Rainforest Ecosystem vs. “Green Bling”

Image: Living Wall Ecosystem w/ Turtle Pond vs. Typical “Vertical Garden”

Image Credits: peapodlife.com: living wall ecosystem + NYTymes.com: Gardens That Grow on Walls: Peter Kastan's 12-by-12-foot green wall in Miami, photo by Moris Moreno

New York Times warns: “A lot of living walls fail.”

If you’ve followed our blog for any length of time, you know we’ve said it before: competitors’ so-called “living walls” are just plain wrong. They do not work.

Even the New York Times seems to agree to some extent.

Although their article, “Gardens That Grow on Walls” outlines many of the benefits of typical vertical gardens and green walls, including aesthetics, air purification, etc., they make it clear that misconceptions about these “green architectural features” outweigh reality.

“A lot of living walls fail.”

~ Martha Desbiens, VertNY (landscape design firm).

Source: NYTymes.com: Gardens That Grow on Walls

Why? There are really too many reasons to list. But it comes down to this simple truth: unless a living wall is part of an ecosystem, it is 100% unnatural, unsustainable, and ultimately unhealthy for the indoor environment.

Why? There are simply too many variables at work for a human being to manage to keep plants in a typical living wall healthy, and the only feedback mechanism they have is plant illness and mortality.

“It’s like having a large poodle,” Mr. Kastan said. “You have to take care of it, feed it, walk it. It’s intensive care for plants.”

~ Peter Kastan
Source: NYTymes.com: Gardens That Grow on Walls

A rainforest ecosystem, on the other hand, takes care of its own plants. Sure, PeapodLife performs BioCare maintenance every two or three months (depending on the size, complexity and makeup of the ecosystem), but it’s truly maintenance.

The competitions’ so-called “maintenance” involves mostly plant-replacement due to plants dying off in their soil-based or hydroponic systems. The problems with dying plants are manifold: mold, VOC’s, high plant replacement costs, and an aesthetically awful feature over time.

PeapodLife living wall ecosystems are capable of running for decades with practically zero plant mortality or replacement costs. PeapodLife works with the inventor of the living wall ecosystem and is backed by over 30 years of real-world success stories. Rainforest ecosystems are the only way to go.

So Why? Why do people continue to invest their time, money and energy in so-called “living walls” and “vertical gardens” that attempt to circumvent nature’s way—ecosystems—instead of working with it?

“People want green bling…[they] think, ‘It looks beautiful and perfect, and I want something beautiful and perfect in my life.’”
~ Marguerite Wells, Motherplants, (nursery)
Source: NYTymes.com: Gardens That Grow on Walls

People want “perfection on the cheap.” They try saving some bucks up front for something that looks good for a few days after installation, and in the end pay ten times more living with the shortcomings of an inexpensive and ultimately unviable and unsustainable solution. Just like the name suggests, it’s just a “green façade.” It’s perfection in appearance only.  

Look to our blog article on Nature’s Perfection and you will begin to appreciate the natural beauty and dynamic, changing, evolving aesthetics of a genuine high-order rainforest ecosystem in your home or business. Growing, responding to the energies in your space, managing itself in its effort to be the most perfect expression of itself: a creator and sustainer of life.

It’s the difference between “green bling” and the real, authentic, deep-down beauty of nature. Truly alive, truly healthy, completely relaxing and invigorating. PeapodLife is closer to the “Garden of Eden” than any so-called “vertical garden” will ever hope to be.