Green walls sprouting up in Winnipeg

I first wrote about living green walls in this column about four years ago (November 2013). Back then, high-tech vertical gardens were finding their way into the offices of large corporate clients in big cities across Canada. In Winnipeg, not so much, but, oh, what a difference a few years makes.

Today, there are numerous local design firms specializing in green wall installations such as Arboria Plant Care and Design, Air Strength Canada, Off the Wall Greenscapes, Urban Jungle, and Verde Plant Design. Each has a growing list of clients for state-of-the-art living green walls that utilize innovative technology and include built-in self-watering irrigation systems.

A cutting-edge interior design trend, living walls are vertical plantscapes that have minimal space requirements and offer proven health benefits, such as improved air quality and enhanced well-being. Research studies show that the presence of greenery in our homes and workplaces helps to promote productivity, inspire creativity and reduces stress and anxiety.

One of Winnipeg’s newest green wall projects can be found at École South Pointe School in the Pembina Trails School Division. Designed and installed by Urban Jungle, the green wall is three metres tall and four metres wide. Installed a few weeks prior to the opening of this impressive new school, the now lush vertical garden has the proud distinction of being the first one in any public school in Winnipeg.

Ideally situated in a common area on the second floor that is illuminated with natural light by a south-facing wall of windows, the green wall is enjoyed by teachers, students and everyone who visits the school. The visual impact is immediate. There is the kind of dense, vigorous growth of foliage and illuminating brightness that we normally wait to see outdoors at the height of summer.

Viewed as a whole, the wall, planted with 11 different plant species, is a large, textural canvas of leafy shapes with a suffusion of tropical colour in different shades of green, with glints of silver, chocolate and burgundy, and even splashes of crimson red.

The eye moves from the spiky leaves of Dracaena marginata Madagascar Dragon Tree that frame the outside of the wall to the pendulous, silver-blue fronds of Phlebodium aureum Blue Star fern that cascade down its centre. There is the showy red sword-like flower head of Vriesea splendens Flaming Sword bromeliad and the glossy palm-like leaves of Schefflera arboricola, a dwarf umbrella tree contrasting with the narrow, slightly curled chartreuse and white foliage of Dracaena Lemon Surprise.

Near the top of the green wall, the patterned leaves of never-never plant or Ctenanthe burle-marxii with burgundy undersides create a ribbon of colour. A strategic row of Spathiphyllum spp. peace lilies is planted at the bottom of the green wall. The leaves of peace lilies droop to signal the plant’s need for water. To someone who is a gardener, the wall might be a master class that teaches one how to combine plants by leaf colour, texture and form. But at École South Pointe, it is much more.

John Karras, assistant superintendent of Pembina Trails school division, says that the green wall brings a sense of summer in the middle of winter. "We know that children come to school in various states of mind," Karras says. "Plant life has a calming effect on those who may be feeling anxious." The wall is also a teaching opportunity about care and concern for the environment.

Karras says that as part of the green building policy for government of Manitoba funded projects, new school buildings are built in accordance with a rating system known as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), with a goal to reduce the project’s energy use or environmental impact. One option, in addition to bicycle racks and pathways, Karras says, was to incorporate a living wall that brings nature indoors and improves indoor air quality by reducing pollutants.

With a student population of about 800, the wall has become a vital hub for students and teachers. Ruthanne Dyck, principal at École South Pointe, says that the green wall has become a gathering space. "Children often go there to work on individual or group projects," she says. While some students are drawn to sports, or choir or the chess club, she says, others want to learn about plants. A new garden club, which has sprouted up, is learning how to care for the plants with instruction provided by Urban Jungle.

Gerard D’Souza, president of Urban Jungle, says that green walls reduce energy consumption and passively humidify a building’s interior and are on the forefront of reducing carbon footprints. Another of Urban Jungle’s green wall projects can be seen at 220 Portage Avenue. Owned by Artis Reit, the building features a dramatic green wall more than nine metres long and consists of an exclusive Dirtt modular wall system. Urban Jungle is also installing a green wall in the new Transcona Library, which is currently under construction.

Let’s be real, with a cost of $25,000 to $50,000 or more for a major installation, these types of sophisticated living wall systems are not designed for the average home. Homeowners, however, can choose from a range of affordable options for creating their own indoor vertical gardens.

Nikki Bouchier, owner of Off the Wall Greenscapes, and creator of the green wall at the downtown YMCA, offers a frame solution called Live Picture which comes with its own self-watering system.

Leave it to Ikea, though, to come up with an accessible DIY shelving system that sells for less than $400. IKEA’s 2018 catalogue illustrates the build up of a green wall created by Karin Svensson, landscape architect at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).

To learn more, I contacted Svensson at her office at SLU. "A shelving system," Svensson says, "is a way to create a green wall without the need for technical equipment. It is a way for ordinary people to create something that provides a big impact of plants for a room." Pots with drainage holes are inserted into pots with no drainage holes. This prevents moisture damage to the shelf. To water, lift out the potted plant — it’s as simple as that.

The shelving system can be attached to a wall, Svensson says, or used as a screen to separate two spaces with the opportunity to view plants from both sides.

Svensson lives in the south of Sweden where the winter is cold and dark. "We have very little snow," she says, so there is little to brighten up the winterscape. Indoor plants help to make the winter much more bearable.

There are many tropical rainforest plants that can be grown successfully indoors. To create dense greenery, Svensson suggests a mix of trailing plants such as Hedera helix ivy or Aeschynanthus radicans (the lipstick plant) with plants that have an upright growth habit such as Maranta leuconeura, the prayer plant.

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