This spectacular green wall is perfect for people who kill plants

By Hamish McDougall

When you need to up the ante on a dear friend’s irritatingly fabulous teal feature wall, the ultimate play is a green wall. But for those of us with an unfortunate habit of assassinating houseplants (more on how not to kill potplants here, btw), the solution is a spectacular preserved moss wall. Which is what, exactly?

Boulevard met up with Andy Eng, project director at Mosscape, to find out.

Boulevard: So what are preserved moss walls then?

Andy: The most common question clients ask me is, are preserved moss walls alive or dead? The answer is somewhere in between: preserved mosses and foliage are all 100% natural plants. The only difference is that they’ve gone through a preservation process.

Boulevard: And what does that involve?

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Andy: We drain out the water from the plants, and add preservatives to prolong the life span.

Boulevard: Why preserved moss over a regular live green wall?

Andy: For a live green wall you need sunlight, and if you don’t have sunlight, you have to install a grow light or spotlight. You need an irrigation system to do daily watering. And you need a discharge outlet to drain the excess water.

Whereas preserved plants don’t need sunlight, they don’t need water, and they don’t need a discharge outlet. They also don’t need much maintenance – you just need to dust it once in a while!

Boulevard: Brilliant! And how long will it last?

Andy: So the lifespan of preserved moss – we can offer a warranty for three years, but only because the first sample in our office has been going for three years so far. In a month’s time, we can offer three years and one month warranty!

In Europe, preserved moss has lasted over five years.

Boulevard: What kind of space is right for preserved moss?

Andy: You’ll need to avoid direct sunlight, avoid direct water contact, and the most important thing to avoid is high humidity. Anything less than 80% humidity shouldn’t be a problem. So it’s actually the opposite of a live plant.

Boulevard: What can you do with it? How does it come?

Andy: The preserved moss can range from a small, framed piece through to a full wall customised to your home. As long as you’ve got the space, we can create something for it.

Boulevard: And what’s it like, the moss?

Andy: All the mosses feel natural, they’re soft, exactly as mosses should feel.

Boulevard: What’s the benefit – why are people bringing green walls into their homes?

Andy: Green is a very relaxing colour, it relaxes the eyes and de-stresses. In Singapore, our pace is very fast; we want to de-stress, we want to relax, yet we have no time for maintaining plants or live green walls.

With preserved moss, everybody can have green fingers.

Mosscape is a subsidiary of the renowned local horticulture company Nyee Phoe Group – which has been in operation for 108 years, and is responsible for some of Singapore’s most striking green wall projects.