Benefits > Ecological

Vertical gardens are living, breathing structures.  Like any landscape, they require a delicate balance of biotic and abiotic factors in order to survive and thrive.  It is these interactions between organisms and the interactions of these organisms with their environment that create the ecological complexity that are at the core of vertical garden design and implementation.  

As designers, we attempt to create functional landscapes that simulate natural environments.  Of utmost importance, is understanding the fundamentals of plant ecology.  The EcoWallTM was designed to support plant growth and flowering in an inorganic medium. This requires and intimate knowledge of nutrient regimes, light availability, and water quality to properly replicate the optimal conditions for growth.  Community ecology is investigated as a means of determining suitable plant material for a given location, i.e. how the given plants compete with one another for resources or space, and how succession will occur over the longevity of the vertical garden.  Restoration ecology and behavioral ecology are taken into account when constructing a vertical garden as a wildlife corridor or for attracting pollinators into urban settings.  Lastly, nutrient cycling is extremely important when investigating the use of aquaponics for the creation of a self-sustaining vertical garden ecosystem.

Understandably, there are many subtle ecological intricacies that help to shape  what we view as  vertical gardens.  More importantly, understanding these intricacies is paramount for envisioning the numerous ecological benefits that vertical gardens can offer.