The Great Plant Wall
/We've got one big wall in this joint. I've had a lot of ideas come and go while trying to figure out what to do with it... it could house a big hodgepodge of art and old family photos, a giant macrame, maybe dramatic wallpaper? But in an attempt to overtake the house with plants (I'm shooting for 100) I settled on a living plant wall. The plan is to put a skylight in over the stairwell in the next year, which will help train the plants up and keep them nice an healthy. I used the Wooly Pocket system in a skewed 3/3/2 pattern about three quarters of the way up the wall, with the lowest container just above head height. The containers have a well at the back that sustains the plants for 2 weeks before needing a refill. Here's a little picture tutorial of how I put it together...
Wooly Pocket provides the hardware to anchor the system to drywall along with a template for spacing, with different options for spacing. I followed the line of the stairs and drew the lower level out a bit. Yes, I took my life in my hands scaling the interior of the stair rail to get the screws in the wall.
I chose plants that were suited for the current lighting, filtered. I mixed different green, gray and plum tones, some variegated, different leaf shapes, some vines, some tree types. I place those a the top to grow taller and packed the middle with ferns and vines.
Here's a picture of the container system, the well at the back permeates the roots for 2 weeks.
Eventually the vines should hang down and cover the majority of the container, for now its almost like wall sculpture. I love how they protrude up and off the wall of the stairwell and greet you when you walk in the door, bringing the outside in...