Woollyschool Garden

We’re thrilled to feature international garden designer Diana Harari as this month’s Woolly Design Star! Diana splits her time (and projects) between Mexico City and NYC. For this woolly project, she solves a very common urban (and suburban) landscape problem – what to plant outside a picture window that has no view? Her answer, a beautiful living tapestry of shade-loving plants endemic to Mexico, happily growing in a Woolly Wall.

Name: Diana Harari
Company Name: Dos Arquitectura Construccion
Website: http://dianaharari.carbonmade.com/
Blog: http://diangerous.blogspot.com
Location and Areas Served: Mexico City and New York City

1. What services do you offer?

Anything related to architecture, urban design and environmental design.

2. How did you get into landscape design?
I studied my masters in Urban Environmental Systems and realized how important the open space is in the big cities as New York and Mexico. We are surrounded by pavement and buildings so the vegetation is important and necessary.

3. What’s your design philosophy?
Anything that is natural will be nice and comfortable. I don’t know what exactly is my philosophy but I know that capricious architecture is not.

Before

After

4. What are some of your favorite plants for Woolly Pockets?
I know the names in Spanish… But basically the ones that hang like ivy.  I used endemic plants as well because they need less water and are more comfortable in their own land. Here are the names of the plants used in the installation:

1. Hiedra sueca – Lamiaceae plectranthus verticillatus
2. Hiedra azul – Hedera helix
3. Velo de novia – Gipsofila
4. Millonaria – Plectranthus australis
5. Telefono – Scindapsus aureus
6. Pasto liston – Chlorophytum comosum
7. Peluca
8. Cola de borrego – Sedum ‘Morganianum’
9. Acopa
10. Alamo
11. Coleus – Solenostemon scutellarioides

All the plants are for shadow and endemic to Mexico.

5. Is this your first installation using Woolly Pocket?
Yes

6. What was the client’s initial response to installing a living wall? And the end result?
My client was looking to do a living wall so I offered this system because is faster, cheaper and better for the plants than other living wall systems.

7. What was your experience working with Woolly Pocket?
It was an easy process. The people from Woolly Pocket answered all my questions. The website is very helpful too, like the videos.

8. What do you see as the greatest benefit of using Woolly Pockets?
Its nice, fast, easy and a great environment for the plants.

9. How are living walls & vertical gardening changing landscape design?
In big cities where there is not enough horizontal space we need to have vertical vegetation in order breath and keep our environment clean. I see the future full of vegetation growing vertically, even for agriculture.

10. How/where are you planning to use Woolly Pockets next?
I cant wait to have them everywhere, I think they automatically make a space look nicer. I would love to have them in buildings facades.

We can’t wait to see Diana’s next Woolly Project!