"Rope systems" sounds complicated, but it simply means that ropes are installed in a planned manner rather than haphazardly. This starts with the diameters, i.e. the question: Which rope thickness is appropriate in which situation? It also involves anchors and wall clearances, and finally the arrangement of the strands: horizontal or vertical? Crosswise? Spacing between them, or "mesh sizes"? The term "rope systems" seems appropriate for all of this.

"Cable systems" are all well and good, but since when have such cables been used on façades? No one really knows for sure. Vertical gardening using wooden trellises has been around for more than 300 years, for example for espalier fruit trees in the kitchen gardens of the Palace of Versailles in France. Presumably from around 1850 onwards, “trellis wires” came into use, as evidenced by an old photograph of the “Orangery” in Gotha. Bare iron wires were used, which rusted quickly. Consequently, copper wire was sometimes used instead (see photo). In any case, up until around 1970, the term used was always “wires” rather than “ropes”. These were mostly galvanised steel wires.

“Wire” ropes have been around since 1834, when they were invented in the Harz region for mining, as a replacement for hemp ropes. But for greening façades, wires were preferred. They were thinner and cheaper. According to references in eco-books from the 1980s, it stands to reason that (galvanised) steel cables were eventually used for greening from that time onwards. However, wire ropes only really began their triumphant advance on façades from 1990 onwards, when inexpensive stainless steel cables became available.

Because stainless steel doesn’t corrode. Everything stays just as it is, even after 20, 50 or 100 years... FassadenGrün specialises in wall-mounted trellises, but our range also includes netting for freestanding structures!