After seeing the big vertical gardens from Patrick Blanc and others I wanted to try it myself. For my first attempt I opted to use a commercially available modular system from BrightGreenUSA.

To make it a bit more fun, I used Seedums and tried to organize them into a whimsical pattern. Perhaps you see one of your childhood favorites in this garden - or perhaps with a bit more growth and pruning I can coax him out...

See more professional and DIY Vertical Gardens and Living Walls on my vertical gardening blog verticalgardener.com

Step 1: The BrightGreen Vertical Garden

Here's how it arrives, nicely packaged, shrink-wrapped with instructions.

Learn more about vertical gardens and living walls at the vertical gardening blog verticalgardener.com

Step 2: Preparing to Plant Your Vertical Garden

I picked up a variety of Seedums - you'll need a minimum of 10 to fill a single modular vertical garden. As you can see each cell contains a piece of mesh and there's a conduit to distribute water through the system. I also bought the hopper which acts like a reservoir. It sets on top and extends the time between waterings.

Learn more about vertical gardens and living walls at the vertical gardening blog verticalgardener.com

Step 3: Fill Up Your Vertical Garden

All you have to do is pull your plants out of their containers; free up the roots a bit and pop them into a cell. Add a bit of potting soil to fill any gaps, and water them in.

Learn more about vertical gardens and living walls at the vertical gardening blog verticalgardener.com

Step 4: Acclimating Your Vertical Garden

Before you hang your garden, it's a good idea to let the plants acclimate to their new life at 90 degrees. Prop up your garden at an intermediate angle - say 45 degrees. Some of the Seedums barely seemed to notice their change in life; others drooped a bit before turning skyward. After 3-4 days they are sufficiently acclimated to live vertically. Enjoy!

Learn more about vertical gardens and living walls at the vertical gardening blog verticalgardener.com