and we discovered the unexpected establishment of moss.
Authors
M. Stollberg, A. von Birgelen
Keywords
living wall, vertical greenery systems, green walls, planting design, climate change consequences, adaption, biodiversity
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