We are currently in Madrid, Spain, and thought it worthwhile to visit the CaixaForum and check out one of the most recognizable Patrick Blanc vertical gardens. We also wanted to see how it held up since it was installed in 2007.

This is a photo below was taken when it was first installed (via wikimedia commons).  As you can see the style has changed considerably, with some plants not existing in the original planting.

The vertical garden consists of 15,000 plants from 250 species over an adjacent apartment building wall next to the CaixaForum.

As in all his walls, he uses a felt based system with pockets cut in, on a PVC back plate.

There were many visible patches without plants which are not as visible when looking at the larger picture but very noticeable close up.

Even on nice sections there are noticeable gaps up close.

The planting is probably not suited to DIY home jobs which are much smaller and are viewed from 0-5m instead of up to 20-50m away.

There seems to be many new plants, I would expect the plant turnover rate to be quite high and this wall would require considerable maintenance.

Also noted was cascading water which was not be recollected, not sure what percentage was being wasted but was noticeable.

There is a great selection of plants here, some very beautiful examples. Glad we made the trip.