Complete!

Delayed reaction... but we completed the living wall for the Charleston Garden Festival. The wall was up for a mere week (October 12 - 19th) at Middleton Place. The sides of the wall as seen in this photo were beautiful reclaimed wood donated by Whole Log Lumber in North Carolina. The front of the wall was constructed of creeping jenny and green moss. The back was an abstract pattern of various ground cover plants and flowers, spanish moss and green moss.

In addition to the Living Wall project A New Leaf Studio participated in the annual Charleston Garden Festival by presenting a demonstration entitled "Floral Design with Native Plants". All and all a very successful weekend! I am a bit sad that it is over.

Skirts for Skirt! Magazine

Last Thursday we created skirt centerpieces for the Skirt! Magazine annual party benefiting the Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation at Bridgeside Events. The skirts were constructed out of tomato cages, chicken wire, floral foam and lots and lots of dahlias. The wire mannequin forms on top of both of the skirts were created by the amazingly talented Sarah Beauchene of Center-It Designs.

Building by Trial and Error

Greg and I originally decided that we would try to buy pre-made living wall panels to plant into, but quickly realized that there wasn't anything on the market that would be sturdy enough or transportable (is that a word?) enough. So - we decided to build.

Chicken wire, landscape fabric, 2x4's and a little gumption is all we need (we think). We've also decided that we may be the largest consumer of "poultry netting" in Charleston county in 2008.

We've procured plants from Church Creek Nursery (www.churchcreeknursery.com) and built all of our panels. Our goal this week is to raise this so called barn and begin planting!

The LIVING WALL Project

A few months ago, Greg Watkins of Islandscape Landscaping and I volunteered to create the entryway for the 2008 Charleston Garden Festival at Middleton Place. Both of us were very excited about it as this year's festival is dedicated to sustainable gardening, landscape design and giving back to the community.

In a flash we had the brilliant idea to create a "living wall" out of plants planted in the butterfly image that represents this year's festival. We envisioned a 15'x15'x5' square archway utilizing vibrant chartreuse green foliage, blue flowers, green moss and reclaimed wood. In retrospect, easier said than done!

We are 1/2 way into the creation of this structure and it has definitely been an adventure. We've learned a lot... had some successes... a lot of failures and have encountered some great people and great ideas along the way.