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Thigmotrope Satellite is a beautiful tool that you can use to create your own vertical garden using tillandsia air plants. Thigmotrope Satellite is a vehicle for cultivating nature in otherwise impossible-to-reach places: that smooth wall in the living room, the little area next to the bathtub, or just above the kitchen sink.

Thigmotrope Satellite is simple to install and makes caring for tillandsia air plants equally easy. It screws directly into a mounting surface such as painted drywall or a wood plaque. If you pre-drill, you can even screw it into a concrete or masonry surface. Its three prongs gently cradle your air plants, allowing for effortless placement and removal for watering and rearrangement.

We’re got Thigmotrope Satellites here in our San Francisco store, and also in our Web Shop. We also have an enormous collection of tillandsia air plants to create your own unique garden with.

Composed of solid welded steel, it’s made right here in the San Francisco Bay Area.

So what’s with the name Thigmotrope? “Thigmotropism” refers to the instinct of certain organisms to turn toward touch, as for instance the roots of an air plant embrace the bark of a tree, or a vine wraps its tendrils around a twig.

This is a photo of our first ever Woolly Pocket garden, installed in 2010. We were so excited to be among the first stores to carry Woolly Pockets and offer the “Wally One” in our Web Shop. Since then, we’ve put vertical gardens in all kinds of places, but this was our first.

Here is the same garden a few months later, all filled-in. The pockets have disappeared behind the plants, and the vertical garden is thriving.

In February 2009 we created this vertical garden for the Bardessono Hotel in Yountville. This project had some tough requirements. We had about a month to design and install the project. The clients wanted a vertical garden, but there was not any drainage at the site. But the folks at the Bardessono were  fantastic to work with – and we were thrilled to be involved with this LEED Platinum-certified hotel.

I worked with Seth Boor on the design, and my honey Kevin Smith installed the project.

The tillandsias are thriving in the bright light of the lobby. I think they look like fireworks – or mass of sea creatures – or an invasion of aliens.

ABOVE: Flora and Baby Greyson enjoying the Bardessono Hotel lobby