Earlier in the summer, I posted about beginning the realization of a longtime dream of mine... constructing a living wall. It started out with a birdnest fern mounted on a tree cross section, and then I mounted some small staghorn ferns to hang on either side across from a big picture window in our living room. It's a pretty slow process, but adding to the wall is very satisfying - like finding the perfect piece for a gallery wall. For my birthday in August, I got some Woolly Pocket Living Wall Planters to add to the mix. I've had my eye on these for a while - they've got a nice modern design and address some of the issues that I have always had with indoor plants (particularly those that hang). How do you avoid water overflow? How can I mount the planter so that it is adequately supported? To hang, you mount an anchor in the wall and the planter slips down over it. I really like this feature, because it makes for easy replanting if necessary... you know, if you're still getting used to the ins and outs and accidentally kill something... Ahem. For watering, there is a reservoir on the wall side that you fill and it percolates through tiny holes into the soil. All of the water is contained, but the roots do not sit in saturated soil unless you just water way too much. I've found that I need to water less than I anticipated that I would (which wasn't very much to begin with), so that's been something to get used to. Unfortunately, as I figured this out the string of pearls there in the center became a casualty. The pothos are doing great though!

I installed my planters at the top of the wall so my vining plants can hang down. At some point I would like to trellis these across the ceiling or further out on the wall, but it won't be that necessary until I add more to the installation. Around the time that I was adding this phase, my birdnest fern started to look pretty sickly, and after some research I came to the conclusion that the temperature in the room was just too high for it during the day. We use an energy conservation thermostat and participate in a program through our local utility that basically leaves the house pretty warm in the afternoon. Since that area is exposed to sunlight more than other parts of the house, it tends to be the warmest. Sadly, the fern didn't make it, but I plan to get a larger staghorn to attach to its mount and hang in its place.

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I first became acquainted with staghorn ferns when living in Austin - a good friend who was also a coworker had one in our office, but it had unfortunately seen better days by the time I arrived there. I tried to revive it, but really didn't know much about the plant despite my otherwise green thumb. All I knew was that one of my favorite garden centers down there, The Great Outdoors, had a giant staghorn hung from an old live oak tree, and there are few non-tree plants that have had that kind of impact on me. Every year, the Zilker Botanical Gardens host a garden festival, which was where the office plant originated from. I picked one up that year only to experience the same failure and disappointment at my inability to get one of these interesting specimens to thrive. Now several years the wiser, I have realized after many house plant casualties the phenomenon of "loving a plant to death". Too much water, folks. It's one of the main reasons that people kill indoor plants! Once I learned to be patient about plant care, I found that I had much greater success with long term health of indoor greenery.

Living walls have interested me for a number of years now. With the exception of my studio, much of our house is pretty dim during the day. However, the living room boasts a large window facing the east, and the room is bright in the morning hours and lit indirectly in the afternoon. The wall facing the window is long and from the get go I saw it covered in plants when envisioning our new home. Last year for my birthday, J gave me a birdnest fern, mounted on a tree cross section by a local business, Ghostcat Botanical. This winter I found a couple of stag horn ferns in 4" pots and finally found a couple of pieces of wood to mount them on at an antique mall over Memorial Day weekend. One is a box built from old barn wood, and the other is a hand carved panel, presumably from some type of cabinet door.

Mounting staghorn ferns is actually pretty simple. Supplies include a mount such as a board or tree cross section, sphagnum moss, nails and hammer (or screws, your preference), and fishing line. Staghorns are epiphytic plants, which means that they do not actually need potting medium - the roots will just attach to the surface that they are mounted to. Since mine were started in the 4" pots they did have a little soil around the roots, which I wrapped with moist sphagnum moss. I then set the root ball on the mount to determine where to place my nails. Using about 6 nails around the perimeter of the root ball, I drove them in about an inch from the edge of where the root ball would be. You can mark these spots and remove the plant while hammering. Once nails are in place, position the plant again and make sure the moss is covering all surfaces of the soil. Tie the fishing line to one of the nails and bring it over and around the root ball in a clockwise direction to a nail on the opposite side and wrap the line around it a couple of times. Be sure to take the line underneath the flat fronds at the base of the plant and be careful not to damage or remove them, even if they are brown. From here, take the line clockwise across the root ball again, to the nail just past the first one you tied on to (in the clockwise direction). Wrap a couple of times, and take the line clockwise to the nail just past the second one you wrapped. Continue to wrap, bringing the line just past the opposite nail that was previously wrapped until you have gone around the whole root ball a couple of times. It doesn't necessarily matter exactly what pattern you wrap in, as long as the line is consistently supporting the root ball on all sides. I wrapped around the base a couple of times as well, before tying the line off to the tail of line where I started and tucked both ends behind the moss. Gardenista has a great tutorial on mounting staghorn ferns as well, which I definitely recommend checking out if you're interested in trying it.

I know it's not exactly what one would call a living wall just yet, but it's a start! I can't wait to keep adding to it over time and watching these babes grow. On another note, I'm in the process of harvesting spores from the birdnest fern and plan to try my hand at propagating them. I'll let you know how it goes!