***Vertical Garden Wall Hangings***

I recently became intrigued with vertical gardens...this got me thinking and gave me the inspiration to make my own vertical garden incorporated in a felted wall hanging. The perfect plants would be Tillandsias (Air plants), a member of the pineapple family (Bromelaid). They grow on rocks, trees, shrubs, etc. without soil and receive their water and nutrients from the air through specialized leaves. They are utilized in terrariums, glass globes, drift wood or just sitting on the table...and now my felted wall hangings. The plaints do require an occasional misting or soaking (depending on the season and house temperature) and like to be near a natural light source but not direct sunlight.

 

Here are my first two felted wall hangings/vertical gardens...

Wet/needle felted vertical garden wall hanging using Tillandsias (Air plants)

I made this wall hanging with a wire design for hanging.

 

Wet/needle felted vertical garden wall hanging using Tillandsias (Air plants)

The following photographs show my pattern for laying out the wool to create the wall hanging.

Four layers of wool with a vine design on top

I utilized two bamboo mats to roll up the project during the wet felting process

This shows the vine wall hanging before adding the needle felting embellishments and plants. 

Wet felted vine wall hanging prior to needle felted embellishments and plants

Following are some photographs showing the needle felted embellishments and close-ups of the Tillandsias.

Two Tillandsias (Air plants) &
needle felted vine edges and border

Blooming Tillandsia

Felted wall hanging/vertical garden

Felted wall hanging/vertical garden

It was fun designing and making these wet/needle felted wall hangings. It was also fun picking out the Tillandsias at Home Ec in Chico. They have quite a variety of Tillandsias and it's a fun place to shop for unique home, kitchen and office items.

I look forward to hearing what you think of my vertical garden wall hangings...