Plants for Living Walls: A Complete Guide to Indoor and Outdoor Choices

Why Plant Selection Matters for Living Walls

Growing plants vertically changes the rules. Roots have far less space to spread. Water drains through quickly, so moisture levels fluctuate more than in a conventional bed. Light hits the wall unevenly: the top may bake in full sun whilst the base sits in permanent shade.

Get the plant selection wrong and you will spend your weekends replacing failures. Get it right and the wall largely looks after itself, filling out naturally and developing character over the seasons.

The key principle is one I apply to all my designs: keep it simple. A living wall planted with five or six well-chosen species will always outperform one stuffed with twenty varieties fighting for space.

Best Plants for Outdoor Living Walls in the UK

Outdoor living walls in the UK need plants that can handle frost, wind, and the unpredictable rain patterns we all know too well. I group my recommendations by aspect, because a south-facing wall in Sevenoaks experiences completely different conditions to a north-facing one in Blackheath.

Sun-Facing Walls

For walls that receive four or more hours of direct sunlight, these species deliver reliable results:

Sedums are the workhorses of sunny living walls. Drought-tolerant, low-maintenance, and available in dozens of varieties offering colour from spring through autumn.
Heuchera provides year-round foliage interest, with leaves ranging from lime green to deep burgundy. They cope well with the reduced root space of a vertical system.
Erigeron karvinskianus (Mexican fleabane) produces masses of small daisy flowers from May to October and self-seeds gently into gaps.
Armeria maritima (thrift) is a native wildflower that thrives in poor, well-drained conditions, making it ideal for the shallow pockets of a living wall.

Shaded Walls

North and east-facing walls need species that perform without direct sun:

Ferns, particularly Polystichum setiferum (soft shield fern) and Asplenium scolopendrium (hart's tongue fern), bring elegant texture to shaded positions and are fully hardy.
Ivy (Hedera helix) is sometimes dismissed as dull, but selected cultivars offer leaf shapes and colours that bring real interest to a vertical planting.
Climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris) works beautifully on larger living wall structures, providing white lacecap flowers in summer and handsome bark in winter.
Tiarella and Heuchera both perform well in part shade, creating flowing drifts of foliage.

From a wildlife perspective, these plantings support pollinators and beneficial insects through the growing season, something that matters to us as a practice committed to ecological stewardship.

Best Plants for Indoor Living Walls

Indoor living walls operate in a more stable environment: consistent temperature, no frost, and predictable (if sometimes limited) light. The challenge here is humidity and light levels rather than hardiness.

Species I recommend for indoor installations include:

Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) is almost indestructible in indoor conditions and trails beautifully down a wall. Its air-purifying qualities are a genuine bonus.
Philodendron varieties, particularly the heartleaf form, tolerate low light and produce lush, glossy foliage that fills vertical modules quickly.
Spathiphyllum (peace lily) handles low light well and produces elegant white flowers. It works best in the lower and middle sections of a wall where humidity tends to be slightly higher.
Nephrolepis (Boston fern) brings a different texture and movement to an indoor wall. It does need consistent moisture, so reliable irrigation is essential.
Chlorophytum (spider plant) is hard to kill, produces attractive arching leaves, and propagates readily, meaning your wall fills out without additional planting costs.

During my time working in a landscape architect's practice in Kensington, I gained direct experience with vertical planting in urban, space-constrained settings. Many of those same principles apply to indoor installations today: choose robust species, plant densely from the outset, and ensure the irrigation system is right before planting a single thing.

Seasonal Planting for Year-Round Interest

A well-designed living wall should look good in every season, not just summer. Here is how I approach seasonal interest:

Spring: Dwarf bulbs such as muscari and crocus can be planted into pocket systems for early colour. Primroses work well in shadier positions.
Summer: Flowering perennials take over. Geraniums, campanula, and the sedums mentioned earlier provide months of colour with minimal input.
Autumn: Heuchera foliage deepens in colour as temperatures drop. Grasses like Carex offer movement and texture that carry through to winter.
Winter: Evergreen structure is essential. Ivy, ferns, and carex maintain the wall's presence when deciduous plants have died back.

The trick is to plan the planting scheme so that at least 60% of the wall is evergreen. This ensures the structure never looks bare, even in January.

Irrigation and Maintenance Essentials

Living walls are not plant-and-forget features. But with the right system in place, maintenance is straightforward.

An integrated drip irrigation system is essential for any wall larger than a square metre. Manual watering creates dry spots at the top and waterlogging at the bottom. A timer-controlled drip system delivers water evenly and consistently.

Feed with a balanced liquid fertiliser every fortnight during the growing season. Reduce to monthly through winter for indoor walls and stop entirely for outdoor ones.

Pruning is about maintaining shape rather than hard cutting. Trim trailing species before they smother their neighbours, and remove spent flowers to encourage repeat blooming.

Watch for two common problems: waterlogging in lower pockets (improve drainage or adjust flow rates) and vine weevil on heuchera (biological nematode treatments work well as a preventive measure).

A Living Wall Designed for You

Living walls work in almost any setting, from a courtyard boundary in Kent to a feature wall in a hallway. The key is matching the right plants to your specific conditions: aspect, light, temperature, and how much time you are willing to spend on upkeep.

If you are planning a living wall for your garden or home, get in touch for a free design consultation. Whether it is an outdoor feature in a courtyard or an indoor green wall, we can design a planting scheme tailored to your site and your lifestyle.