SEATTLE — The largest living wall in the western hemisphere is in Seattle, inside the Amazon Spheres. Ciscoe Morris explored it with Justin Schroeder, the man in charge of keeping it lush.
"So Justin, I love the living tweedle out of a these walls. So how many are there?" asked Ciscoe.
"We have four different walls, but they're all actually tied to the same system," Schroeder said, explaining what he called a "fertigation" system that watered and nourished the 60 foot walls covered in tropical plants.
"So you got all these cool plants, those giant monsteras in here," Ciscoe said.
"That's right, yeah, they can climb all the way up," said Schroeder. "We obviously do maintenance to make sure that one plant doesn't outcompete another because we want to keep that diversity. But we do allow some of these plants to climb as high as they'll go."
Ciscoe pointed out a familiar looking red flowered plant.
"That's right so you can see here so these are the anthuriums that you might see in your local grocery store nursery," said Schroeder, who then pointed to some gigantic leaves that also belonged to another, rarer type of anthurium. "We probably wouldn't see these anywhere outside of a botanical garden or the forest in Ecuador."
The two explored an elevated walkway and a structure called "The Birds Nest" on the same floor, designed to help folks explore the tree canopy.
"It gives you this unique perspective," said Schroeder. "It's a favorite for people to get photos and sit."
Ciscoe noticed folks in lounge chairs, with laptops, soaking up the jungle vibe during a workday at Amazon.
"What a wonderful atmosphere to work in," he said. "It must just be so soothing it's got to be the nicest place for anyone to work on earth!"
"I think so, I think it's an amazing space for employees and the public as well, they can come in and visit us on on public Saturday," Schroeder said.
"The only one who has a better job than all these people is you, Justin. Boy, you do a terrific job. This place is unbelievable!" Ciscoe said.
You can visit the Amazon Spheres the first and third Saturday of every month, it's free but you must make reservations.
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