Meaning & use
vertical garden
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A structure, often a wall or frame, on which plants grow upward instead of across the ground.
Grammar: Countable: say 'a vertical garden' or 'vertical gardens'.
Patterns
- a vertical garden of something
- grow a vertical garden
- build a vertical garden
The restaurant has a vertical garden of herbs on its back wall.
They built a vertical garden to cover the ugly concrete wall.
A vertical garden saves space in small city yards.
nouncountabletechnical
A system for growing food or plants in tall stacked layers, used especially where land is limited.
Grammar: Often used in farming or city-planning contexts for stacked growing systems.
Patterns
- commercial vertical garden
- urban vertical garden
The company runs a vertical garden that produces lettuce all year.
Vertical gardens are popular in crowded cities where land is expensive.
Word forms
| plural | vertical gardens |
|---|
Common combinations
- vertical garden wall
- The vertical garden wall is watered automatically.
- indoor vertical garden
- An indoor vertical garden can clean the air in a room.
- vertical garden system
- This vertical garden system uses recycled water.
- plant a vertical garden
- We planted a vertical garden on the balcony.
Synonyms and how they differ
- green wall
- A very close synonym, often used for large decorative plant-covered walls in buildings.
- living wall
- Similar, but usually suggests the wall itself is alive with plants; common in architecture.
- wall garden
- A simpler, less technical phrase for plants growing on a wall.
Word family
- vertical gardening noun
- The activity or method of growing plants upward.
- vertical farmer noun
- A person who grows crops in stacked layers.
Commonly confused: vertical garden or hanging garden?
vertical garden vs hanging garden
A hanging garden has plants hanging down from above; a vertical garden grows upward on a surface.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'vertical garden' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A vertical garden grows upward on a wall or frame, so 'grew upward along the side' fits. Option 2 describes a flat garden, option 3 a field row, and option 4 a hanging garden.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “vertical garden”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.