Last night my husband happily showed me a page in his Time Magazine, proud of himself for knowing who it was about, that displayed Patrick Blanc’s living walls as number 31 on the magazines 50 Best Inventions of the Year. It was accompanied by a photo of the recent Athenaeum Hotel in London.

Here’s the original text from Time, “Patrick Blanc specializes in vertical gardens: verdant patches that climb the walls of office buildings, shopping malls, museums and public spaces around the globe. His newest creation is the green-bearded exterior of the Athenaeum Hotel, on which some 260 species of plants (more than 12,000 in all) form a forest facade rising eight stories over London’s ritzy Mayfair district. Recognizing that not all plants need soil to grow, Blanc affixes synthetic felt to a frame onto which roots can cling. Part gardener, part botanist, Blanc uses automated irrigation and fertilization systems to keep his specimens healthy and arranges them so that each enjoys optimal growth conditions.”

And here’s an interview with the quirky and even then green-haired Patrick Blanc I found recently from back in 2007. It was conducted by a British interviewer and they even make reference to the future Athenaeum Hotel in saying that one of his designs was planned for London.