Q: What’s the difference between moss and living walls?
A: Living walls are alive, meaning they require appropriate lighting, watering and pruning weekly. We offer systems that can be hand watered as well as systems that have automatic timers. Our focus is to create a system that will support both you and your plants.
Moss walls are preserved and require little to no maintenance. Our pieces do not require water or light, making them the perfect fit for areas without daylight, like a trade show or a basement office.
Still have questions? Read this in depth comparison on our blog, The Dirt!
Q: How much maintenance do living walls require?
A: There are many factors that dictate the overall maintenance required for living walls like the plant palette, the location of the wall, and the client’s desire to be a part of the process. Our living walls are unique in that we do not take a one size fits all approach. We design the living wall system to fit the vision of our clients and their expectations on how they would like to interact with the the wall. We can design a system that is completely automated. We can create one where the plants will need to be pruned quarterly, and we educate the client on how to best maintain their wall. Finally, we offer a maintenance program where we take all the worry off of our clients and maintain the living wall to look immaculate and manicured throughout the year.
Q: How much maintenance do moss walls require?
A: Our preserved mosses and plants will remain lush, vibrant for years with the right care. Our maintenance free moss walls do not require pruning or watering, just the occasional removal of dust, ideally removed with an air spray or soft cloth. Please note that our moss walls are only for indoor use and should not be exposed to water.
To keep your mosses in optimum conditions, please follow this advice:
Avoid crushing, pressing or folding the foliage, petals or flowers
Keep out of direct sunlight
Avoid humidity above 80% or below 30%
Q: Why don’t the mosses require maintenance?
A: Our moss walls, which utilize a variety of real mosses, ferns and flowers, have been preserved with non-toxic, vegetable glycerin. The chemical-free process allows the plants to remain in their natural state, resulting in a maintenance-free piece of art made with moss that is as soft and vibrant as it is in nature. The wall’s longevity depends on safe human contact, little exposure to sunlight and humidity, and the moss species' natural tendencies— as their unique traits are not lost in preservation. With ideal conditions, the industry is comfortable estimating, and we are too, that they will last at least four (4) years and beyond.
Q: Are your mosses, flowers and plants harvested sustainably?
A: With educational and technical backgrounds in sustainable design, we take ecology and sustainability very seriously in our approach to all of the work we do here at Planted Design.
We do not harvest our own mosses, and we have a rigorous criteria for choosing where we get them from. We work with a number of producers around the world, most of whom are family operations who have been maintaining forests on their properties for the purposes of moss harvesting for many decades. All of our producers have an ecologically-forward mission statement and produce 0% waste! 80% of shipping from our producers is done by boat rather than airplane.
The companies are all extremely careful to only harvest small portions of the mosses they maintain so as to not disturb the local ecosystem's balance. Without careful attention to the care of the forests, their businesses would perish, so they are diligent stewards of their land and have a strong motivation not to harm the existing ecosystem that makes moss thrive. Depending on the type of moss, the standard is to lightly harvest from a single area every 5-15 years. The producers consider "light harvesting" to be when the average person would not notice the difference in the landscape before and after the harvest.
You can read more about our commitment to Mother Nature here.
Q: How long will my project take to complete?
A: Our standard process is to receive a 75% deposit and a signed contract before beginning the design phase. After receiving approval on the design, we move into fabrication and production, depending on our current project load. Certain projects can be accommodated on shorter timelines with rush fees.
Q: Do you do work outside of San Francisco, CA?
A: Yes! We design, build and ship custom projects and living and moss wall rentals throughout the U.S. and even internationally. We are always interested in hearing from you so please don't hesitate to contact us with your questions!
Q: Did I see you on HGTV?
A: Yes! We were honored to work with Jonathan Scott and Pamela of Urbanism Designs on Season 6, Episode 1 of Brother vs. Brother. You saw Jonathan inside our studio selecting his plant palette with our Founder and CEO, Amanda, as well as members of our team inside the Hilltop Home. You can check out the project here!
Q: Do you have a showroom I can visit?
A: No, but we have many public installations! While many of our living and moss walls are created for limited use at an event or trade show, or as art in a private home, several of our pieces are public facing throughout the Bay Area. We created a guide map, complete with locations and photographs, for an exciting way to see the city and our beautiful installations. We also have a number of gallery shows up in Bay Area businesses. Follow us on Instagram to get the most up-to-date information on these galleries.
Q: Do moss rental walls at events require power access or plumbing?
A: No. Power is only required if you order LED lighting with your custom signage for an event or trade show. In that case, access to electricity is one of many things that we carefully discuss about your event space prior to a rental. Since our moss rental walls are preserved, no watering means no plumbing necessary!