Building a Vertical/Orchid Garden Wall

We decided to redo the waterfall portion of our 10 year old koi pond. We wanted a more natural look with stones and rock but we still needed to hide the filters and pumps. We made do with a bamboo screen for many years, but it was looking pretty raggedy! (see the before Pic I decided I wanted a vertical wall to hang my plants, mainly orchids, and to hide the pond equipment.

Here's what we started with. We decided to hire someone to do all the masonry work of the waterfall. It was too much work and something we didn't want to tackle ourselves.

This picture shows the old barrel filters in the back. The new filter (gray one in the foreground) was hooked up for a few weeks prior to beginning work. The filter needed a month to 'seed' the new bacteria that's necessary for pond filtration. That new filter got buried up to the crown next to the waterfall.

We got some redwood and stained and sealed it with a spar varnish. A few of the boards were done in a blue dye.

After getting our measurements, the side supports were attached from the eaves and then each redwood board was attached horizontally. In the picture below, you can see the completed waterfall. The 1st water drop comes from a Savio waterfall filter. It has media inside the hidden barrel that also helps with filtration. The other gray one is hidden in the ground to the right of the falls.

All of the wood orchid boxes were also made by us. I painted a few of them. All were sealed w/spar varnish since these get a daily misting w/water. Orchids don't like to have their roots trapped in pots, hence the spaced planter boxes.

Here's a close up of the planter wall. We also did one in the front patio area for MORE orchids!! lol th

Same premise was followed. Again, all of these planter boxes are DIY. The pic below gives an overview of the front courtyard w/the vertical wall on the left. There is also another koi pond off to the left!

The koi pond is underneath that cobalt blue wall.

Last look at the back wall.....the french doors lead to the master bedroom. Next task is to redo the bridge and the decking!

Original article and pictures take http://www.hometalk.com/11436394/building-a-vertical-orchid-garden-wall site