International Research Journal of Plant and Crop Sciences ISSN: 1711-3490 Vol. 4 (3),), pp. 132-153, June, 2018.  © Advanced Scholars Journals

Review Paper

Selection of plants for vertical gardening and green roof farming

Dr. A.N.Sarkar

Ex-Senior Professor (International Business) & Dean (Research), Asia-Pacific Institute of

Management, 3& 4 Institutional Areas, Jasola (Sarita Vihar), New Delhi

E.mail: [email protected]

Accepted 28 May, 2018.

Abstract

The choice of plant species for vertical gardens is strictly dependent on climate conditions and exposure of the wall. The plants should be light, their root system must be spreading and not of the pile form. It is also important to choose evergreen plants, so that a vertical garden will fulfill its role throughout the whole year. Life expectancy is an important factor while calculating the cost of green wall exploitation. It is recommended to choose mosses, ornamental grasses, perennials, shrubs which live a few to dozens of years with a high tolerance to environmental pollution. Aging and withered plants should be replaced during a garden maintaining process of minimum every half year. The use of different plant species including herbs, grasses, perennials and trees help to make the roof-scape a natural environment. Other factors that should be considered when selecting plants include: the rate of plant growth, nutrient needs, and sensitivity to pollution. The type of plant species and their location on the roofs also depend on the geographical location, the rate of air pollution, rooftop height, shade, growing medium depth and composition, accessibility of roof, run-off water management purposes, irrigation method, thermal insulation purposes, installation techniques and maintenance. A lot of plant species can be used for Vertical Gardens and Green Roof Farming purposes. For example there are 15000 plants from nearly 150 different species on the Caixa Forum Museum vertical garden who has designed Patrick Blank (http://www.greenroofs.com 2013). In this case, impossible to give all the plants one by one so in this part some plants given used for Vertical Gardens and Green Roofs. The paper is dedicated on the selection principles and criteria while construction of Vertical Gardens and Green Roofs.

 Key words:  Plant species, Vertical Gardening, Green –Roof Farming, Caixa Forum Museum, shrubs