Maya Travaglia and Chuck Hugo invited us out to see the living wall at Emerson House
That old expression; “great walls make great neighbors” is more true today thanks to a much more “neighborly” twist. The great, living walls of today are lush with plants and vines to dazzle the senses. With an abundance of wall space yet shortage of open land, gardeners are looking UP.
Living walls are not only beautiful, but also one of the newest and hottest trends in gardening. With urban sprawl and diminishing green space, living walls are the perfect link to adding new life and beauty in an ever-growing concrete jungle.
In this episode, we see an installation at historical Emerson House as well as a living wall at Portsmouth tapas and wine bar CAVA. If you’re ever in the area, the Cava living wall is a must-see! Though initially conceived by Lynn Felici-Gallant of Indigo Gardens for a story feature at Coastal Home Magazine who also sponsored the project (both featured in the show), our friends from the first part of the episode, Chuck Hugo and Maya Travaglia and their company, Charles C. Hugo Landscape Design was responsible for the planning and coordination for installing it, as well as planting the wall, all maintenance and plant replacements to date.
And if you want a living wall of your own, that’s both affordable and super easy to make , Joe shows us how to build our own, and learn some of the equipment that helps get the job done! Chef Nathan whips up a tasty dessert with the ultimate vertical edible: strawberries.
For more information:
- Creating a Pallet Garden – Step by Step Instructions
- BrightGreenUSA is the company and website we worked with that featured the black vertical planting boxes
- Chef Nathan’s Recipe: Sweet Strawberry Crepes with Chocolate Ganache
- Joe’s Blog Post – The Accidental Pallet Garden
- Charles C. Hugo Landscape Design – Chuck Hugo and Maya Travaglia
- Coastal Home Magazine
- MyPlantConnection: G-O2 Green Roofs and Walls
- Wooly Pockets
- Green Walls and Living Walls
About GGWTV
Growing A Greener World is a national gardening series on Public Television that features organic gardening, green living and farm to table cooking. Each episode focuses on compelling and inspirational people making a difference through gardening. This gardening series covers everything from edible gardening and sustainable agriculture to seasonal cooking and preserving the harvest.
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I thought that this was an excellent idea. Esp. for an herb garden near the kitchen door. I plan to create an herb garden this next spring, where I wish to put it as a fence on our deck.
Good job on the vertical/wall gardens. I only have one concern. You didn’t mention that some pallets are not “clean” chemical-wise. You have to make sure the wood has not been treated. I think you can buy kits to test this (?). This is only a problem if you’re using the pallet to plant edibles.
This is amazing. Thanks for the instructions of making one. Can’t wait to create my own asap 😛
I don’t know, people would level mountains to build roads, subdivisions, bridges or to plant crops that eventually would lead to cutting off century old trees together with vanishing rivers and lakes and filling-up shorelines with soil for expansion and now people are trying to have a piece of what they define as “nature”/”forest”/”greenery” in a place where it used to be a “natural wonder” or a “forest” or a shoreline filled with Mangroves. I just find it ironic.
Joe, congratulations on this episode. Not only did I learn nuts-and-bolts information about installing a vertical garden, but I also felt proud to see some of the Seacoast’s best creative minds in their film debut!