(SPRIGHTLY STRING MUSIC)
Now, whether you've got a backyard or a courtyard,
an apartment or a house,
a garage or a shed,
there's a great way all of us can bring plants, colour and beauty
into our lives
by creating a green wall.
And today, I get to introduce you to a horticulturist
who can help.
Say hello to Eric, here in the southern Sydney suburb of Hurstville.
He's been designing, making and growing walls for years.
He's a bit of a green-wall guru
and this is his garden's sweeping creation.
Eric, when I arrived, I knew this was the place.
The garden at the front looks spectacular.
It's great, isn't it? Very colourful.
Yeah, but as I came around the side of the shed,
this entry just captured me.
I just felt the peace and the calm.
It's unbelievable.
How did this garden journey begin for you?
Oh, I just love tropical gardens, you know?
Like, it's green, lush.
And once they're established, easy to maintain.
So where did your passion for tropical plants come from?
Well, I grew up in Indonesia - in particular, Bali -
and everything's tropical.
And so I, you know, try to bring that back in my garden.
What are some of the main plants you've used
to get the feel you're after?
Heliconias, 'cause they're big leaves.
Cordylines, 'cause of their colour.
And the little ones, I use bromeliads
and orchids.
You know, that's... that's really very tropical.
And of course, ginger.
These are my favourite.
Where did you begin?
Oh, it just happened so quick.
I was...I was an engineer.
I studied engineer and worked in the industry,
and didn't really like it
and I thought, "Oh, you know,
"I want to do something that I love," you know?
And I studied horticulture at TAFE
and it just start from there.
How long have you been here in this property?
I think four years. Or nearly five years now.
Yeah, when I found this,
I thought it was perfect so I can create my tropical oasis.
And, yeah, I could never be happier.
Now, Eric, I've heard that you're not satisfied
with just gardening at ground level.
You literally climb the walls.
I need to see these vertical gardens.
Let's go and see it. (LAUGHS)
Whoa! This is something. This is really something.
I mean, what's the distance,
say, from here all the way up to the fence?
About 20 metres long. Yeah.
And 2 metres high.
That's a lot of wall. Yes.
The reality with the vertical wall, when you think about it,
that's 2 metres by 20 metres
so that's 40 square metres of garden,
and you're putting it up vertically.
It's a real win, particularly in small spaces, isn't it?
Exactly.
If you can't go, you know, horizontally, you go vertical.
And it's a lot of real estate. (LAUGHS) I know.
So how many plants are in this wall?
One square metre requires about 30 plants.
So if it's 20 by 2, that's... BOTH: 40. Times 30...
So between 1,000 to 1,200 plants. Wow.
And looking at the planting selection,
they're all doing different things.
The sedum fills spaces between plants.
The aeoniums just give you these...
..happy form.
And then you've got the elkhorns that are slowly spreading.
The rhipsalis cascading.
There's 'Xanadu'.
There's a really wonderful mix.
Even the zygocactus.
I mean, they're classic,
proven, tried, tested, hardy.
Yep, you've got to select what's really hardy
because, you know, that's the key to your green wall.
You know, it's selection of plants,
but I have shade-tolerant plants
and then I've got the hardy, succulents.
And down there, it's more protected
and I have bromeliads.
I have to think about what plants that, you know, grow upwards
and things that trellis down.
So I used, as you can see, the sedum,
which is, you know, it's kind of up and down.
So that's good coverage. Yeah.
Totally.
And also where the sun is.
Like, you know, that section, we only get four hours' sun
and so that's where all the succulent is.
How important is the irrigation system?
And how do you water all the plants?
It's very important, irrigation.
I think also the main key issue for a green wall,
it can use the dripline
or you can use individual, you know, drippers.
It will trickle down to the next level
and the next level will just keep trickling down.
So it's like a cascade. Exactly.
With so many pot plants in these vertical walls,
how would you describe your behaviour
in making this?
Well, what do you think?
(LAUGHS) Am I obsessed?
I think it's official.
I think you're obsessed.
And what a good obsession.
I don't have any more walls.
Look - it's all covered. Yeah, yeah!
When you see this wall, it's inspiring
to want to start.
But the smaller walls down here
are kind of more like what people could have a go at.
Can we have a closer look at those? Yeah, sure.
Yeah? Let's go and have a look.
I notice here you've even got just a small one.
That's barely a metre.
Yes, that's my first one. Yep.
And they're still looking quite good.
And then this - this is what I saw when I first came in.
This is just gorgeous.
I really love this.
It feels like the garden keeps going.
That's right. I don't want to see the shed.
So it's part of the garden.
And it's quite simple, you know, to make.
And what's really nice is that, looking at this wall here,
you've only got, what, five species?
Yes.
You've got syngonium for colour
and variegated peperomia.
Then you've got a couple of different varieties
of that classic hanging texture
of the rhipsalis.
And then I love the cape violet.
Yes, for a small wall, you don't need a lot of varieties.
I think the less, the better.
So what's the system here? How does this one work?
Yeah, so actually, that's just one sheet of mesh.
And then you've got the brackets that attach -
whether it's a fence or, in this case, to the side of the shed.
The system is quite straightforward, really.
You've got this hook here that hooks into the mesh.
You've got the two holes underneath. Yes.
And that drips the water down.
And enough soil in there for it to thrive.
Exactly.
This is the rhipsalis and peperomia.
Two good friends for your green wall.
How often are you hand-watering this wall?
You can get away for two weeks,
you don't have to water it.
Eric, to think that you've shifted your life
from Indonesia to Australia,
you shifted careers from engineering into horticulture.
It's...indeed it's a big change.
But I think this is a good choice and I'm very happy.
Never in my dream I would think I would do something like this
and achieve, you know, a really nice green space.
It's a happy place for me.