The rooftop Biergarten at Schneithorst’s restaurant was completely renovated the summer of 2016. They added a fire pit, four mounted televisions, a new bar with glass etchings, new light fixtures on columns, remote ceiling fans, wood decking, new seating AND an exterior green wall. We were asked to be a part of this exciting project and are thrilled to have participated. This is the first exterior green wall in our area.
This design idea was to create a ‘swoosh’ of plants (using dracaena) across the wall to mimic the ‘swoosh’ in our branding. This was our first exterior wall so we thought it would be fun to put our ‘brand’ on it even though we would be the only ones who might get it! Still fun! This was created by dividing the wall into 12 grids. There are 6 panels 8” apart and 48 trays. Each tray holds five 6” plants. We had to get creative with our plant list due to the late install….some plants on our original wish list are no longer available or no longer came in 6” pots.
We redesigned a few times. To give the space a pop of color we used crotons to pull out the red in the wood decking they are using. We used two varieties to spice it up and were happy to be able to get the asparagus meyerii and dracaena marginata. We have used schefflera arboricola in the sun but not this variety ‘Sparkle Bush” but it did great. This wall faces west and will get sun from 1:30 on. We thought, “This could be tough!” But all of these tropicals performed well for us.
We think the first exterior green wall in our area was a big success and everyone involved was excited. Now we are in year two and the design has stayed much the same although some plant varieties have changes slightly. The plant wall has added a colorful and vibrant, “alive” feeling to this space. Everyone wants to sit by the plant wall!