Massive 4000 Sq Ft Green Wall for Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport: All About It

Bengaluru: The city's Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) has got a massive wall of greenery with over 15,000 plants making giant Tiger Wings around the airport. Globally renowned botanist Patrick Blanc recently said that several trips to nurseries in Bengaluru and Western Ghats yielded him about 153 species of native plants.He then grew them on the 30-feet-high, 160-feet-wide (2 walls each of 80 feet) installation called Tiger Wings' aka Patrick Wall' at the Terminal 2 of the KIA. According to a PTI report, Patrick is affiliated with the French National Centre for Scientific Research.He has been working on vertical garden projects in India for nearly 20 years and said that for this, he gets merely 10-15 species in the country. "It's a pity that we have to choose from plants grown in tropical America, Africa and Southeast Asia. There is a need to nurture Indian species that can be grown in vertical gardens here, not many propagate them," Blanc told PTI.

About the Tiger WingsPatric said the Tiger Wings' are spread across 4,000 square feet and are home to over 15,000 plants across 153 species. Hari Marar, Managing Director & CEO of Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) inaugurated the wall in the presence of Blanc.He told PTI, "I am not an expert on plants, but Patrick has promised that in three months when these 15,000 plants bloom, they'll resemble a stretched out tiger on the wall."Meanwhile, Blanc explained the process of creating the wall and said it is done using specialised felt layers to create the soilless hydroponic wall garden."Felt layers create an environment where plants thrive," said Blanc. He further mentioned, as per PTI, that the Bengaluru airport project is his biggest one in India so far. He has created a green wall at the Changi Airport in Singapore too. How Do Tiger Wings Work?Blanc said the soilless system used in the Tiger Wing' is different from the ones being adapted in the bell-shaped plant holders and beils (three-tiered plant holders that is a nod to traditional storage system of vegetable and fruits in Karnataka). Both these plants hang from the ceiling, and run around the various nooks and corners of the airport, said Sneha Subhedar, General Manager of Landscaping at BIAL."While we have been using a soil-less mixture consisting of coco peat among others, Blanc's walls use specialised felt imported from Germany," added Subhedar, quoted PTI.Murali Mohan Bebartta, Senior Manager, Irrigation, BIAL said the vertical garden is highly water-efficient as it uses a carefully designed irrigation system that delivers just the right amount of water to the plants through the felt layers, The 15,000 plants used in the walls were grown in the BIAL nursery. It has a stock of nearly 200 species and more than a lakh plants, said Ashok Challapilli, Manager, Landscaping, BIAL. He is also the in-charge of the nursery.