Who We Are

We are horticultural professionals who seek to positively change the world with unique applications of plants.

What We Believe

We believe that to do planted walls right, planted walls must first and foremost grow healthy plants, and therefore must parallel nature.

What We Do

We strive to improve the world by restoring the balance between green spaces and hard spaces.  We do what we believe, and we treat others how we would like to be treated.

Supplier of Living Walls That Work

LiveWall, LLC is an eco-friendly vertical garden enterprise based in Spring Lake, Michigan. We manufacture and supply living wall structures preferred by architects, landscape architects, contractors, developers and facility managers. We ship our green wall systems globally.

LiveWall is designed to be the living wall system that empowers owners and contractors to be successful in their living wall experiences.

Our History

LiveWall is a division of Hortech, Inc., one of the Midwest’s leading wholesale growers of sustainably-grown perennials.

Hortech Inc. and its subsidiaries are led by founder Dave MacKenzie, horticulturalist, biologist, inventor, and author.  After achieving national renown as a leader in horticulture, Dave had sufficient experience to re-think and improve green roofs as a key contributor to responsible green building design.

This led to a new company, LiveRoof Global, LLC (in 2006) which quickly became the industry standard for quality. This, in turn, lead to customers asking for a new/better way of planting walls (based on similar horticulturally sustainable design).

Dave MacKenzie, horticulturalist, founder and inventor of LiveWall.

Dave MacKenzie, horticulturalist, author, inventor and founder of LiveWall.

As he did previously (with LiveRoof), Dave and his staff listened to plant care professionals, and then tested existing products. What was learned was discouraging; there were a lot of root-rot diseases, stem/leaf-feeding insects and high mortality. Ongoing maintenance and replacement costs were high.

It was concluded that these issues were the result of forcing plants to grow sideways, watering them in a “trickle down” manner, growing them without soil or with insufficient soil, and not allowing for sufficient soil aeration (sometimes wicking water upward).

So, Dave and his staff set about designing a living wall system that gave plants “what they need”, namely upright stem orientation, downward growing roots, a soil-based growing medium with beneficial soil-borne microflora, and irrigation that moves downward like rain. Once this was done, the plants grew well.

Next, designers and engineers were consulted, to make it look nice, make it attach easily (to walls), to make lasting, and to make it easy to plant and replant (for easy serviceability). And, this is what led to the founding of LiveWall, LLC, and to our focus on “empowering others” to green vertical surfaces.

Our system is simple and logical; easy to install by anyone with basic construction skills. And our supporting written and video protocols for plant selection and pairing, irrigation, lighting and plant care, are such that anyone with basic horticultural skills can successfully plant and care for it.

Please visit the Products section of our website to learn more about our unique system.

Or, call us at 877-554-4065 and we will help you get started with your green wall project.