Ideas for Designing Your Vertical Planting Arrangements

Vertical planting can be a fun way to express your creativity. Whether you want to dress up a lattice wall, hang it on a garden gate or simply liven up a space, vertical planting is a great solution for such embellishments.

Instinctively, our eyes tend to travel from top to bottom and left to right. One way to captivate the viewer is put something with relatively more visual interest at the top. If the planting space is wide enough for at least 2 plants, align this plant to the left. Alternatively, you can ease them in with something a bit more subtle to achieve a more soothing effect. This will be the first element that will engage the viewer and draw them in to your little piece of paradise.

As the eyes examine your masterpiece, this is a great opportunity to scatter around hints of color to add contrast and display an engaging visual  journey. Adding something 'neutral', in the above case, monochrome, offers a calm space for the eyes to relax. 

Your plant choice at the bottom of a vertical arrangement is your last opportunity to communicate to your viewer. Whether you want to leave them feeling calm or slightly stimulated, is contingent upon the plant you choose. Something subtle will likely leave your spectator feeling calm. On the other hand, a plant with a lot of color and/or movement may leave them slightly stimulated.

Now, let's move on to vertical arrangement care. How a vertical planter was constructed and the materials used will guide us in our plant choices. How often we can water the arrangement is also a determining factor for your plant selection. Both these factors help us to decide whether to add plants that prefer constant moisture or can be allowed to dry slightly between waterings. Choosing plants that will survive and watching them thrive with the allotted water schedule is very rewarding.

In our example above, the planter was constructed using black felt with a waterproof vinyl backing to help keep moisture away from the wall or fence and attempt to avoid the many consequences of water damage. Because the vinyl layer will reduce some evaporation, this allows a bit more flexibility in choosing plants with relatively greater water demands than we would typically choose for vertical planters.

Because we intend to put this planter in a shaded area with an every-3-days watering schedule, this allowed us to blend plants that require regular moisture with ones that don't. The more 'drought tolerant' ones in this arrangement appreciate regular moisture but can survive with much less. The vinyl backing broadened our options and allowed for a diverse selection of color and form in this arrangement.

Our vertical planter showcases the following plants in order from less to more water needs.

1. Chlorophytum comosum (Spider Plant)

2. Syngonium Podophyllum (Arrowhead Vine)

3. Coleus Blumei (Painted Nettle Leaves)

4. Hypoestes phyllostachya (Polka Dot Plant)