An update on my vertical garden

@JudyEv (359856)
Rockingham, Australia
July 26, 2025 12:16am CST
Some time back I wrote about the vertical gardens I bought. I didn’t have much luck with it as we were away so much and it was so hot. We look like being home for a while now and it rains quite often so I’ve planted three punnets of violas in some of the pockets. You can’t see them very well here but some have little flowers on them. Hopefully, an update in a few weeks will be more impressive. I might as well confess that I got tired of all the pockets being empty so three of them hold artificial plants from Ikea. The photo shows half of the entire thing. I don't have many plants in the other side yet. Third from the left on the bottom row is real. I’ve planted more pieces of this hoping they’ll become new plants for me.
26 people like this
25 responses
@garymarsh6 (23713)
• United Kingdom
26 Jul
Give it a few weeks of your TLC & it will start to thrive & look good.
4 people like this
@allknowing (150615)
• India
26 Jul
@JudyEv You can place some moss inside that keeps the moisture
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
26 Jul
I would love to see it full of colour. I might need to buy a few more artificial plants!
3 people like this
@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
26 Jul
@allknowing Yes, that's a good idea.
@rsa101 (39512)
• Philippines
26 Jul
You could probably put some succulents there if you want to avoid having to water and maintain it all the time.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
26 Jul
I did try that but they didn't do very well either. In the summer I might go back to succulents again.
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@rsa101 (39512)
• Philippines
26 Jul
@JudyEv I see that there must be something that can adapt, or that there is something wrong with the material that prevents plants from growing well. That's unfortunate; it looked aesthetically pleasing, but no plants liked to live there.
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@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
26 Jul
@rsa101 It hasn't had a decent chance yet. If it's still not working in another six months, I might fill it with artificial plants.
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@allknowing (150615)
• India
26 Jul
Sad that you were not able to keep those plants alive that you had planted. Whenever we went on holiday we always had someone to care for what we planted. May be you could also find someone to do that for you.
2 people like this
@allknowing (150615)
• India
26 Jul
@JudyEv Will that situation repeat and your efforts will be futile?
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@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
26 Jul
Even if they'd been watered, I think the 40+C days would have done for them. There is an iron wall behind so it would have been very hot for them.
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@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
26 Jul
@allknowing Hopefully these plants will make it through to early summer. Then I'll try succulents or just leave the pockets empty till the weather gets cooler.
• China
26 Jul
You might as well plant some succulent plants on your vertical garden.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
26 Jul
I will try that in the summer. They didn't do very well last time I tried succulents.
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@LadyDuck (480260)
• Italy
26 Jul
I remember when you posted a photo of the empty vertical garden. This one look good now. I confess that I also bought some artificial plants from Ikea for the inside of our apartment.
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@LadyDuck (480260)
• Italy
26 Jul
@JudyEv I have bought fabric primroses at IKEA that look beautiful.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
26 Jul
The artificial plants and flowers look so realistic nowadays, much better than they did 20 years ago.
2 people like this
@DaddyEvil (155201)
• United States
26 Jul
I've got some of that plant in the middle of the bottom row in my laundry room, I've had it for several years but mine just has a single strand of the bead-like leaves on it... Any time somebody comes into the house to work in the laundry room (carpenters or repairmen) they break it and I have to start all over again. I remember your original post about the vertical garden and have wondered how it was going. I'm sure you've lost a lot of plants to the heat and to not having water often enough. The heat on our front porch where I have a half dozen pots filled with dirt are part of the reason I don't have any plants growing there now... I can't always see to go out and water anything outside and Pretty doesn't want to help me with them... She says she has enough to do helping me in the house so anything I plant outside has to take care of itself. My plants growing in our kitchen, I can manage so they're growing fine. (Some of them are overgrowing their pots but they still look healthy.)
2 people like this
@DaddyEvil (155201)
• United States
26 Jul
@JudyEv When I could see, I'd go out and water the pots on the porch every morning... I have some of the pots that you can put water in the bottom and it wicks up through the dirt but the sun/heat is so intense on our West facing front porch that the water dries up within a few hours of adding it. (The only shade that side of the house gets is from trees and houses on the far side of the street, which doesn't really help.)
2 people like this
@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
26 Jul
My friend wants one of these plants so I've broken off some bits and put into another pocket. I also put some pieces in water but she has taken them home to look after. I wouldn't mind having several pockets with this plant as they look good. You can get pots where you fill the bottom portion once every week or two and the water is supposed to work its way up. I don't know how well they work. It's good that the ones inside are doing well.
2 people like this
@youless (113565)
• Guangzhou, China
26 Jul
Wow! I love this! I think perhaps you can try to plant the orchid inside. I can see there are still empty pockets Lately I used my 3D printer to print the hydroponics device, then I bought a container and a little pump with solar board. It looks cool to try the hydroponics in this way
1 person likes this
@youless (113565)
• Guangzhou, China
27 Jul
@JudyEv I plan to grow tomatoes. It is a kind of tomato for pots, namely it will not grow as big as normal potatoes. I even bought the seeds and hopefully it'll grow well.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
28 Jul
@youless Tomatoes are a good choice and mostly they do well in pots. I hope they grow well for you.
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@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
27 Jul
That's very clever. I hope you have a lot of success with your hydroponics. You must keep us informed. Will you grow vegetables or flowers?
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (193677)
• United States
26 Jul
I think it looks cute.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (193677)
• United States
27 Jul
@JudyEv Ha, yeah. As you start to get into your spring season there it should look nicer and nicer.
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@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
27 Jul
@snowy22315 That's the plan! lol
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@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
27 Jul
I like to look out the lounge doors and see it. I didn't like it so much when there were no plants in it. lol
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@ptrikha_2 (48268)
• India
26 Jul
That is a great arrangement. Plus it holds close to my Hybrid thinking - Artificial plus Real Plants! You can ask folks to get this as a backdrop for some good selfies and Insta pictures and even charge them a bit ! So how many days it took you to create this all?
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@ptrikha_2 (48268)
• India
27 Jul
@JudyEv In any case, a good hobby to pursue !
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@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
27 Jul
It's been on the fence since summer. I put in the artificial plants some weeks back then more recently I've planted four punnets of seedlings. They only took me about an hour to plant.
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@rebelann (114328)
• El Paso, Texas
26 Jul
Thanks for reminding me, I remember when you wrote about starting it and wanted to see if I could as well but I got sidetracked and forgot. It looks like you've got some really kool plants it those pockets.
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@rebelann (114328)
• El Paso, Texas
27 Jul
I never would have guessed. Hopefully soon you will have all kinds of thriving plants in those pockets
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@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
28 Jul
@rebelann I got fed up with all the empty pockets.
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@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
27 Jul
The two biggish ones and the silvery hanging one are all artificial. The seedlings are doing well so far.
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@id_peace (16187)
• Singapore
26 Jul
This is a very nice and beautiful hanging garden
2 people like this
@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
26 Jul
I'm hoping it will look even better in a few weeks.
1 person likes this
@rakski (145022)
• Philippines
27 Jul
It is a dream for to have a vertical garden. But it's very hot here and I don't think I have a green thumb
1 person likes this
@rakski (145022)
• Philippines
27 Jul
@JudyEv true, but I wanted firsst to have a vegetable garden
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@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
27 Jul
Succulents would be a good choice and they'd quite enjoy the hot weather.
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@Deepizzaguy (112489)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
27 Jul
The plants on your vertical garden looks nice.
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@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
27 Jul
Thanks. They are growing better than those I put in during the summer. It was too hot for them.
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@Deepizzaguy (112489)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
27 Jul
@JudyEv You are very welcome.
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@Beestring (15694)
• Hong Kong
26 Jul
This looks better than the one you posted before.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
26 Jul
Hopefully the next photo you see of it will be even more colourful.
2 people like this
@RebeccasFarm (95469)
• Arvada, Colorado
27 Jul
It is nice Judy..Id love something like that.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
27 Jul
I'm hoping to have more flowers in them soon.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (77183)
• United States
26 Jul
That's another reason why I don't try gardening....it requires my presence HERE to tend to things, and I'm not always HERE. It looks good, regardless! Especially the real one!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
27 Jul
Haha. I know what you're saying. We want to go away too but while it's so cool they'll probably be all right without me. My friend a few doors up would keep an eye on them for me too.
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@wolfgirl569 (120067)
• Marion, Ohio
26 Jul
They do need a lot of regular watering
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@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
27 Jul
Small containers like this do dry out quickly.
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@RasmaSandra (87486)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
26 Jul
I think it looks like a very nice and thriving garden,
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
27 Jul
It's looking better this time around. I hope I manage to keep the plants alive a bit longer this time.
1 person likes this
@xFiacre (14008)
• Ireland
26 Jul
@judyev Trips away can play havoc with one’s plants. I share here a photo of a pleasing little display in a corner of my back garden. I like it anyway. Previous occupants must have grown potatoes everywhere and didn’t harvest them well enough - they’re coming up everywhere.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
27 Jul
That does look pretty. When I planted potatoes at the other place, I had potatoes coming up for a couple of years too. There were in quite big container gardens.
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@Ronrybs (20940)
• London, England
26 Jul
There are some nice looking plants there, so success. I gave up trying, to grow from seeds, in the front planter and got some young flowers in. They are growing nicely, so success for me too!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (359856)
• Rockingham, Australia
27 Jul
I buy seedlings in punnets. I'm not haphazard to do well with seeds.