Lichen FAQs
What is a lichen installation?
We design works of art out of preserved natural lichen. This lichen was once living but has been preserved to hold its color and texture. All lichen installations are maintenance free and a visually striking way to bring in a sense of nature into your interior space.
What are the benefits of a lichen installation?
Similarly to Living walls, preserved lichen will continue to draw moisture and airborne particles including dust out of the air even though isn’t actively alive and has been preserved. Lichen installations contribute to cleaning air naturally in a sustainable and far more economical way than using air purifiers.
Do you need to maintain lichen installations?
Since the lichen is preserved and not living, there is no maintenance. Want to know ideal care for the piece? Please see my infographic here!
It is best practice to keep your piece out of direct sunlight - like anything you don’t want to fade in your space. Please install pieces away from central air units because the lichen can harden up if it gets too dry.
How do you install a lichen installation?
Such a great question, please see my infographic here! Please reach out if you have any questions.
Vertical
Garden
FAQs
What is a vertical garden?
A living wall, vertical garden, or green wall are all living artworks that are installed vertically on a wall. Our system has an integrated waterproof backing, uses a felt composed of recycled water bottles, and is specially designed for optimal plant growth.
Vertical gardens can be soil based, hydroponic, or a hybrid of the two. We use a hybrid design because soil based systems can be extremely heavy, and hydroponic systems have higher maintenance associated with them. We use a hybrid design that is lightweight and modular, allowing us to nest each plant in its own soil, within a felt pocket, giving us flexibility to evolve the living designs by easily switching out plants without changing the entire system. An additional advantage of our system is that roots will grow into the felt allowing the plants to continue to thrive.
In the Northeast, living walls tend to be installed indoors, unless intended for seasonal attractions or events. In Florida, living walls can be indoors or outdoors.
What are the benefits to having a vertical garden?
Vertical gardens have been shown to improve air quality by cleaning pollutants through leaves and roots, increasing oxygen levels, and reducing particulates by 20%. They can also regulate humidity levels, and reduce noise levels - great for homes, restaurants, and office spaces.
For us, what is truly incredible about vertical gardens is the power biophilic design has to reduce stress, increase focus, and productivity. Many studies have proven that being surrounded by plants is good for our health and well-being.
These benefits can even give your building project LEED points.
What type of plants can be used in a vertical garden?
For interior living walls, we select houseplants based on your specific conditions and guided by your aesthetic. Given the climate, most botanical displays in Philadelphia will be indoors using such plants such as ferns, Philodendron, pothos, lipstick plants and other tropicals.
How much maintenance is needed?
Every living wall is a living artwork with slightly different needs. Like anything living, a little care is necessary. The growth of the plants, size of the installation, and client’s needs dictate maintenance.
Our systems are self watering and depending on if you want a recirculating system or a system integrated into your plumbing, the design can be fully automated for plants to thrive on just a quarterly or monthly maintenance regime. For a more manicured look, we offer a more frequent maintenance package.
For installations outside of Philadelphia, Linnea Botanicals will offer support by finding a local landscaper or interior plantscaper to maintain the vertical garden.
How does a vertical garden get watered?
Linnea Botanicals designs only automatic irrigation systems. All of our living wall designs are self-watering so you don’t have to remember to do it. There is so much to focus on in life and watering your plants shouldn’t have to be one of them.
Depending on the system you select, adding additional water to a reservoir every other week might be needed.
What is your vertical garden system made of?
As a company operating with sustainable practices, the felt in our systems is made out of recycled water bottles. In addition to selecting sustainable materials, most of our installations are recirculating which means we use the same water over and over again. As long as the water is changed every 4-6 months, the plants will thrive with the same water.
What is Biophilia?
“Biophilia is a human tendency to interact or be closely associated with other forms of life in nature: a desire or tendency to commune with nature.” - Merriam-Webster
”Biophilic design is a concept used within the building industry to increase occupant connectivity to the natural environment through the use of direct nature, indirect nature, and space and place conditions.” - Wikipedia
Have more questions?
Please reach out to info@linneabotanicals.com