Below is a great video on how to build a Patrick Blanc style vertical garden. They planted ferns, pothos,? phildendrons, ivys, and some assorted others.

Here is some further background from the home owners and how they created their vertical garden.

A few years ago I read about Patrick Blanc and his vertical gardens or green walls. When we designed our new apartment I had the chance to include a green wall as the centerpiece for the main living space. The walls are easy to make and remarkable to see in person.

More Info:

The greenwall is based on Patrick Blanc’s design. Here’s a quote from him describing his system published in Dwell Nov 2006:

“10mm thick waterproof PVC slabs covered with polyamid felt, into which holes (pockets actually) are cut for plants; a small hose, punctured every 10cm by a 2mm hole, to run the length of the top of the wall; a timing device to ensure regular, light watering- like a trickle slowly wending its way down a mossy rock. The ensemble is then attached to a metal structure that stands out from a supporting wall, trapping a cushion of air, which acts as insulation.”

That’s basically exactly what we built. The frame is a lattice work of 1″ aluminum tubes. Sheets of expanded PVC (Sintra is the brand name I used) have been screwed on with rust proof screws. Then 2 layers of the moisture retention mat (synthetic felt sourced from Green Roof Solutions product number MRM14) is stapled on with rust proof (Arrow Brand “Monel”) staples. There is a submersible pump on a timer that pumps water up to a tube running under the felt across the top of the wall. There is a basin at the bottom of the wall also built from expanded 3/4″ PVC.

We planted 3.5 inch plants in slits 5″ wide separated horizontally by 2″ gaps. The rows were 4″ apart vertically and the plants are staggered every other row.

Our greenwall add moisture to the air, cleans the air by trapping and breaking down airborne particulates, and creates oxygen.

Some further detail on the moisture retention mat

The 100% recycled polyester and polypropylene moisture retention fabric provides roof membrane protection below our Aggredrain layer. The high retentive qualities of these fabric provide a slow, evaporative release of moisture for green roof plants from deep in the? green roof system.
This product is used as a protection layer above the waterproofing membrane and root barrier.”

Some further detail on the watering regime.

We water 3 times a day for 10 minutes with a slow trickle as described in the How To. Because there? is soil around the roots we haven’t needed to fertilize and the plants are growing well. When we do fertilize we’ll just add it to the water in the basin.