We often have people call us to tell us that their vertical garden has died and after asking a few questions, it is apparent that they have one of the cheap, imported products and not a Hanging Garden. There are lots of these cheap products about, but they all suffer from the same design faults, they are not designed for plant health.

The requirement for sustainable plant health is a soil depth of at least 20cm and a soil volume of approximately 3 litres. Then there has to be adequate water retention without water-logging the plant and the roots need to be aerated. In addition the supporting material has to be strong enough to last for years.

One product, sold by a nursery chain in NZ, is made in China from recycled rubbish and shipped to NZ for about $1 and sold for about $16. It has a soil depth of about 10cm and absolutely no moisture retention properties. It kills your plants in about 6 weeks and then lands up on our rubbish dumps, where it is then sent back to China for recycling. And plants are not cheap!

Hanging Gardens were design in NZ with the plants health in mind. The soil depth is 22cm with a soil volume of just over 3 litres. In addition we have a water retaining , re-usable, inner felt pocket that will not result in water-logging. The outer material is guaranteed in harsh UV light for 15 years. The design of our gardens has evolved from trials growing a wide variety of plant types, from NZ natives to edibles, so we know they work. Hanging Gardens are not the cheapest product on the market, but they are very affordable and they are made in NZ!

Vertical gardens most certainly do work and can add a beautiful dimension to bare vertical surfaces. So if you want to save yourself a lot of money and frustration, look for products that work for the plants, then you can go up the wall with confidence!