300 vertical gardens – the man standing behind them

Paris

July 2020

in conversation with Patrick Blanc

400,000 known plant species

Though Blanc’s designs are complex and sometimes massive – he designed the world’s tallest vertical garden, standing at 116 meters in Sydney’s skyline – he wants people to know that growing plants in vertical gardens isn’t as difficult as it seems. There’s a disconnect between people and plants, he says, but he’s optimistic that the divide can be bridged by conscientious and curious young people.

When Blanc was around ten years old in the early sixties, his mother took him to a large flower exhibition in Paris. «At this age, I hadn’t seen many types of plants. There were orchids, ferns, waterfalls. I was impressed by the plants growing out of the soil on the rocks of the waterfalls. You learn that plants grow in the soil and that you have to work to have the plants growing. Nobody was taking care of the plants growing on the waterfalls, so I was I was impressed.