How Corporate Gardens Can Improve Your Workplace

With employees returning to the office after working from home for the majority of the year, you are no doubt wondering how you can improve their working experience. Adding a corporate garden to any office can do wonders for your employees and their well-being.

Our team knows that plants can transform any space. That’s why we create stunning office plantscaping designs that your employees will love seeing each day. Today we’re going to discover how corporate gardens can improve your workplace and why you should consider investing in one in the future.

Corporate Gardens Reduce Stress

Corporate gardens offer your team the chance to escape their desk and spend time connected to nature at any point of the day. It can often feel impossible to get outside for a walk or a proper lunch break. This is particularly true in high-pressure companies with endless deadlines.

Your interior planting design will play a huge role in reducing the stress your team feels. This visual stimulation will offer employees a chance to ground themselves and reconnect with the world around them. In time, they’ll see that the problems they are facing aren’t as bad as they thought. They’ll be able to return to work in a better frame of mind.

Corporate Gardens Are a Social Hub

Depending on the size of your new corporate garden, you’ll soon find this becomes a central hub for social activity in your office. We’ve all spent so much of the past year in front of computers at home. Now, it’s time for everyone to reconnect.

When employees have the chance to speak to colleagues in a social setting, you’ll find their relationships grow. This development positively impacts trust and teamwork, which benefits any organization. You’ll give your team a new place to interact, thanks to your interior plant design.

Corporate Gardens Improve Your Employees’ Attention Span

One surprising benefit of adding a sophisticated interior planting design is that your team’s attention span will soon increase. Urban environments are full of overwhelming stimuli. These stimuli result in your team losing the ability to focus on even the most basic of tasks. We often believe that every email we receive needs a reply straight away.

However, when you’re in the presence of calming office plantscaping, you can refresh your mind and focus. This simple stimulus works to overcome the constant sensory overload we feel every day while working in our offices.

Corporate Gardens Offer Improved Air Quality

As well as the improvements to your team’s work and wellbeing, a huge benefit of adding interior plantscaping to any office is the improved quality of the air. This quality is critical for anyone who works within a large city, as pollution is a common concern for business owners.

In the long run, you’ll notice your employees feel more energized and engaged. The addition of nature to their office space will promote focus. We can all play our small part in overcoming the current air quality issues. Plants are a great way to combat this in any office space.

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Corporate Gardens Will Inspire Your Team

Have you ever hit a wall when working on a new project? Tunnel vision can leave you unable to come up with creative ideas. When you add a luxury interior plant design, you’ll find that your team has something to gaze at during moments of daydreaming. Nature is one of the best ways to find new ideas. If you’ve ever been on a walk when you’re feeling stressed, you’ll know the feeling.

If your team doesn’t have the opportunity to leave the office and go to a nearby park at lunchtime, your corporate garden is the next best thing. They’ll enjoy admiring it from a distance and then close up. The garden offers a new alternative to adding artwork to an office for inspiration.

Corporate Gardens Create a More Welcoming Environment

After spending the past year working from home, many employees are struggling to return to the office. They soon became used to the cozy feeling of working from home, and it’s been quite a challenge to transition back to work all day in the workplace.

You can help to ease this transition by adding interior planting design elements that resemble plants they have at home. Our team will work with you to select some of the most popular interior plantscaping solutions. Overall, our goal is to give your employees a sense of comfort every time they walk through the door.

Corporate Gardens Absorb Background Noise

Many employees complain that they are unable to concentrate in the workplace due to the endless chatter and noise in the building. With more open-plan offices than ever before, the number of distractions for your team makes it almost impossible to complete the most basic of tasks.

Adding an interior plant design to your office will help to absorb some of this noise and create a calmer working environment. It’s a particularly good solution for any space with exposed concrete floors and walls. This way, you don’t have other options to overcome this challenge. You’ll want to place larger plants around the space in order to experience this benefit. Most importantly, you’ll want to create a place where your employees enjoy working each day.

Key Takeaways

There are so many reasons that a corporate garden is one of the best investments any company could make for its employees. If you’re unsure where to start when it comes to interior planting design, our team can help. We can work within your current office setup to create office plantscaping designs that will offer all of the benefits we shared above.

In time, you’ll find that your employees will notice a huge reduction in their stress levels and enjoy increased productivity and creativity. Interior plantscaping is useful to offices of all shapes and sizes. It’s never too late to start making your workplace a more enjoyable place to spend time.

Contact us today to discuss interior planting design options for your business.

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Boston’s Premier Plantscaping Specialists

Foliaire is a full-service interior and exterior greenscape design-build firm in Boston’s historic South End. For the last 40 years, we’ve provided the highest quality plant maintenance services for clients across the Boston Metro area. We customize and plan all of our installations to fit your unique space and tastes. That’s how we’ve built a reputation of unparalleled style and elegance for both corporate and residential community projects. In addition, we’ve received several environmental design awards and have appeared in several publications, including Architectural Digest, House and Garden, Horticulture, and Interiorscape.

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What Is Plantscaping?

As large segments of the American workforce continue returning to the office, corporate plantscaping has become an emerging trend. If you aren’t familiar with interior plantscaping, we’ll explore how interior plant design can elevate health, morale, and productivity.

By adding interior planting design elements throughout your office space, you’ll create a more welcoming and sophisticated first impression for visitors and employees alike.

How to Add a Plantscape To Your Office

Plantscaping is another way to describe an interior planting design. Any office can benefit from this solution, which offers aesthetic and environmental advantages. For the best office plantscaping solution, we recommend using a variety of plant species.

You can also include unique structures such as living walls. These walls often have practical benefits and can visually divide up your office space. Tall plants can make a space appear even larger, whereas groups of plants go well where people congregate. You’ll also find that you notice acoustic and thermal benefits after adding plants.

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How Indoor Plantscaping Improves Air Quality

When working in a busy city, one of the biggest issues humanity faces is poor air quality. Research suggests that the air you breathe daily at work immediately impacts your cognitive function. However, the addition of indoor plantscapes can help you to play your part in improving air quality in your workspace.

Even buildings with excellent air filtration systems have areas to improve upon, where indoor plantscaping comes into play. Research also suggests that houseplants remove a range of toxins from buildings, starting within just 24 hours of their installation.

When considering plants to improve air quality, the spider plant is one of the top options for cleansing the air. Interior planting design solutions often incorporate this plant, which is easy to add to a desk or windowsill. The plant’s moisture can boost a room’s humidity while also filtering out TCE, benzene, and other toxins.

Aloe vera and Boston fern are other options to consider, and their smaller size makes them perfect for the office plantscape. The more plants you can add to a space, the more you’ll notice the advantages of interior plantscaping.

The 5 Key Elements of Interior Plantscaping

When it comes to interior plant design, certain factors should be kept in mind. Interior planting design isn’t the same as updating your outdoor garden, so you’ll need to consider this when selecting the plants for your office space. The following are a few of the most important areas to consider when adding interior plantscaping to any space:

1) Size and Shape

Before selecting plants to add to your office, measure the size of your room. You don’t want to select a plant that looks excessively big in the space, as this can feel overwhelming. On the other hand, a small plant such as a potted cactus can feel far too small. Match your plant selection to the height of the ceiling and the size of the window.

If you are lucky enough to benefit from high ceilings in your office, living walls are an exciting feature to add. You’ll need enough space for the wall to safely fit in without making the room look too dark and gloomy.

For example, the plants you choose should reach no further than halfway from the floor to the ceiling. For window plants, you should avoid obscuring any more than one-third of the window pane.

2) Number and Location

One approach to plantscaping is assembling a group of plants that visually focus on the room and a dramatic effect. This trend is popular where either the space itself is large or where there’s an oddly-shaped space that is otherwise underutilized. For example, this is the appeal of a living wall – where there is a wall or surface that can become a real showpiece.

“Grouping” and living walls are a great option when you have a generous budget for your plantscaping. A more common approach is to strategically place individual plants to add life and interest to the space. Sometimes, adding only one or two plants to a space is enough to “fill out” the room’s décor.

In this method, you’ll want to place individual plants near focal areas, such as at the end of a hallway, a reception desk, or in any other location where they’ll be consistently visible.

3) Color

Color has a huge impact on our mood. With the right plants and planters in your interior plant design, you can create an oasis of calm in even the most hectic of workplaces. However, you don’t want to mix and match too many different colored planters in your office.

You’ll find that this will create a disorganized and unprofessional aesthetic, which isn’t the first impression you want to make. Opt for plants and planters that complement the color scheme of your office and the furniture you currently have in place.

Depending on your company’s brand colors and your office’s floor plan, you may want to explore either matching or complementary colors. These color combinations can also include accents that highlight the vibrant, diverse nature of your plantscaping.

4) Repetition

One common element we see within interior planting design and living walls is repetition. To create a simple and minimalist look, opt for a row of identical plants on the windowsill of the office.

Not everyone in your office will have the same taste for interior plant design. Opt for more neutral design solutions to create a space where everyone will feel comfortable working each day.

When choosing plants for the office, focus on those that won’t be too distracting for visitors or employees. You don’t want staff to spend their whole day staring at your ornate new plants when they could be focusing on more important tasks.

5) Expertise

We understand that you might not have the time and energy to undertake an office plantscaping project. For that reason, you may want to consider employing a professional for this task.

Many gardeners and interior design professionals offer interior plantscaping services. Look for a specialist in this area who will understand the size and shape of the plants you need.

Specialists will also know the kinds of plants that will thrive in your particular lighting and environment. This expertise will help you avoid the cluttered look that often makes interior plantscaping look unprofessional and messy in offices.

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Key Takeaways

When undertaking an office plantscaping project, we encourage you to either take your time to plan out the work yourself or to consult with a professional. Plantscaping isn’t a task you want to rush, as you’ll want to ensure you have time to acquire premium plants and planters for your new interior plant design.

Living walls are our favorite office solutions because they will impress anyone who sets foot in the building. With the benefits to the air quality in your office, you’ll find that staff members will be happy to spend more time in the space. They’ll notice improved concentration, productivity, and efficiency in the office thanks to the addition of a great plantscape design.

Boston’s Premier Plantscaping Specialists

Foliaire is a full-service interior and exterior greenscape design-build firm in Boston’s historic South End. For the last 40 years, we’ve provided the highest quality plant maintenance services for clients across the Boston Metro area. We customize and plan all of our installations to fit your unique space and tastes. That’s how we’ve built a reputation of unparalleled style and elegance for both corporate and residential community projects. In addition, we’ve received several environmental design awards and have appeared in several publications, including Architectural Digest, House and Garden, Horticulture, and Interiorscape.

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What Are the Best Indoor Plants for Holiday Decor?

With the holidays coming up, you might be wondering what the best indoor plants for holiday decor are. If you’re looking to create a luxurious and festive atmosphere in your office this year, keep reading for our top indoor winter plants to brighten up your workplace for the holiday season.

Poinsettias

Holiday decorating wouldn’t be complete without a poinsettia, which is the signature holiday plant. With its broad red petals, you could place this plant in almost any room in your workplace. A collection of these best indoor plants will brighten up any office with elegant cheer. These indoor winter plants also make the perfect holiday gift for coworkers and clients alike. 

Poinsettia Plant Care Tips

Where possible, place these holiday plants in a warm area with plenty of sunlight. Make sure you don’t overwater poinsettias, as you’ll want to ensure they keep blooming throughout the holiday season and into the new year.

Christmas Cactus

The Christmas cactus, also known as the schlumbergera, is another wonderful holiday landscaping option. They are very robust plants that are difficult to destroy, making them a good option for anyone who isn’t as experienced at plant care. Plus, they naturally flower in December. 

Christmas Cactus Plant Care Tips

Since the Christmas cactus usually appears in rainforests or jungles, you’re best off putting them in a shaded spot. Common areas and conference rooms are the best homes for this plant. We recommend keeping the pot in a gravel-filled tray for a beautiful display of these plants for added holiday decoration. Overall, the Christmas cactus is a low-maintenance plant requiring minimum attention, which we’re all looking for during this hectic season.

Cyclamen

The variety of colors that cyclamen are available in makes it one of the best options for holiday landscaping. They have flowers in various sizes, and many of them have a sweet scent or patterned petals.

Cyclamen Plant Care Tips

Try to keep these holiday plants away from direct sunlight or heating to avoid damaging them. They’ll add more personality and color to any office this holiday season, and you can use your creativity to create a beautiful indoor winter plant display.

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Azaleas

Another of the best indoor plants for the holiday season is the azalea, which will brighten up any room in your business. While they’re often considered a springtime plant, you’ll find they thrive indoors in the winter. Look for the Christmas Cheer variety, which offers an array of pink, red, and white flowers.

Azalea Plant Care Tips

Try to keep these plants away from sunlight and offer them moist compost. A humid atmosphere will help them to thrive inside during the holiday season, and they’ll soon become one of your favorite indoor plants for holiday decor.

Moth Orchids

Another high-end ornamental plant option ideal for holiday landscaping is the moth orchid, the common name for the Phalaenopsis plant. Moth orchids are great year-round, but they’re especially well-suited for cold days when you’re spending a great deal of time indoors. Their elegant flowers will brighten desks and windowsills in your building for months at a time. Don’t be intimidated by their exotic appearance. They need very little to thrive inside. This plant offers a decorative touch to any workplace, and they have long-lasting flowers. 

Orchid Plant Care Tips

Orchids grow well in a warm environment, and you’ll find that they thrive most in a sunny spot. Any orchid would be another wonderful plant for a holiday gift exchange. Your coworkers will love how sophisticated it looks on their desks.

Holly

While you won’t want to add a tall holly tree to your indoor landscaping for the holidays, you can add small shrubs of holly around your office. We recommend looking for the female varieties, as only these produce bright red berries. For holly wreaths, to avoid a fire hazard, use faux (artificial) holly.

If you feel creative, you could try creating your wreaths using plastic, wood, and papier-mache. This activity doubles as a fun, festive team-building exercise to get in the holiday mood. The deep green and red colors of holly add to the holiday cheer and will look great in offices with any color scheme.

Holly Plant Care Tips

It’s important to keep your cut holly in a cool environment, away from prolonged heat or cold. Cut holly will survive for much longer if the stems remain in the water, similar to other cut flowers. If you have cut holly arrangements that include a water containment base, you should add fresh water regularly. Bringing live holly plants indoors will contribute a lively accent to your décor, but live holly won’t last more than a couple of months indoors during the winter.

Amaryllis

If you want to mix things up a bit, switch out some of your poinsettias for amaryllises. These plants have become even more popular in the past years, and they are one of the best indoor plants for holiday landscaping. Amaryllises have a beautiful bloom that requires minimal care yet still lasts a few weeks. They come in a wide variety of colors to match your office décor, including red, coral, white, and pink.

Amaryllis Plant Care Tips

When you first purchase your plant, we recommend putting it in a more luxurious container instead of its original pot. This transition will help to add extra decoration to your space and highlight the beauty of this plant. Just plant the bulb in good potting soil, water regularly, and provide bright, indirect light. A support stake is handy for keeping the blooms upright, but you shouldn’t need to do much else. Most varieties will begin blooming six to eight weeks after planting, though some can take as long as ten weeks.

Kalanchoe

Kalanchoe is another top indoor winter plant. They typically keep blooming for many weeks at a time. These holiday plants usually include white, red, or pink flowers, but you can also find yellow or orange varieties. Since the kalanchoe is a succulent plant, it will appreciate bright light or direct sun. The best rooms to place these indoor plants for holiday decor are your break room, conference room, or any conditions with ample sunlight.

Kalanchoe Plant Care Tips

As far as looking after these plants, they are very low-maintenance, so you’ll only need to water them when the soil starts to feel dry. They can sometimes be a challenge when it comes to getting them to rebloom, but they’ll still make a lovely addition to your office as an evergreen plant.

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Key Takeaways

By using a combination of these best indoor plants this holiday season, you’ll have no issue adding more holiday cheer to your office. Always think about the best common areas to add holiday plants, as they’ll need to receive ample light and water they require to grow and bloom. Holiday landscaping is a wonderful way to lift your team’s spirits. With proper care, it is much more refined than adding typical holiday decorations. Enjoy mixing and matching these holiday plants this season and celebrating in a beautifully decorated environment with your team.

Boston’s #1 Holiday Decorating Plantscapers

Foliaire is a full-service interior and exterior greenscape design-build firm in Boston’s historic South End. For the last 40 years, we’ve provided the highest quality plantscaping service for clients across the Boston Metro area. We customize and plan all of our installations to fit your unique space and tastes. That’s how we’ve built a reputation of unparalleled style and elegance for both corporate and residential community projects. In addition, we’ve received several environmental design awards and have appeared in several publications, including Architectural Digest, House and Garden, Horticulture, and Interiorscape.

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Holiday Decorating: How to Plantscape for the Holidays

There’s no better way to celebrate the holidays than by planning your holiday decorating in advance. But how do you start the holiday process?

If you’re searching for a sophisticated holiday interior plant firm to enhance the beauty of your office environment, you should first understand the scope of your project. At Foliaire, we can design the perfect palette for your lobby or office to create an inspiring, memorable holiday aura. By offering a high-quality selection of unique holiday décor, you’ll maximize your enjoyment of the season. We have decorating to please every taste and situation. Whether you’re celebrating inside your office or preparing a festive lobby, we have the aesthetic expertise to exceed your expectations.

Keep reading for our best holiday decorating tips.

What you will learn in this article:

Holiday Decorating Blog Image 1

How to Plan Year-End Holiday Decorating

Knowing how to approach your holiday display requires an eye for design. That’s where we come in. By employing a combination of bright and natural holiday décor, we create a premium feel with our curated trees, faux/artificial wreaths, and lively poinsettia arrangements. We arrange our décor in various color palettes and themes to suit any event or company brand. Furthermore, we have the capacity and personnel to deliver stunning results in time for your holiday display.

 

Bring Holiday Spirit to Your Office

When it’s the most wonderful time of the year, you’ll want to celebrate in style. Our design team will install themes and decorations throughout your workplace to ensure that your space is ready for maximum effect. Whether you’re seeking traditional holiday décor or a more avant-garde approach, we can tailor the installation to your space.

Unparalleled Style & Selection

We pride ourselves on our beautiful selection of plants and ornaments. If you’re part of a commercial office space, you can include live plants like poinsettias, amaryllis, and cyclamen. White orchids and red bromeliads are also popular choices. We can custom-build any tabletop or desktop floral arrangement for common rooms and reception areas.

Our holiday decorations typically include:

  • Trees (with lights and ornaments)
  • Wreaths (for walls and doors)
  • Garlands (for fireplaces and railings)
  • Swags (diamond-shaped decorations to hang on the wall)

Holiday Decorating Blog Image 2

Step-By-Step Holiday Decorating

By decorating your office for the holidays, you provide holiday cheer that guests and employees alike will love. We offer installation and takedown of all holiday plantscaping for both large and small businesses. We manage the design, installation, takedown, and storage of all of your holiday décor. When you hire Foliaire, you can expect the whole nine yards: gorgeous artificial trees, wreaths, and garlands, as well as specialty props and custom-made tableaux.

Poinsettias and Gift Plants

Traditional live poinsettias add warmth and color to office décor and also serve as great gift plants. We have the very best floral quality in a wide range of sizes and colors– plus amaryllis, Norfolk Island pine, bromeliads, orchids, and much more.

Custom Holiday Décor

Some companies like to put up a tree with wrapped holiday boxes, simulating gifts under the tree. Not only can you customize the color palette, but you can also opt for a non-denominational display! We’re pleased to offer appropriate features for all cultures, ranging from traditional Christmas plants, Kwanzaa banners, and Hanukkah décor. We also help you see the potential in any office space – lobbies, cafeterias, conference rooms, and much more.

Fire Safety Precautions

There are comprehensive safety precautions we implement to reduce the risk of fire. For example, we don’t use cut, live evergreen trees, wreaths or swags, to protect your employees and guests against any risk of fire. In addition, we follow all fire code regulations.

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When to Unveil Your Holiday Décor

Timing

Our holiday installations traditionally start right after Thanksgiving. After all, most people want to see their holiday installations immediately to have the longest time to enjoy them. Consequently, we recommend booking your installation date early. This planning will ensure that your installation happens on your schedule.

First, book your installation in August or September to allow ample lead time for your holiday decorating. Then, we will typically conduct an on-site visit or walk-through to describe your ideal holiday display. Overall, we help you design the layout of your decorations, including how many faux and live plants you’ll need.

Storage

It’s just as important to schedule when you want your décor taken down and put in storage. For all of the faux/artificial decorations that you’ll want to use each year, we’re happy to offer storage for you between seasons. This storage can be at several possible locations: our facility, storage space at your site, or in another local storage unit.

Holiday Decorating Blog Image 3

Key Takeaways

In conclusion, now is the time to initiate contact to help design and plan a holiday display at your office or business. The splendor of the Christmas season is only a few months away. Early booking ensures that we’ll be ready to transform your office into a luxurious holiday wonderland. That’s why we have a stock room full of deluxe pieces ready for us to hand-craft and tailor-fit to your property.

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Boston’s #1 Holiday Decorating Plantscapers

Foliaire is a full-service interior and exterior greenscape design-build firm in Boston’s historic South End. For the last 40 years, we’ve provided the highest quality plantscaping service for clients across the Boston Metro area. We customize and plan all of our installations to fit your unique space and tastes. That’s how we’ve built a reputation of unparalleled style and elegance for both corporate and residential community projects. In addition, we’ve received several environmental design awards and have appeared in several publications, including Architectural Digest, House and Garden, Horticulture, and Interiorscape.

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What Are Living Screens?

When considering ways to create more privacy in an office or home, there are a few different options available. Living screens allow you to avoid putting up a standard plexiglass barrier. Instead, you can create an attractive and moveable screen. Here we’re going to share everything you need to know about these beautiful features and how you can incorporate them into your office. 

What you will learn in this article:

Living Walls – How Do These Privacy Screens Work?

Living screens are widely used within office spaces today. If you have an open-plan office space, there’s often a desire to separate individual office areas. Many want to create more privacy for employees and managers. Instead of using a plexiglass barrier or a fabric-covered sectional, living screens provide privacy using indoor plants or live moss. They can be created from artificial or live plants, offering you a low-maintenance solution and adding more indoor plantscaping to your space.

Where Can Living Screens Be Used?

We place living screens where you would otherwise add other types of privacy solutions. As we mentioned above, you see them in office spaces. Designers often find these to be an excellent solution for their reception or waiting area, offering visitors more privacy or shielding them from seeing confidential material about the business they’re visiting.

Living screens are part of an interior plantscape design, and, as such, they create a more attractive working environment than you would otherwise have with other privacy options.  Indoor plantscaping offers so many benefits to everyone working within the space, which is why we highly encourage offices to consider this more appealing option. The plants used for living screens are carefully selected to thrive in an indoor environment.

To learn more about adding living accents to your space explore our Interior Services.

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The Benefits of Living Screens

There are so many reasons why companies today opt to use living screens instead of standard privacy dividers. When you add living walls to your space, you’ll notice all of these benefits immediately, creating a more inviting and relaxing working environment for your employees.

Instant Privacy

Living screens use indoor plants to create privacy and improve discretion and security for your employees. They are an instant solution that doesn’t require you to build permanent walls for your employees but will still protect them from prying eyes and those working nearby. Especially in spaces that see a lot of activity, they can offer your staff members the privacy they need to focus on the task at hand, instead of being distracted every few minutes. We also appreciate that they can be easy to move around as either a temporary or permanent solution.

Improved Air Quality

Living screens that contain real indoor plants also contribute to improving the air quality within your office. Especially for people who are sensitive to pollution, improved air quality is something we are all looking to increase today. Live plants literally cleanse the air around you, making them ideal for use to create an overall healthy environment.

Maintenance

When installing these screens into your office, you may be concerned about them outgrowing your space. When it comes to these privacy screens, you have two options; artificial or live indoor plants. Of course, if you opt for artificial plants, you won’t have to worry about them growing beyond the wall. Even with real indoor plants, you will find that the types of moss and plants used are very easy to maintain and don’t need more than weekly attention or care.

Safety and Security

Safety is always been one of the top priorities today within offices and buildings. To keep people separated from hazards or unsightly areas, you may want to incorporate living screens into space. They can also keep unwanted visitors out of a space ideal for when a meeting is in progress or confidential matters are underway.

Planning Before You Install Living Screens

While living screens are quick and easy to install – usually completed in one day, we always encourage you to do some prior planning before purchasing this type of interior plantscape design for your office. The great news is that living privacy screens come in all shapes and sizes and can be fully customized to fit your requirements. You’ll want to start by meeting with the experts, and together planning out your space and deciding where exactly you want to place them.

As well as planning out the interior spaces you are trying to create within your office; you may want to think about your current indoor plantscaping. How will living privacy screens enhance your office’s overall aesthetic? When adding this new structure, we recommend that you use a living wall as an accent feature. Too many plants within a small space can reduce the impact of the element. 

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About Foliaire

Foliaire is a full-service interior and exterior greenscape design-build firm in Boston’s historic South End. For the last 40 years, we’ve provided the highest quality plantscaping service for clients all across the Boston Metro area. We customize and plan all of our installations to fit your unique space and tastes. That’s how we’ve built a reputation of unparalleled style and elegance for both corporate and residential community projects. In addition, we’ve received several environmental design awards and have appeared in several publications, including Architectural Digest, House and Garden, Horticulture, and Interiorscape. Follow us on social media to learn more: 

What is a Living Wall?

We’re all looking for ways to bring more nature into our homes or offices. A living wall is an excellent way to elevate your current space. Sometimes known as green walls, this concept has been around for many years now but has become increasingly popular in the last few years. Living walls are no longer just reserved for huge architectural projects and are instead becoming staples of spaces of any size and shape. Today we’re going to share everything you need to know about adding a living wall to your property this year and the top considerations for adding this feature to a home or building.

What You’ll Learn In This Article:

What are Living Walls?

Living walls are panels of indoor plants which are grown vertically using hydroponics. They can either be attached to a wall or free-standing, depending on the space you are using. You may sometimes hear these structures referred to as green walls or vertical gardens. However, they generally refer to the same type of indoor plantscaping.

How Do Living Walls Work?

One reason why so many property owners today are considering indoor plantscaping with a living wall is a lack of space in modern residential spaces. Living walls are built in the same manner as regular walls. The fabrication team will start with a structure installed in individual sections to create your ideal living wall. You’ll find there are many high-tech options available on the market today, including self-watering systems with hidden pipes. While you can water your living wall by hand, self-watering is a great option for a low-maintenance solution for your home. Living walls work to add a large number of plants to even the smallest of spaces, thanks to the ability to extend all the way up your wall. So instead of taking over your floor as traditional indoor plants would do, you can make the most of unused space in your home and transform it into an indoor garden.

What are the Best Indoor Plants for Living Walls?

When selecting the best indoor plants for your living wall, it’s important to consider the space. Where you will be adding this feature to your property is the first decision you should consider. The type of plants you choose will be dependent on the size of the wall you are creating and the amount of light you can offer the plants.

Philodendrons are a popular option for living walls, as they are vining plants known for their fast growth. They need very little attention, which makes them a superb choice for this type of interior landscaping. Ferns are another good option for living walls, and they also grow reasonably quickly. However, they will need more moisture than other options and both should be placed in indirect but bright light where possible. Of course, the options are unlimited when adding plants to a living wall, so you can mix and match plants to create your desired look.

The Benefits of Adding a Living Wall to Your Home

Living walls offer an aesthetically pleasing addition to your already stylish home. You’ll find that living walls also offer a wide variety of benefits. Plants help absorb any carbon dioxide or other pollutants and then release clean oxygen instead to maintain a clean environment for your home. On top of that, they’ll minimize the noise in your home or from the apartment next door. Based on research, people’s mood and productivity are improved when surrounded by nature. Which is why living walls are so popular within offices today.

Within cities today, we are often running out of outdoor space to build new parks and outdoor green spaces. So individuals are looking for interior landscaping ideas to incorporate into apartments and office blocks. Yet, even during the winter months, you’ll still receive your daily dose of nature from the comfort of your home. When it’s more challenging to spend time outdoors, you can still enjoy nature indoors.

Where Can Living Walls be Installed?

Living walls are used by individuals and businesses today in a wide variety of buildings. They add a unique decorative element that will elevate any building and add a central focus point to the room. In addition, you’ll find that a living wall adds more texture and color to uninspiring spaces. They are the ideal solution for any property that has minimal floor space. Quaint apartment or an office filled with many desks and furniture? You can still add a beautiful living wall to your space. You can add living walls to hallways, reception areas, living rooms, meeting rooms, and any other space you fancy. It could be as small or as big as you like and designed to fit around even the most awkward wall spaces.

Custom Living Wall Designs

No two living walls will look the same, thanks to the variation in real plants used within their design. However, to create a really unique addition to your property, you can create a custom-made living wall. Green walls are customized to your specifications. This allows you to incorporate lighting, shelving, or a television screen into any space. Today, many companies use a living wall within their reception area and will incorporate their company’s logo or a welcome screen into the design. As with any interior landscaping, the sky’s the limit when it comes to creating a living wall. You can customize it to blend in with your current home décor and styling.

Next Steps…

Living walls offer many benefits to homeowners today and have become a frequent addition to homes of all shapes and sizes. If you are looking to bring an element of nature into your home but have already run out of space for indoor plants, you’ll find this to be an excellent solution. Living walls can brighten up any home, and they offer many environmental and health benefits to property owners. By choosing the best indoor plants for your home environment, you can enjoy a daily dose of nature without having to spend too much time on the upkeep of your new wall feature.

Ready for your own custom living wall? Foliaire can help!

Learn more about our expert indoor plantscaping services today!

Explore Our Interior Services

About Foliaire

Foliaire is a full-service interior and exterior greenscape design-build firm in Boston’s historic South End. For the last 40 years, we’ve provided the highest quality plantscaping service for clients all across the Boston Metro area. We customize and plan all of our installations to fit your unique space and tastes. That’s how we’ve built a reputation of unparalleled style and elegance for both corporate and residential community projects. In addition, we’ve received several environmental design awards and have appeared in several publications, including Architectural Digest, House and Garden, Horticulture, and Interiorscape. Follow us on social media to learn more: 

What is Urban Landscaping?

Cities today are becoming more populated than ever before, forcing exterior landscape designers to find new and creative ways to work with the city environment. Urban landscaping works to add residential and commercial gardens to areas with a small footprint. Residents in cities today are still looking to enjoy spending time outdoors. City landscaping helps to offer an improved quality of life for individuals worldwide.

What you’ll learn in this article:

Features of Urban Landscaping

Designers and landscapers today are incredibly creative when making the most of the limited space in city environments. Urban landscaping can transform any plot or rooftop into a beautiful space in which homeowners and residents will enjoy spending time outdoors. With the ever-increasing population in cities, these outdoor spaces help offer residents much-needed additional living space.

Urban landscaping commonly includes: 

  • Adding rooftop gardens to buildings
  • Terrace landscaping
  • Transforming courtyards or public areas within apartment complexes

In addition to private properties, large corporations use urban landscaping to offer their employees an outdoor space to visit on their lunch break. Individuals today are beginning to understand the benefits that spending time in nature can provide to everyone. Even in cities, creating beautiful outdoor spaces can be crafted with the proper design.

Urban landscaping usually combines various elements and techniques to create outdoor spaces that are functional yet aesthetically pleasing. Recreational areas and parks often feature modern art installations, playgrounds, and facilities for pets. They take older spaces and make them usable and accessible to an increased population. Water management and horticulture best practices are the first steps. Then, buildings and outdoor spaces can offer residents the chance to spend more time in nature. These environmentally conscious spaces decrease stress and promote a more balanced lifestyle. These spaces last for very many years and serve to attract more residents in the future.

Urban landscaping on a rooftop area with beautiful foliage by Foliaire Inc. in Boston, MA

How Does Urban Landscaping Work?

Urban landscaping starts with a piece of land of any shape or size. Then, you improve its aesthetic and usability for the neighboring area or building. However beautiful your space is now, urban landscaping can completely transform it. The goal is to offer a beautiful and relaxing place of nature within the city. Of course, this can sometimes be an incredibly challenging undertaking, especially with more quaint and compact spaces. Urban landscaping involves architects, surveyors, horticulturists, and landscape designers. These experts work together to enhance the building while ensuring the garden is safe for humans and animals.

Planning is a crucial consideration when opting to add rooftop gardens or terrace landscaping to a property. Concept plans will help visualize whether the idea is realistic with the space you are working with and will help to strategically place plants, grass, and trees in the garden. Suppose fencing and decking are also part of the plan. In that case, you’ll also map out the plans for these additions. You can split urban landscape design into a few steps. This way, landscapers and designers work within city environments and make the most of their limited space.

Educational and Recreational Spaces

Urban landscaping also offers an excellent tool to educate the population on farming and wildlife. Community gardens often help schools or nonprofits. Many of these organizations welcome the public to visit to learn more about gardening with limited space. Today, many apartment blocks have a communal garden space. These spaces allow residents to meet and work together to maintain their surroundings. Furthermore, city farms can help children learn more about farm animals and gardens.

Explore some of Foliaire’s work in urban landscaping spaces!

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Working With Restrictions

One of the biggest concerns when undertaking an urban landscaping project is the state and local government restrictions. These restrictions will dictate what you can add to a building’s rooftop or courtyard area and the extent to which you can change the area’s overall appearance. When adding plants or water features, it’s critical to consider both water restrictions and weight limitations, which may impact the water usage in an area. Natural bodies of water often can’t be touched within cities, which may reduce the space available to you when considering a city landscaping project.

Element restrictions can also dictate the type of plants and grass you can add to rooftop gardens. Some cities will only allow you to use low-water plants or native species. From there, you can review the zoning laws, which will regulate fence placement and height, and the structures, fencing, and decking you can add to a project. Restrictions may seem like quite an inconvenience for urban landscapers, but you must take the time to review these first for anyone undertaking a new project.

Planning for Urban Landscaping

Design mockup for urban landscaping rooftop project

After assessing all panning considerations, time must be allotted for the planning process. After that, you’ll be ready to begin constructing rooftop gardens or commercial gardens. The site will need to be fully surveyed and assessed to identify how you can transform it for another use. A plot plan or site plan will allow designers to find locations for drainage. For permanent structures, blueprints are submitted to ensure that the project is allowed to go ahead and will follow all of the restrictions in place in the city.

Key Takeaways

The number of people living within cities is only continuing to increase. With the limited number of private gardens attached to homes, urban landscaping helps to offer residents a way to spend time outdoors and connect with nature. The work that landscapers and designers complete today in cities are incredible. They can take an old and unused space and repurpose it for specific communities. If you’re thinking about urban landscaping, you should always follow the regulations for your local area. Create thorough plans before starting work. With the right guidance, you can make the most of any outdoor space and create a beautiful roof garden or terrace to make your evirons enjoyable.

If you’re looking to take advantage of your urban environment, Foliaire can help!

Learn more about our expert city landscape design services today

Exterior Services

About Foliaire

Foliaire is a full-service interior and exterior greenscape design-build firm in Boston’s historic South End. For the last 40 years, we’ve provided the highest quality plantscaping service for clients all across the Boston Metro area. We customize and plan all of our installations to fit your unique space and tastes. That’s how we’ve built a reputation of unparalleled style and elegance for both corporate and residential community projects. In addition, we’ve received several environmental design awards and have appeared in several publications, including Architectural Digest, House and Garden, Horticulture, and Interiorscape. Follow us on social media to learn more: 

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