Green walls are spreading by leaps and bounds. These pretty much emerged as a novelty and have since become a lasting landscape alternative. These are often planted with succulents. Green walls can be installed indoors or outdoors. There have been important developments in the green wall movement within the last year or so.

You can see green walls in various areas of the country. In the latter part of 2010 the largest green wall in North American was inaugurated. This occurred at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. The wall measured over 4000 square feet. It is part of the garden’s East Conservatory Plaza Wing. The wall features over 45,000 plants. The garden estimates that the wall can remove over 15,000 pounds of dust and toxins from the air while it also yields as much oxygen as nearly a hundred 14-foot-tall trees.

The new Longwood Garden green wall contains 70% more space than the previous record holder, which was at the PNC Bank in Pittsburgh.

The western U.S. also has its share of green walls. Green walls were also on display at the 2010 San Francisco Spring Flower and Garden Show. One of the gardens featured a full-sized garden room with green walls and a green roof.

You can also see a green wall at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, Illinois. The garden has a new LEED-certified building with a green wall.

The word wall can be deceiving for the entire wall need not be covered with plants. In some cases companies have used plants to spell out the letters in their name and used these for wall plantings. In a few cases the green wall consists of a vehicle. Meadow View Gardens in New Carlisle, Ohio was quite innovative. They created an outstanding display by covering an old school bus with sedums, begonias, and other plants. The nursery used the bus as a marketing tool, and displayed it during parades and other local events. This wasn’t the first such planting by the nursery. Some years ago they did the same thing with another vehicle—a Cadillac. Living walls have also been displayed at some Whole Foods locations.