'Green Walls'

We have Green Roofs, why not Green Walls?
A French botanist, Patrick Blanc, designs Plant Walls for hotels and museums around the world.
His trademarked Plant Wall concept involves layers of plastic, metal, and air to for stability, temperature control, and circulation. The plants grow in small pockets and a hydroponic system of plastic pipes provides water and nutrients.

'Blanc attributes his growing success to a shift in thinking about cities and urban spaces. "We need to reconcile city dwellers' needs and nature's needs," he says. And with space increasingly at a premium in cities, gardens have to go vertical, he says. While high-profile commissions have made Blanc famous, he envisions far more modest applications for Plant Walls: in parking lots, housing projects, train stations, and even underneath bridges.'

'Redefining the Urban Jungle' by Amber Haq
October 4, 2006 BusinessWeek