Showing posts with label Green Walls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Green Walls. Show all posts

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Garden Sojourns - London

The memories we bring back from our travels....
....are an essential part of the journey. Long after returning home, the beauty of a setting, and the sense of discovery remain to be savored on a winter's evening. A richly rewarding surprise on a recent trip to London: Kensington Roof Gardens - adjacent to Sir Richard Branson's Babylon Restaurant. 

Spring was an excellent time to see the wisteria blooming above an ornate arched portal. Sadly, the Roof Gardens are no longer open.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Patrick Blanc .. Tonight at Drew School


Tonight in San Francisco,
Patrick Blanc, aka His Greenness, will be speaking at Drew School, where he designed a vertical garden of native plants. I'll be reporting back after hearing his presentation.
It's always exciting to have a chance to talk with Patrick about his latest projects spanning the globe.

I'll allow time to photograph the garden before the cocktail party, having been able to document its progress since the installation in Spring. Photo below shows how it looked in July of this year. Quite a few plants were blooming.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Patrick Blanc: Vertical Gardens Update


Patrick Blanc Vertical Gardens: London and San Francisco

Detail: Heuchera Bloom at Drew School Living Wall - Photos © Alice Joyce

May 2011 Athenaeum Hotel, London
Compare images below from 2010 with those taken this Spring, and you'll see evidence of amazingly lush growth from one year to the next. Photos © Alice Joyce
Athenaeum Hotel's Vertical Garden completed in 2009 Photo © Alice Joyce
Spring Blooms - April 2011 Drew School Vertical Garden, San Francisco: Planted February 2011 -- I'll visit soon to update photos of the living wall's native plantings.
April 2011 ... Drew School Vertical Garden - San Francisco

Friday, February 11, 2011

A Landmark Living Wall of Native Plants


Photo, Courtesy Patrick Blanc
The Bay Area is abuzz, and I'm exhilarated! The very thought of innovative botanist, Patrick Blanc creating a large-scale project in San Francisco - my back yard so to speak - has the entire horticultural community in a state of excitement! And the general public, too, especially the Lower Pacific Heights neighborhood. Imagine going out for a stroll and discovering a living wall taking shape before your eyes: It's the largest project Blanc has undertaken to-date in the United States.


Patrick Blanc at the February 10th press briefing.
(photo: Alice Joyce)
The placards flanking Patrick show: to the left in the photo - a selection of the native California species being planted; and on the right, Patrick's sketch of the design with the plant names indicated.
A detailed post about the project taking place at The Drew School is now posted on:


You might like to read about Patrick's...

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Vertical Gardens ... A Reprise

 PingMag photo: December 8, 2006

For French designer Jean-Paul Gaultier Patrick Blanc created a ‘Robe Végétale’.

PingMag.jp/ ceased publication on December 31, 2008.

Click on link for Vertical Gardens on:

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Vertical Gardens - A Living Organism, Patrick Blanc in San Francisco



"A vertical garden becomes a living organism by itself," Patrick Blanc, creator of vertical gardens speaking last night at SPUR (San Francisco Planning + Urban Research Association) about his contribution to the ‘New Roots’ project for Drew SchoolPh.D botanist and a passionate plantsman, Blanc showed beautiful vertical gardens from Hawaii to Osaka, and from Bangkok to Manhattan.
During his presentation Blanc told of a new Begonia species he discovered in Thailand, an understory plant adapted to low light levels.
Green trousers... green shoes.... and yes, green hair.

Recent project: Caixa Forum museum, Madrid - photo, courtesy Patrick Blanc.

Blanc's living wall for Quai Branly in Paris - photo, courtesy Patrick Blanc.

Blanc holding a sprig of Zauschneria californica.
Invigorating to learn Blanc plans to use California natives for the new project!
Not only does California possess a wealth of natives, but Blanc believes it’s important
for Drew School students to be exposed to native species.

On his first day in San Francisco, Blanc mentioned seeing plants from Mexico, South Africa, Canary Islands, Australia, New Zealand and Chile in city gardens,
but few natives! Blanc reiterated what San Francisco gardeners surely appreciate:
the exceptional climate, mild temperatures & foggy conditions
allow a great diversity of species to thrive.

New Roots Project for DREW School
Architects: ROMA Design Group
Living Wall/Vertical Garden: Patrick Blanc
Living Roof: Rana Creek
Green Building Consultant: Simon and Associates
Blanc expects to use a large cistern to collect water from the roof of the school building, to use for irrigation during the summer dry season. Journeying to the far corners of the globe, Blanc studies plants in their natural environments, motivated by his scientific work, and the botanical artistry of the living walls he creates. Blanc showed images from countless expeditions where he has documented the hanging, bending forms of plants growing vertically - at times in pockets of humus that collects in holes on limestone cliffs. “Vertical gardens are not just fashion,” he said, stressing the ability to combine as many as 100 species in a vertical garden: far more than when grown horizontally in a similar space. A diversity of species with similar growth habits can be brought together in a vertical garden, lessening the chances of disease or parasites.

Mini-Rooftop Terrace Garden on SPUR Urban Center,
LEED Certified green building that opened in May, 2009.
Champagne flowed and hors d’oeuvres were offered creatively on a moss-draped wall
and upright columns by Savoy catering.


Stay tuned for updates on the progress of Blanc's San Francisco project,
with expanded information on the technique used to create living walls.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Vertical Gardens! A Patrick Blanc Green Wall for San Francisco


Caixa Forum, Madrid
photos by sallylondon
Architects, Herzog & de Meuron (San Francisco's de Young Museum, 
among their accomplishments) designed the addition on the adjacent building adjacent to the green wall: 
The upper stories exhibiting a tactile, richly colored cor-ten steel facade, in brilliant juxtaposition alongside the verdant surface of Patrick Blanc's expansive plantings.

Blanc broke new ground when he developed a highly successful technique for living walls,  the vertical gardens that now adorn buildings worldwide in indoor and outdoor settings.
Years ago, while visiting Paris I planned an early-morning visit to the Pershing Hall hotel, to see an early Blanc project installed on an interior courtyard wall.

The green wall Blanc created for the Caixa Forum is composed of 15,000 plants;  250 different species. In Blanc's words, "The Vertical Garden allows man to re-create a living system very similar to natural environments. It's a way to add nature to places where man once removed it. Thanks to botanical knowledge, it's possible to display natural-looking plant landscapes even though they are man-made. ...a Vertical Garden" can be "a valuable shelter for biodiversity."
Locally, Blanc has been chosen to design a green wall for the new Assembly Wing of San Francisco's Drew School, Blanc's largest project in the U.S. to date.
I'll be attending Blanc's lecture in San Francisco.
A botanist by profession, with eye-popping green hair, 
Blanc is sure to draw an enthusiastic crowd to the SPUR center in downtown San Francisco!

Monday, August 10, 2009

A Living Green Wall - Portland's Hotel Modera


Hotel Modera 'Living Wall' - Portland Oregon
Living Wall Designed by Lango Hansen Landscape Architects working with Hoist Architecture

Referred to as mid-modern, Hotel Modera boasts a gracefully horizontal architectural style: The building resting with a comfortable elegance on its downtown Portland site.

An extensive renovation reinvented the property's ambiance, with earth tones adding warmth to the interior's hip, contemporary layout. The beautifully designed Nel Centro restaurant opened in May; its outdoor patio area integrated with Hotel Modera's courtyard. I found Nel Centro's food, wine and service consistently delicious and satisfying after enjoying a number of meals there.

The 13' vertical green wall at Hotel Modera lured me to book a visit.
The wall adorns a spacious public courtyard designed by Lango Hansen Landscape Architects, working with Hoist Architecture.
The resulting space is sleek and modern; comfortable and inviting.
Bringing order to the design: A central wooden walkway combined with a glass canopy; voluminous corten steel planters set apart by the material's rich rust-colored surface; and corten steel and orange glass cullet fireplaces arranged around the courtyard.


The Columbia River Gorge inspired the designers to incorporate native plants. The corten steel planks, set in the wall, reflect the color of stone seen in the Gorge area, while the wall's vegetation is meant to mimic the Gorge's textural vegetation.

Nine species of plants include evergreen huckleberry, coast strawberry, wood fern (Dryopteris expansa), and licorice fern (Polypodium glycyrrhiza).

Sand filters storm water runoff at the bottom of the wall. At the pinnacle of the wall, conifers and deciduous trees are planted to conceal the top section of the garage ramp.
Link below to a trove of great Green Portland Destinations: