How long will my Green Wall take to grow?

The first thing many of our clients want to know about their new Green Wall is how long it will take to grow and mature. The answer depends on a range of factors, including which species of plant are used and the specific conditions of the site.

Factors which will affect growth rate

As well as plant species and site conditions, there are a number of other variables which will affect how quickly your green wall takes to establish.

• Irrigation: How will the plants be watered? Will it be done manually, by an automatic irrigation system, or by rainfall?
• Maintenance: How much will the plants be looked after? Will they be well-maintained with scheduled maintenance visits or left to fend for themselves?
• Orientation: How much light and/or shade will the plants receive?
• Plant condition: Are the plants of good quality, or are they unhealthy and lacking vigour?
• Soil conditions: What will the plants be growing in? A rich, well-drained growing medium; poor, sandy soil; or waterlogged clay soil?
• Species selection: Have the plants been chosen with the site conditions in mind, as opposed to just looks alone?
• Time of planting: Will planting take place in (optimal) spring conditions or at another time of year? 

Our team of green wall and horticultural specialists can help you consider all the contributing factors for your project, and choose the optimum plants for your site. Once the plants have been chosen, their rate of growth will be far greater if they are regularly watered, fed and maintained. Again, we provide full irrigation and maintenance services to customers, if required. 

Green Wall Projects

We have a wide range of stainless steel trellis Green Wall projects installed throughout the UK and Europe. This means that we have seen first-hand the benefits of carefully selected plants and the vital importance of irrigation and maintenance regimens.

At St Dominic’s College in Harrow, we planted a carefully selected mixture of over 550 climbing plants – including Clematis Montana and Parthenocissus Tricuspidata – in 80 25-litre planters. These plants were chosen for the site’s particular conditions and were pre-grown off-site so that they didn’t undergo too much stress when they were planted out. 

The plants were trained to grow up the Jakob stainless steel Webnet structure. They were planted in spring and had already achieved impressive coverage by the first summer, providing excellent coverage of the stainless steel green wall trellis.

St Dominic's College, Harrow

The Sihl City Shopping Centre car park in Zurich is another great example of a successfully designed and planted green wall. Jakob was responsible for the design, installation and supply of products for the 25.5 x 23m stainless steel structure. After 4 years the car park’s eastern façade was hidden under a blanket of lush, verdant growth provided by a combination of Wisteria sinensis and Aristolochia sp. 

Sihl City Shopping Centre, Zurich

Improving your Green Wall’s growth rate

Such phenomenal growth rates as these are brought about through careful design and execution of a planting system. Regular maintenance ensures plants remain lush and dense, without becoming ‘leggy’, sparse or overgrown.

MMA works closely with landscape architects to design a system that will provide optimal growing conditions for your chosen plants. This can involve suspending the stainless steel trellis system off the façade to provide sufficient space for the plants to twine themselves around the structure; or growing plants in the ground (rather than in planters) to provide a greater tolerance in watering and soil conditions, and less chance of the soil drying out or ‘slumping’. 

It is important to remember that every Green Wall is unique. How long your Green Wall will take to grow will vary according to the factors listed above but, with proper design, planning and execution, each installation can deliver a beautiful, sustainable, bio-diverse and cost-efficient solution over the long-term. 

Further information on Green Walls can be found at www.green-walls.co.uk

Some information provided by Tensile Design and Construct, agents for the Jakob system in Australia.