Vertical Gardens
More than 30 years ago, a French scientist named Patrick
Blanc went to Thailand to study plants. This adventurous young man traveled to the heart of
a tropical rainforest and set up a platform at
the top of the trees. This ___1___ an easy way for him to
access plants that grew high up and he learned
a great deal from
this journey. Now, Blanc grows his own gardens, but not
on the ground like normal people do. ___2___, he designs
gardens with plants that trail gently
up any interior or exterior
wall, calling them vertical gardens.
While in Thailand, Patrick Blanc
ventured to Cambodia and visited the
amazing temples of Angkor Wat. ___3___ he
saw there was total devastation of
these ancient landmarks by trees and
plants. Therefore, in Blanc's designs, the
greenery is not attached directly ___4___ the
building. A metal frame, a layer of
hard plastic, and felt are put ___5___ to
help the plants grow up the walls. Patrick Blanc calls
his designs eco-art or organic
wallpaper.
Trendy boutiques ___6___ Girbaud's
in Paris have used his services in their shops. With
this interest in his work, Blanc has become the man
everyone calls when a building needs a green
face-lift. He has ___7___ museums in Paris,
Istanbul, and Madrid with his unique designs. He even
made a wedding dress out of
ferns and plants for French fashion
designer Jean-Paul Gaultier. Blanc's future looks bright
as he has contracts to
enrich the exterior of a skyscraper in Kuala
Lumpur and beautify the interior of a
huge office building in Qatar. |