I was thinking about doing a flat wall art-piece incorporating living plants, and what should I run across but this on Landscape + Urbanism, a creation that was featured in Metropolitan Home.

It’s a panel of living succulents that were establish in a normal, flat orientation. Then everything was rotated 90 degrees and mounted on the wall.

So is this realization a good idea? It looks cool, for sure. But the plant choices make me think that this effect might not last for long.

Aeonium arboreum ‘Zwartkopf‘, Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi and Echeveria ‘Afterglow’ are the named plants. But all of those–like most plants–will grow up, away from gravity just like they’d grow in the garden, and away from the panel in search of light. This tailored wall piece, over the course of a year or so, could turn shaggy and scrappy, like a florist’s bouquet once the flowers start to wither.

I like the basic idea, but I think other plants would probably stay looking nice for longer, particularly plants that were adapted to growing in a horizontal orientation: Creeping fig (Ficus pumila) in its various color forms, various colors of clinging ivy (Hedera sp.), Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) or many vines that attach themselves to walls using aerial roots. Yes, I know, all these are potentially over-exuberant to invasive plants. But constrained to a panel separate from a wall, and with a shallow, constrained root system, I’d reason that you’d stand a chance of keeping these plants well behaved.

And you wouldn’t have to re-plant the wall panel over and over again.