Science NIE ACTIVITY Science Matters!

is a series presented in

MATTERS!
collaboration with the Connecticut Academy of
Science and Engineering and the Connecticut
Science Center.
For more information, visit www.ctcase.org
… IN CONNECTICUT or call 860.571-7143.

About the Scientist:

Vertical Gardens I’m the Staff Scientist at the Connecticut Science
Center that is responsible for all of our Live Exhibits.
In college I focused on Animal Behavior and had my
research on the sneakiness of Eastern Grey Squirrels
published in the Journal of Animal behavior and then
featured on Animal Planet’s The Most Extreme!
You can find me here at the center feeding our
turtles, planting our aquariums, working with our
lizards, teaching classes, and even working up on
Google “vertical garden” and you will immediately be shown thousands of our Green Rooftop Garden.
images of beautiful vertical gardens and tons of options to buy one for yourself.
Question is, are they for everyone? While there are thousands of images showing Did you know…?
you beautiful planted walls, there are not thousands of websites telling you how
• Bamboo can grow up to three feet in a 24 hour period.
to plant your own and guarantee its’ success.
• Lightning keeps plants alive. The intense heat of lightning forces nitrogen in the
Plants require specific conditions that allow for their survival. When selecting air to mix with oxygen, forming nitrogen oxides that are soluble in water and
plants for use in a garden, you may look at the tag or description and see a fall to the ground in rain. Plants need nitrates to survive, so without lightning,
number detailing that plant’s zone. Hardiness zones were established by the plants could not live.
USDA to help gardeners associate the needs of certain plants with their own local
• The Venus flytrap takes
climate. If the rainfall and highest/lowest temperatures of your yard matches
less than half a
the needs of a particular plant – that plant is considered to be “hardy to your
second to slam
zone.” Matching plants to their correct zone means that the needs of that plant
shut on an insect.
will be met and it can continue to grow year after year.

When selecting plants for a vertical garden, it gets complicated, A LOT more
complicated. While most plants normally are grown in soil, it is not always
needed. Hydroponics is a method of growing plants where a mixture of nutrients
is dissolved in water and passed over the roots of the plant. A large number
of vertical gardens use a form of hydroponics to keep their plants thriving even
though they are being grown in a strange location such as on a fence, the side of
a building, even INSIDE a building! If a plant has enough light and the correct
balance of nutrients it will be able to grow and thrive even if not planted in
the ground.
WORDS

Patrick Blanc is a famous botanist who has made vertical gardens famous in
recent years. He developed a system where the plant’s roots are supported by
TO KNOW
a fabric that mimics the roots of cliff-growing mosses and uses gravity to soak Botanist - a biologist specializing in
the fabric all the way down a wall until being collected and reused. He studies the study of plants (plant scientist).
tropical plants and used his knowledge on their particular needs to design a USDA - The United States Department
system to support them. of Agriculture is the United States

federal executive department
When deciding whether or not you want to attempt a vertical garden, make
sure you first look into the needs of the plants you wish to grow because in the responsible for developing and executing
end – if you understand the plant you can grow it anywhere! U.S. federal government policy on
farming, agriculture, forestry, and food.
Written by: TJ McKenna, Staff Scientist, Connecticut Science Center

Next Page: April 26th References:

• Ping Magazine: Vertical Garden: The art of organic architecture, 8 December 2006