Planted Painting Outside National Gallery, Trafalgar Square
Whilst walking through Trafalgar Square the other day I noticed, outside the National Gallery, an new green wall had been constructed. On closer inspection, with the squinting of my eyes (and the help of the adjacent notice board), I could make out Vincent Van Gogh’s painting ‘A Wheatfield, with Cypresses’ composed entirely of plants. A very colourful and welcome addition to this predominantly hard landscape environment.
National Gallery Planting Trafalgar Square
National Gallery Planting Trafalgar Square
The wall is constructed of panels of plastic cells which slope towards the back. These hold the growing medium in which the plants grow. Due to their limited depth and their orientation (i.e. vertical, they do not receive rain water) they must be irrigated on a regular basis. The water must also include feed for the plant material if it is to remain healthy. Generally, each horizontal block of growing panels are treated as a distinct unit and are irrigated from the top down.
Behind the scenes there is a pumping unit, water tank, a mass of irrigation pipes and a feed dosing unit. A water analysis unit may be included as part of the system. This checks the levels of feed in the run off water to enable the feed dosing unit to automatically adjust the level of feed added to the irrigation water to the correct level.
National Gallery Planting Trafalgar Square
National Gallery Planting Banner