One of the most popular exhibits at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art isn’t a Matisse or Warhol. It’s a “living wall,” a vertical plant installation that brings a soothing forest of greenery into the museum’s urban landscape.
San Jose native David Brenner is the visionary behind it. He doesn’t necessarily consider himself an artist. But with a degree in horticulture sciences from Cal Poly, the Albany resident has won praise for “painting” the walls of office buildings, museums and private homes with artful arrangements of plants.
To create living walls, Brenner’s San Francisco company, Habitat Horticulture, uses a lightweight backdrop of recycled water bottles to hold plants in place, an irrigation system that keeps them nourished and a design that takes into account micro climate, foliage color, leaf texture, flowering times and how plants interact with each other. Yearning for a living wall of your own? Brenner’s Gromeos are mini-vertical gardens that come ready to hang.
Q What got you interested in gardening and plants?
A My grandparents would go to Italy every summer. I was left watering their garden in Willow Glen, and the plants had this therapeutic effect on me. It didn’t really hit home until years later, when I went to Cal Poly and had to choose a major, that I thought, I like plants! When I got past the heavy science, I realized I loved to create spaces with plants. I was interested in all the different colors and shapes and textures — the wackier the better.
Q How do you make a living wall?
A A living wall grows in a medium that can be free-standing or attached to a wall. We use Growtex, a medium we developed. Many different plants can grow in it. We use a peatlike mixture, provide the nutrients and the water. The highest wall we’ve done is about 100 feet. The sky is the limit.
Q Living walls don’t need much land. In urban areas, that must be a plus…
A Absolutely. But another advantage is that, when the garden is elevated, we have this different connection with the plants. If you have a fern frond in a living wall, it’s like a friend you get to know. It enters your space in a different way and demands the attention I think it deserves.
Q You also studied psychology at Cal Poly. How are gardens therapeutic?
A There are some studies that show that just seeing greenery helps lower blood pressure and heart rate. (Other studies) look at how people may be friendlier when they are around gardens, or how they make you more creative, your cognitive performance increases, and you can actually function better.
Q When you get a living wall commission, is it a long process?
A It can be, yeah. We work primarily with architects and a whole design team to understand how the system is going to be integrated into the building. We look at the mechanical aspects and plumbing: How can the pipes get to it? Are we going to recirculate the water? What about the maintenance? Then you get to the fun part, which is designing the plant palette.
Q Are there certain kinds of plants that work best in living walls?
A There’s definitely a handful of plants on the bullet-proof list: certain philodendrons, goldfish plants, Austral Gem ferns, parlour palms. For most projects, I keep about 90 percent of the palette limited to species I’ve used before with much success. With 10 percent, I experiment with new species that give each wall a unique look and feel.
Q What suggestions do you have for people who want to create their own?
A It’s the same thing for any garden: You have to look at the environmental conditions. Light is the biggest consideration.
Q How are your Gromeos selling?
A We can’t build them fast enough! We had the idea to launch them before the pandemic, but once it hit, we thought, “People need them now.” I have this feeling that after this pandemic, people are going to embrace life in all forms, and plants are a big part of that.
4 living walls designed by David Brenner
SF MOMA: The plant palette for the largest continuous living wall in the country includes ferns and other perennials native to California woodlands.
California Academy of Sciences: The native California plants in this wall include the Polypodium californicum, which can be found in any given forest or hill in California and adds bright textural highlights; the Heuchera maxima, which adds softness; and the flowering Rubus parviflorus, which creates distinctive lines in the composition.
601 City Center, 601 12th Street, Oakland: The installation “Urban Ecotones” in the east lobby features an interplay of varying tones, colors and textures to celebrate Oakland’s cultural diversity.
Foundry Square III, 505 Howard St., San Francisco: The lobby features two adjoining living walls and two floor-to-ceiling glass walls that allow passersby to view 12,500 plants inhabiting the space.
