Longwood Gardens’ new East Conservatory Plaza to feature North America’s largest indoor vertical green wall

Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa., has engaged Bancroft Construction and Ambius to create the largest green wall in North America as part of Longwood Gardens’ new East Conservatory Plaza. The East Conservatory Plaza, which will open to the public on October 9, was designed by U.K. landscape architect Kim Wilkie in association with Wells Appel of Philadelphia, and will feature a terraced lawn, lush new plantings and the largest indoor green wall in North America. This colossal vertical garden will feature a panel wall system across a green wall surface area of 3,590 square-feet and include more than 25 species of plants.

A green wall, which is also referred to as a living wall or vertical garden, is a wall that is free standing or part of a building that is partially or completely covered with a vegetation facade.

“The East Conservatory Plaza is embracing innovative landscape design, which captures the very essence of Longwood Gardens,” said Longwood Gardens’ director Paul Redman. “The size and beauty of the green wall will amaze our guests as well as advance our continuing commitment to sound environmental practices.”

“Longwood Gardens’ vertical green wall will feature over 47,000 plants,” said Denise Eichmann, Ambius project development North America senior project manager. “The majority of the featured plants are fern varieties including the evergreen holly fern, the versatile and showy rabbit’s foot fern, the button fern featuring arching, dark-colored stalks, the asparagus fern with its feathery arching stems, the delicate and lacy maidenhair fern, the leafy ladder brake fern and the Dallas fern, which features a compact round globe with fronds.”

Currently the largest green wall in North America is the 2,380 square-foot living wall at Pittsburgh’s PNC Bank. Two other major green walls installed by GSky Plant Systems, Inc, a leading provider of green wall systems based in Vancouver, Canada, are at the Vancouver International Airport and at Vancouver’s Whole Foods store.

“After this is installed, Longwood Gardens’ green wall be the largest in North America by a wide margin, as it will be 1,210 square-feet larger than the PNC Bank wall,” said Chad Sichello, president of GSky Plant Systems, the manufacturer of Longwood Gardens’ panel-based green wall initiative.

The plants for this wall were contract grown for Ambius into the wall panels at Michael’s Nursery in South Florida and will be shipped in climate-controlled trucks to Philadelphia at the end of August for installation into the wall by Ambius. The plants have been growing at the nursery since February 2010.

Ambius also worked with Longwood Gardens in 2005 on the East Conservatory project.