Grasses and Maples Vertical Garden
Davis Dalbok and Brandon Pruett at Living Green Design explore color and contrast combining Japanese maple, ferns, grasses, and oxalis in the Florafelt system at their San Francisco showroom.
Six Ways To Scrub Your Air
What’s better than the gift of clean air? Thanks to her unique skills in green building and regenerative design, Amanda Goldberg of Planted Design has the air quality thing down, so breathe easy. Learn more about her vertical gardens, also available for rent, and innovative ideas that combine beauty with healthier air, inside and out.
Did you know? 70% of the detoxing our bodies need is supplied by breathing (perspiration provides 20%). And yet, dangerous volatile organic compounds released by carpets, copiers, and most any synthetic item in our lives rob us of clean air daily!
“People often don’t think about the VOC gases given off by fresh paint, flooring, carpet and cleaning products,” says Amanda. “More people in a room also raise carbon dioxide levels. Too much CO2 makes us sleepy and causes headaches, nausea and sickness.”
With all those hazardous compounds and carbon dioxide hanging around, Amanda creates living walls that work hard to remove ammonia, benzene, formaldehyde, and other toxins from the home and workplace. Thanks to photosynthesis, plants also replace toxins with vital oxygen
Amanda’s top plant picks for healthier indoor air
Amanda created her first vertical garden while working for Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, helping companies such as Aveda design products for a sustainable economy. Last March, she “took a leap” and started her own business bringing walls to life. She started with an 8x4-foot mobile vertical garden for the Natural Products Expo in Anaheim, CA, then installed it in her client's office in Palo Alto, CA.
Now her creativity knows no bounds. With her unique custom portable gardens, Amanda is tapping into, and ramping up, the market for living wall rentals – weddings, conferences, photo booths and more. Because these gardens need backlighting, company logos and other special touches, Amanda turns to a whole community of artisans to bring out the best in her projects. As a ceramic artist and industrial designer who created a “living desk” for her college thesis, perhaps it’s only natural. “I enjoy the collaborative spirit. It inspires and invigorates me," she says.
Partners in design: Amanda and Brandon Pruett from Living Green Design co-created this living wall in San Francisco’s Mission District, turning a sterile heat island into a thriving green oasis.
Amanda says she’s happy with the ease and flexibility of Plants On Walls‘ Florafelt system. “You can put plants in, then exchange them for a different aesthetic as your style changes."
How much is enough? For a 1,800 square foot house, a NASA study recommends 15 to 18 good-sized plants that clean the air and give off oxygen.
Living Facade Vertical Garden
Amanda Goldberg of Planted Design worked with Brandon Pruett to create a living facade near 14th and Folsom Street in the Mission District of San Francisco using the Florafelt Pro System.
Brandon Pruett and Amanda Goldberg create a living facade for their client's industrial building near 14th and Folsom Street in San Francisco's Mission District.
This living facade is filled with drought tolerant California natives and contains thousands of plant starts.
The freshly planted vertical garden is already busrting with life and beginning to fill in.
Looking up from the street the industrial facade has been transformed into a lush countryside that offers a habitat for birds and bees.
Brandon leads a team of volunteers to wrap the plants in felt diapers. The root-wrapped plants are set aside and then inserted into the Florafelt System.
The rooftop was the perfect place to prepare the plants for the vertical garden.
Amanda of Planted Design hired Brandon Pruett of Living Green Design to map out the irrigation system that includes copper drain trays that directs runoff to landscape below.
Amanda Goldberg and Brandon Pruett worked together to create a dramatic design that includes a wide variety of color and interest highlighting California natives and drought tolerant species.
First a wire gird is assembled then the Florafelt Grow Strips are woven into it.
A scissor lift is used to place the root-wrapped plants according to the design grid.
This completed living facade is a landmark installation that will not only transform the neighborhood but soften the urban experience for all.
Exotic Species Vertical Garden
Brandon Pruett of Living Green Design created a design thick with exotic species for their San Francisco Showroom using the Florafelt Pro System.
This unique water-saving vertical garden uses the urn (at the lower left) to collect and recirculate water and nutrients.
Vertical Herb Garden for Bartenders
Brandon Pruett of Living Green Design created a bartender's herb vertical garden for Anchor Brewing Company's exclusive San Francisco rooftop cocktail tasting lounge. Working with team members Rachel Farinelli and Lindsey Graves they created a delightful mix of herbs ideal for a bartender's garnish to a glass.
Living Light Well Vertical Garden
Brandon Pruett of Living Green Design created a living light well for a modern San Francisco custom home using the Florafelt System.
Living Architecture Vertical Garden
Inspired by the lush tropical lava formed earthworks of Hawaiian cliffsides landscape designer Brandon Pruett of Living Green Design envisioned a living architectural form to be presented at Sunset Magazine Celebration Weekend 2014. He began with a futuristic crystalized brutalist form then filled it with vividly colorful botanical plant species. Like Hawaiian caves, water dripped from the living structural cantilever that arched over a stone vessel below. Visitors moved through the exhibit as if transported into another world.
This wildly colorful living wall installation was created using the Florafelt Pro System designed by Chris Bribach of Plants On Walls. This patented living wall system uses a 6 by 6 inch metal grid frame to support Florafelt Grow Strip that is woven into the grid to create pleats to support the plants.
The Florafelt Pro System is a very robust and versatile planting system that can be customized for almost any vertical gardening application.
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Exotic Penthouse Vertical Garden
Davis Dalbok and his keen team from Living Green created a vertical garden masterpiece for a penthouse garden overlooking lively downtown San Francisco. This wildly imaginative collection of succulents, grasses, ferns and others delightfully frames a gilded centerpiece.
Davis Dalbok and Brandon Pruett of Living Green Design incorporated a gilded sculpture into a vertical garden filled with succulents and grasses for a San Francisco penthouse.
San Francisco Decorator Showcase 2013 Birds of Prey Living Wall
Davis Dalbok and Brandon Pruett of Living Green Design San Francisco used the Florafelt System to transform this brick courtyard into a vertical woodland. The team worked closely with Florafelt's inventor Chris Bribach to create an infrastructure to host grasses, ferns, japanese maples, and conifers for the 1 month show.
Painted Vertical Shade Garden
Designer Brandon Pruett of Living Green Design created a vertical garden masterpiece with shade-loving coral bells, ferns and grasses with the Florafelt System. He chose colors that added a vibrant and exciting touch to this Pacific Heights home in San Francisco.