Living Wall Cone Container Garden How-To

Looking for a new garden project, but have the mid-summer can’t-find-the-perfect-plant blues because the garden centers are cleared out? I have the living wall cone planter solution for you that will make your wall garden dreams come true. It features houseplants!

Best yet, we are planting the project up with organic fertilizer and a line of house plants that are drought tolerant and require minimum attention. When the end of the season comes, you can move the houseplants indoors for double duty. Instructions below and in the below video (if you cannot see a video please go to this LINK).

How To Plant a Living Wall Cone Container Garden

1. Get some cone shaped garden containers. Cut a hole in the plastic at the bottom of the cone for drainage. Leave the hanging wires on, but slip them inside the cones.
2. Measure and mark the wall, fence, or gate where you want to hang your cones.
3. Screw hooks into the wall where you want to hang your cones. If you are hanging on a sided wall, put a little sealant around the hooks to prevent any moisture from getting beneath your siding.
4. Balance the cones in a larger garden container for easy soil filling (see photos below).
5. Fill each cone with organic potting soil (my favorites have worm castings in the mix).
6. Add a half cup of organic fertilizer, I used Dave Thompson’s Organic Healthy Grow All-Purpose fertilizer (see below).
7. Plant sun appropriate plants in your cones. I used drought tolerant and low light loving Plants of Steel brand Ponytail Palm, ZZ Plant, Snake Plant, Chinese Evergreen, and Sago Palm (see below).

Plants of Steel are great as houseplants but work great outdoors seasonally as well. They require minimal attention – low light, low humidity, and irregular watering work well for these plants. My recommendation is one cup of water per plant every two weeks or so. If you have had some summer rain lately, you might not need to water the plants at all since planting. Each plant is gorgeous and absolutely no fuss.

Container Plants Need Fertilizer for a Boost

Dave Thompson’s Organic Healthy Grow All-Purpose organic fertilizer is super easy to use and has been excellent in my living wall container gardens and elevated beds this season. Following package directions, I used a half cup of organic fertilizer mixed in each planting cone (see below). I mixed it up and tossed the plant in – took me less than a minute to assemble each container. Dave Thompson’s Organic Healthy Grow is made from chicken manure and maintains a lot of beneficial microbial activity, are higher nitrogen and lower odor (does not smell like chicken poop), adds organic matter to the soil, adds calcium, and increases water retention for the container plants.

Building a living wall that is beautiful and requires very little maintenance is possible when you are using low light drought-tolerant plants and natural fertilizers to keep the plants strong and healthy through the season. Grow a shade living wall from cone container garden planters and bring a little fun to your summer garden season.