Orchid Wall Brings Tropical Touch to Cold Calgary

A short hop from Canada’s picturesque Banff mountain range, cold, snowy Calgary, Canada is the last place you’d expect to find a garden of blooming tropical orchids, and perhaps that is what makes the Winter Garden at Jamieson Place in downtown Calgary such an unexpected delight. Peeking out from a lush vertical wall of feathery green ferns and vines, delicate orchid blooms surprise visitors to the unusual garden.

Called an interior living wall, the 1,950-square foot modular garden is crowded with more than 20,000 plants, including hundreds of colorful orchids. Living walls, also called green walls, have been popular in Europe for the last 20 years but have only recently become popular in North America. More often noticed on exterior building walls in more temperate regions, the unusual garden constructs are gaining popularity in the snow-bound regions of America’s northern states and Canada where winter weather forces people to spend much of their time indoors. Blooming with colorful orchids nestled in a wall of green, living walls provide a colorful, spring-like counterpoint to winter’s icy, white landscape. These unique gardens are just the thing for brightening gray days and lifting winter spirits.

Opened last April as the centerpiece of Bentall-Kennedy LLP’s new office garden, Calgary’s unique Winter Garden has earned international acclaim. The vertical garden wall has received an Award of Excellence from the U.S. Plantscape Industry Alliance and the Environmental Improvement Grand Award from PLANET, the Professional Landcare Network. The eco-friendly garden wall was built and is maintained by Greenery Office interiors of Calgary. A unique hydroponic foam system developed by McCaren Designs, a Minnesota pioneer of interior landscapes, is used to water the installation. Plants grow sideways under normal office lighting, one of the reasons orchids were selected.

Photos from Orchid Walls:

	Upper Left Photo Credit: Nojhan Upper Right Photo Credit: Quinn Anya Lower Left Photo Credit: Aunt JoJo

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