Customer Reviews

The Vertical Garden: From Nature to the City

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Saw him live. Funny man and a genius in his own rights. The book is a bit of a dry read and the design is disappointing. Not user friendly in regards to extract the "know how" to create your own vertical garden. If you're patient, it's content heavy. I would've liked more technical information on how to make it myself.

A different type of garden, designed for an area where real estate is invaluable, "The Vertical Garden: The Nature of the City" is Patrick Blanc's look at these creations that can be created in almost any urban setting. To the city they bring a visually pleasing image in an area where people only ever see is asphalt and concrete. The gardens can range from any height, from half a story tall to slowly growing up the sides of skyscrapers. Covering the history and skills involved in creating such gardens, "The Vertical Garden" is a must for anyone who wants to create a magnificent arrangement of plant life and doesn't have much horizontal to work with.

This book is quite excellent, and far more than a travelogue or fashion shoot. In fact, it is more than one book, but rather three very different books: First, an autobiographical sketch on how an only child in France who liked tropical fish became an accomplished botanist and subsequently an innovator in garden design. If you are inclined to listen the story is well-told and interesting. Second is a well-illustrated work of popular botany, on the subject of plants all over the world that tolerate or prefer a vertical life, on cliffs, banks, boulders, buildings, and many other places. (As an aside, I appreciated that Prof. Blanc was clear-eyed about the topic of climate change, and appreciated the complexity of the matter.) Not all of the photographs in this section are stellar, but it is often clear that Blanc was at the moment covered in sweat and perched rather uncomfortably in a place that few people go. (There are too many photos of Blanc himself as well. He is, incidentally, odd-looking.) Third, the book is a catalog of the vertical gardens Blanc has designed, mainly in France but in places as varied as New York and Bangkok as well. As another reviewer noted, the photos here are over-saturated in places, but still very good. I wanted more of them, from more angles, and especially in more seasons. There is a general description of the structures Blanc uses, from the PVC, the structure it is attached to, and the two layers of synthetic felt (he uses polyamide = nylon) with horizontal cuts in the top layer with staples around the soil. There are photos of the works in progress. Note that his plants are fed by an automated system that looks very expensive; home gardeners will need to design something simpler for themselves that drips from above. Garden forums that discuss hydroponics provide information on feeding inexpensively; people say that a supplier of fertilizer for golf courses should carry economical mixes that will dissolve and be available to plants. There is nowhere a list of plants appropriate for different heat and cold zones, though on several pages miniaturized, handwritten "plans" for some of the gardens are reproduced. Professor Blanc's handwriting is not the best, but I became used to it and was able to decipher a good deal of the species and cultivars listed, many of which repeat themselves. As the gardens range from Thailand to Belgium, many climates are represented, though the only North American garden is indoors, on Manhattan's East Side. As you can imagine, many of the plants that will survive a Paris winter (and certainly in the tropics) will not handle North American weather. Following are plants seemingly appropriate for my USDA Zone 6b/Sunset 34 that I either deciphered from his plans (most) or inferred may be suitable, due to similarity or my research (Note that I have not tried them yet, but hope to in the next few years):

Ferns:
Asplenium scolopendrium `Angustifolia', Asplenium trichomanes, Dryopteris marginalis, Athyrium nipponicum `Pictum', Polystichum acrostichoides, Polystichum tsus-simense, Adiantum pedatum, Adiantum venustum

Small shrubs, woody creepers:
Vaccinium angustifolium, Nepeta `Walkers Low', Jasminum nudiflorum, Sarcococca hookeriana var. humilis, Teucrium chamaedrys `prostratum', Gaultheria procumbens, Mitchella repens

Sedum:
Sedum lineare `Variegatum', S. acre `Aureum,' `Majus,' `Minima', S. anglicum, S. rupestre `Angelina' (a/k/a S. reflexum), S. dasyphyllum, S. divergens, S. hispanicum, S. oreganum, S. sexangulare, S. album `Coral carpet', S. spectabile, S. `Vera Jameson', S. hybrids, e.g., x `Morchen,' `Atropurpurea,' `Indian Chief,' `Hot Stuff'

Strappy foliage:
Carex morrowii `variegata', Iris tectorum, Iris cristata, Liriope muscari `variegata'

Various flowering perennials:
Bletilla striata, Cerastium tomentosum `aureum', Gypsophila bodgeri `Pink Veil', Gypsophila repens, Vinca minor

Useful for leaf color:
Ajuga reptans, Lysimachia nummularia `Aurea', Sagina subulata `Irish' (darker green), Sagina s. `Scotch'/ `Aurea' (more gold color).

I viewed by chance the book "The Vertical Garden: From Nature to the City." I was stunned at the beauty of the buildings shown with entire green growing floors and growing plants creeping up the entire side of the building. Details of how to construct the ladder up which these plants grow and how they can receive water even during dry weather is simple yet profound. The effect of seeing these buildings, all over the world, is stunning. The concrete jungle can disappear and the increase in oxygen and decrease in carbon dioxide can be extremely affected with these techniques. Of course that is to say nothing about the beauty of the building. The growing plants up the side of a building or throughout an entire floor or even roof top has got to be the best idea for city dwellers and workers to breathe easier! Imagine a city covered in plants instead of cement!

This is great if you are looking for a story about the man and his (really cool) projects. But it offers very little to someone wanting to adapt techniques for smaller projects. In all fairness, I have not read the text, just flipped through. But I am looking for information on HOW TO do this sort of thing, on less than a several-story-high scale.

I've never enjoyed gardening but was captured by Patricks use of plants to bring life into architecture. As a resident of Dubai I was searching for ways to bring more colour into my dry surroundings and this book is the answer. This isn't a how to book, but presents a history of how the vertical garden idea evolved. It also contains a lot of content and isn't just glossy pictures. I just love it and already have plans to build my first vertical garden...

This is a beautiful book full of information about Patrick Blanc, where he finds his inspiration and how he does what he does. The pictures are amazing. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in vertical gardens.

The gardens themselves are obviously quite beautiful, but the book is like a parody of fashion, graphic design, and garden making.
If you want to see patrick blanck with green hair laying in a waterfall, or have a penchant for gold lettering and oversaturated images, then buy the book. If you want to learn something, dont bother, unless you are making a book about yourself and are wondering which vacation photos to include to make yourself look foolish.