Julie and Jeff Morrill's living wall features built-in irrigation and provides a sense of calm to their dining room. (Photo by Sarah Walor)
The wall in Julie and Jeff Morrill’s dining room is green. Not the green of a paint chip, but the vibrant green of living foliage. It grew out of Julie’s lifelong love of houseplants.
A green wall, or living wall, provides a whole new perspective on houseplants — vertical vegetation. A layer of low-light tropical plants arranged in a mosaic of geometric patterns or a free-form abstraction of natural shapes, textures and color on a residential or commercial wall, it’s an indoor oasis that helps boost oxygen levels and adds natural humidity to a space.
The green wall in the Morrills’ home is a modular system — easy to install and easy to maintain. A series of six stacked trays, installed at an angle, holds parallel rows of plants in 4-inch pots. There is built-in infrastructure for irrigation — a reservoir hidden behind the baseboard is programmed to pump water into the trays once a week. The plants absorb moisture through holes in the bottom of their pots. Julie’s job is to keep the reservoir filled. “I mist it every other day in the winter when it’s dry,” she adds. A Solatube skylight floods the space with morning sun. Directly across from the wall, a window offers eastern exposure.
“Living with living things makes us feel healthier, uplifted.” —Patrick Farley
The Morrills chose Richmond architect Patrick Farley to design their low-impact home, including the green wall. The first LEED-accredited architect in Central Virginia, Farley’s ecologically mindful approach appealed to their design sensibilities and supports their own commitment to sustainability. He practices biophilic design, “creating a sense of connectivity with nature in our living spaces,” as he explains it. Derived from the root words “bio,” which means “of or relating to life,” and “philia,” or friendship, “biophilia” refers to man’s natural affinity for nature. Farley considers Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater house to be the first truly biophilic home and the inspiration for his own career focus.
The green wall in the Merrills’ dining room is rooted in the principles of biophilic design. “Living with living things makes us feel healthier, uplifted,” Farley says. “I tend to locate this life at the heart.” Julie echoes his enthusiasm. “Having life in the house is the best part about it,” she says. “The concentration of green is soothing, peaceful, calming. Our guests feel instantly at ease.”
Scotty Guinn Dilworth curated the collection of plants that grow in the Morrills’ green wall. Dilworth specializes in sustainable plantscape design, including green roofs and rain gardens. She painted the Morrills’ wall in a palette of plants: autumn fern, deer foot fern, neon pothos, blue star ferns, rex begonia and philodendron, punctuating it with red lipstick plants for contrast.
Julie has found that she likes to experiment, popping in new plants including orchids, herbs and even a Venus flytrap. She moves the plants around. “It’s dynamic,” she says. “Some plants thrive; others need to be replaced. It’s flexible and seasonal.” She has a “recovery center” upstairs where a plant goes to get more light if it proves to be intolerant of the growing conditions in the wall. Although Julie admits “the temptation to prune the plants or rearrange the pots can be a distraction,” it’s a distraction she welcomes.
