Tropical Living Wall

Jay and I have a stairway on the side entrance of our home.

It is a very shady area with only a small amount of sun.

At one point we had Bleeding Heart vine growing on a trellis

in this area against the house.

It looked wonderful in the spring and summer but

by fall it would start to go dormant and during the

winter it looked awful.

So, Jay and and put our heads together and came

up with a solution that would make 

this problem area look better.

We would take down the vine and build a living wall. 

We started with four 8x8 posts and 

one 12 foot 2x8 to connect and steady the structure.
For extra support we

used four 2x2s attached to the wall

of the house. 

We then took a 12 foot by 6 foot

piece of hog wire and attached it

to our structure with galvanized staples.

Then the fun began. I went into my driftwood

stash and picked out pieces for our wall.

Jay and I worked together using zip-ties

to attach the driftwood to the hog wire.

Once our driftwood was attached we began placing

our bromeliads onto the driftwood. 

We used several methods to do this.

For some of the larger bromeliads we used

florist wire on others we used twine.

The twine will eventfully rot so keep that in mind.

If all goes as planed the bromeliads should root to the driftwood.

We used Spanish moss at the base of each plant,

wrapping it around the root area. This hides the

wire and will keep the roots from getting 

burned by the sun.

Then we added hoyas and orchids to our wall.

I added larger Bromeliad's at the base of our wall.

Then Jay and I placed bark mulch

on the ground around our

living wall.

Jay and I had a wonderful weekend together creating this 

Tropical Living Wall. 

Now our entrance is a little more inviting.