A vertical garden, now there’s something you don’t see everyday.
Paignton Zoo are once again making the impossible, possible.
This time, however they have taken the concept of a horizontal garden and have flipped it so it is now vertical, oh and on a wall.
Not only that but this garden is located in the entrance hall to Paignton Zoo.
Reflects an exciting, exotic zoo
The garden covers an area of wall 4 meters wide and some 1.5 meters high.
Paignton Zoo’s Curator of Plants and Gardens, Giles Palmer said:
This living wall is an impact piece, a statement. It reflects the exciting, exotic Zoo beyond the ticket desks!
If you’re wondering how many plants you can get into that space, well we can tell you its over 600.
Vertical Garden took 3 Months Work
The plants that reside in, or should that be on, the vertical garden vary but include:
- Philodendron, Ctenanthe (which has variegated foliage)
- Tradescantia(spiderwort)
- Ficus (fig)
- Chamaedorea (a dwarf palm)
- Asplenium(a fern)
- Stromanthe (with red and green leaves)
The plants, all 600 of them, took a couple of days to install.
However, for Giles this piece of work has taken almost 3 months.
Of course no garden, whether its horizontal or vertical is ever finished, and Giles hopes to be able to add more plants over the coming months.
Giles went onto say:
We hope the wall will create a wow factor as our guests enter the first building of their Zoo visit. I hope to quite literally breathe life into the building. I want guests to be aware that our Zoo values plants equally with animals, and that plants are amazing.
Why those plants
Giles chose the plants because they are able to thrive in the conditions and the different forms of foliage offer a variety textures.
Similar spieces can be found throughout Paignton Zoo.
The plants also benefit the guests and staff and contribute positively to decreasing stress and improving morale, perhaps we could all use a visit?
Biophilia Focused
Giles cites the Biophilia, a theory that suggest humans posses an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other living things, not sure if that includes spiders.
Giles had this to say:
The Zoo grounds provide ample opportunity for interactions with nature, but we want to demonstrate that this can be brought inside, too. Anyone who has a cheese plant or spider plant at home is already dipping their toe into Biophilia.
The living wall was installed by ANS Global Ltd of Chichester.
