[Greenbuilding] Living Walls

[Speireag Alden]

Sgrìobh YankeePerm at aol.com:

>The distance depends upon your climate.   One option is to build a trellis
>'too close' but allow for it to be hinged at the bottom so it can be 
>swung away
>from the building.   Another is to use annual vines.   I had a student in
>Michigan who simply leaned a trellis of commercially available lath lattice
>against the glazed portions of the south wall and ran annual vines 
>up the trellis.
>As the need for shelter increased, the vines grew and accommodated it.   He
>used some sort of gourds, I think, because of their rampancy.   (Many of these
>produce edible fruit at some stages.)   Some of the Western Hemisphere
>squashes (which include 'pumpkins') are equally rampant.   Because 
>the trellis leaned
>right against the building, there was a pleasant space between the wall and
>the ground where one could sit in read, have a pleasant outdoor lunch, etc.  
>In warmer climates, perennial herbaceous vines such as lab-lab and passiflora
>can be used.   (Passiflora incarnata grows well up into temperate climates but
>probably isn't rampant enough for this application.)

     This is a great idea, which I think I'll implement.  I like the 
idea of pumpkin vines for harvesting in October.

     Dan, what about wisteria?  My grandfather had an absolutely 
enormous wisteria vine, with a base around a foot across (though 
rotted out, eventually).  He built an elaborate pipe structure for 
it, and it shaded everything within forty feet.  However, this was 
coastal northern California.

     Any idea how wisteria would do in northern New England?  We've 
got a retaining wall which might benefit from a non-digging vine like 
wisteria, and I'd love to have a reminder of my grandfather growing 
near the house.

-Speireag.

-- 
The chill's in the air
Even so, we are gaining
on Old Man Winter.

-Speireag.