Vertical Garden in New Delhi

August is the most humid month in Delhi, with afternoon relative humidity averaging around 76%, while April is the driest, dropping to about 25%. A living green wall in this city runs its drip lines and any misting on a schedule that changes through the year, watering more and misting less in the monsoon, and the reverse from March to May.

Facing the dust that settles on facades

Dust and open burning make up roughly a fifth of Delhi's fine particulate pollution. On an outward-facing wall this settles on leaves between rains, so a living wall in the city is washed down on a schedule rather than left for the next monsoon to clean.

Structural care on the hottest days

On 28 and 29 May 2024, Delhi recorded its highest ever temperature at 49.9°C, heat that a south or west-facing facade wall absorbs and radiates back at the plants mounted on it. A green wall's frame and irrigation are checked for this kind of extreme before summer each year, since a wall that copes with an ordinary 40°C day can still be pushed past its watering capacity on the hottest ones. A wall checked and reinforced before summer holds up through an ordinary hot spell as well as an unusually extreme one, whereas a wall left unchecked risks losing plants exactly when the heat is at its worst. That inspection happens in March or early April, ahead of the year's hottest stretch, rather than after a wall has already lost plants to heat it was not built to handle. Reinforcing the frame at the same time catches any bracket or drip-line wear that would otherwise only surface once the wall is under summer stress.