Hanging vertical gardens: a quick and not-too-dirty way

It is too hot for outdoor gardening now so I decided to write about hanging gardens.

Hanging gardens usually evoke one of 2 images: the moss-lined baskets with macramé hangers that were planted with common house vines and hung from living room ceilings back in the 1970s…

Or the legendary and long-vanished Hanging Gardens of Babylon where palm trees and other plants grew on terraces and rooftops in scorching hot summer weather in what is now Iraq.  (Their irrigation system must have been terrific!)

These days there is a third option: smallish succulents planted as a vertical garden to hang on a wall inside or out. I love the look of these—almost like abstract art in many shapes and shades of green and pink. Searching on the internet, however, I was more than slightly shocked to see that the Pottery Barn is selling vertical succulent gardens. And the cost? $269. On Amazon I discovered a beginners hanging pocket garden–no plants or soil included–for much less.

Well, what if I do it myself, I thought.

After reading a post about how to make a vertical succulent garden—making a framed box, installing a metal grid, adding cactus soil, planting about 50 or 60 tiny succulent buds (which can be purchased online for under $20) and then waiting for a couple of weeks or more for the roots to take hold and replanting if the roots don’t take hold—I realized that this wasn’t a route for me, either. (I am not a builder!)

Then I remembered two “hanging gardens” I had seen in downtown Los Angeles. One was on a north facing wall in Pershing Square and the other one a garden that rises at least 5 or 6 stories high in a parking garage.

The high rise garden was the brainchild of a local restaurant owner who wanted to go really local with the green stuff for his menu. For him local meant upstairs from his restaurant which was on the ground floor of a building with a parking garage several stories high.  If you look closely at the photo (sorry, it’s not a great photo, but I never thought I’d write about it) you will see lettuces and herbs stacked floor after floor. What a brilliant idea!  But apparently not one that would endure. Last time I was in downtown L.A. this parking garage garden was brown and clearly abandoned.

Which brings us to the vertical garden in Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles which may provide an alternative to expensive hanging gardens. It was planted during the first rush to change all plants on Los Angeles public properties into drought tolerant plantings.

It is clear that two shelves have been installed in a niche in a wall and potted plants stacked densely on each shelf.  On the top is a row of grasses that dance in the breezes. It is clear that they are simply ordinary pots of identical types of grasses stacked side by side.

The next level down are the succulents, including 3 large agaves. I suspect that the agave pots have been tilted slightly sideways–about a 45 degree angle– so they will grow outward and the soil will still stay around the plant roots. Unlike the more common tidy, vertical succulent garden there are succulents and other plants trailing down, vine-like. And this vertical garden can be watered in place and does not have to be removed for watering.

Overall, using pots stacked side by side seems to be a much easier way to create a vertical garden but probably is best outside. On Amazon I found this vertical garden system that is self-watering and can be expanded from small space to larger inside or out. Perfect for the neglectful gardener!

The secret to success for all of these vertical gardens, of course, is density. Plant the succulents close together right from the beginning. Don’t wait for plants to spread out and fill in. You can always transplant them later if they become too crowded.

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