We made this cute little living wall prototype out of succulent plants. Cute, right? Well, here’s a little secret: most living walls are photographed at the beginning when they look the most lush. Rarely will you see a living wall that has been around some time and needs some love. Anyway, that’s a tangent. Back to the succulent wall.
As living wall installers we are constantly building prototypes. We make mistakes we don’t have to repeat when we do it again for clients. We also learn what works. In this case we learned that picking your succulents correctly is key. Many succulents look beautiful at the beginning but over time become scraggly.
The other thing we learned is that succulents vary widely in terms of what water needs they have. Some need a lot, others need a little. You can’t have both in the same wall. Depending on what plants you water for you will either dry them out or overwater.
In our case we watered for the water loving succulents. Which means some thrived, and others rotted from too much water….
Overall we are going to keep exploring because succulents are so cool. Next we will pick plants that stay full over time and don’t get scraggly. Also we’ll make sure that all the plants like the same water levels.
Speaking of succulent walls, we saw one for sale in Home Depot for $25. Check it out below.
