A vertical forest is expected to be completed this year in Milan. There are two tower apartment complexes which contain a total of 400 residential units. The facade of the buildings will be covered with 730 trees, 5,000 shrubs, and 11,000 perennial plants. It is expected to have the same ecological impact as 10,000 square meters of forest.
Aside from fighting smog and producing oxygen, the foliage is expected to provide insulation to the residential units.
It’ll be really cool to see how these trees grow in order to maximize access to sun, water, and nutrients. Also, a step towards a sci-fi solar punk future – I’m in.
I sure hope the structural engineers planned for the buildings to increase in mass as the trees grow.
Well, or else for maintenance labor to keep the trees rigorously trimmed to prevent too much increase in mass. Or both? (The wikipedia article says the engineering team consulted botanists and horticulturists in planning how much weight the buildings could bear, so it seems likely that the fact that trees grow would have come up.)
This is a pretty cool idea regardless and I hope they get it right. I wonder if anyone will do anything like this in New York.
This falls in the “I really hope they do it but I’ll believe it when I see it” category for me.
It’s been up for 2 years, inaugurated in October 2014, and still going strong. It’s won multiple awards.
Step 1: Pick leaves Gently twist the leaf near the base, it should snap off the plant cleanly. Good cuttings will be slightly rounded at the ends, and have no ‘open’ wound:
Bad cuttings will not grow, you need to make sure the whole leaf comes off in one go. Bad leaves are jagged, torn, or cut:
Step 2: Lay all cuttings inside on a piece of cloth. I usually put a piece of old scrap material down on my desk and lie all the leaves out in rows. I try not to pile up the leaves, as this tends to promote rot. Do not water at all. AKA no misting the leaves, no watering the leaves, nothing. Everything the baby succulent needs to grow is stored in the mother leaf, watering may rot the leaf before the new plant is big enough to survive on its own! Make sure the leaves aren’t in direct sun, as they will wither before they form new plants. Filtered light from a window is strong enough!
Step 3: Waiting After about 4 weeks you will start to see the first signs of life. The leaf may send out roots first, it may start to grow with no roots. Both are okay!
Step 4: Planting (Start watering once a week at this stage) After 6-8 weeks the baby succulents will be big enough to plant outside! I do this by placing the leaves on top of loose, sandy soil that has not been compacted. I do not bother burying the leaves, as it tends to do more harm than good (you may snap roots/damage new shoots in the process):
I place all the plants together, they don’t really seem to mind! These is how they look after about 10 weeks:
When the plants are big enough, the mother leaf will shrivel up and start to die off:
Went to the Strawberry Festival, if very briefly, took dad the thing he forgot, and picked up three strawberry plants (two with flowers!), five parsley (one single, and a four-pack), hyssop, oregeno, and lemon balm… and 12 quarts of strawberries.
The plants are all in the ground, one of the quarts of strawberries is upstairs, the rest are downstairs, and I have done a load of dishes since I got home.
I have fed the cat twice, I have fed me a handful of strawberries, and I needed to clean something to cook in before I could feed me more.
I have stuff to go in the crockpot, though likely I won’t actually eat it today.
And I have put the flea/tick/etc preventative on the cat.
All in all, a pretty decent day so far, in terms of doing things. I think it is now time for a nap, however.
You did a lot today 🙂 I was wondering if cat mint is the same plant as catnip?
Thank you!
And yes, they are the same thing, just different labels. It’s supposed to grow just fine and happy in a pot. So far, all mine seems to have done is attempt to die It’s not dead yet, it’s just not a terribly happy plant compared to when I got it. And the one I’d gotten last year looks none too well either. Not dead yet, though, so I suppose it’s growing all right in the pot. But still. Not the way I’d expect a happy plant to grow.
There's a Mirror on the Wall 