Someone asked me the other day, if there was a common reason why people wanted hanging gardens?  I had to stop and think and the more I thought about it, the more difficult it became to give a quick answer.

The reasons are as varied as people and projects can be. There is now no doubt that the benefits of verticals gardens are significant in which ever way you want to measure them; financially, aesthetically, environmentally, biodiversiy management, water run-off, temperature control, etc. but none of these are really the main reasons that people want hanging gardens.

Looking back over the past few years and what has made people invest in the relatively minor, but still significant, cost of a hanging garden, it becomes apparent that the main reason people want a vertical garden is because they simply feel this insatiable desire to have some living greenery nearby and at some fundamental level this brings a feeling of happiness with it. That this happiness extends to others who encounter the garden also happens to be good for business and that in itself brings more happiness. This makes for quite a nice self-fulfilling circle and in this day and age, we need all the happiness around us that we can get.

So why do gardens make us feel so much happier? Well, the reseach has many theories about how we are so dependant on plants for our very survival that we have a primitive affinity with nature. This may well be true, but I think the real reason is much more simple, put a flower in front of anyone and they will smile!