Woolly Pockets

By Adam Woodruff – Posted in: Miscellaneous

I’m back from San Francisco and inspired after my trip to Flora Grubb Gardens. I’ll share photos of the nursery and more detail in a future post. Today I want to highlight a versatile product they were selling that I am excited to experiment with in the new year.

Image courtesy Flora Grubb Gardens.

Woolly Pockets are “flexible, breathable and modular gardening containers” according to the Woolly Pocket Gardening Company web site. The pockets are available in two styles: those designed for use on horizontal surfaces (free-standing pockets) and those intended for vertical gardening. Pockets are suitable for use indoors and out.

Woolly Pockets are handmade in the USA. The two part pocket is composed of a felt layer (made of 100% recycled plastic bottles) and a built-in moisture barrier (made according to military standards of impermeability from 60% recycled bottles). Unlined pockets are available for exposed outdoor use when maximum drainage is desired.

Pockets are easy to install and maintain. The company web site offers video tutorials explaining installation, watering, even design ideas. The question and answer section provides written planting instructions, maximum soil amounts and maximum watering amounts based on the size of each pocket.

It appears with this product you are only limited by your imagination. The talented designers at Flora Grubb created a living wall of Woolly Pockets, planted it on both sides and suspended it in the middle of the garden shop.

One side caters to high light plants (below);

the other side to lower light varieties (below).

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Adam Woodruff

Adam Woodruff has practiced garden design since 1995. He trained as a Botanist at Eastern Illinois University. Woodruff attributes his unique design aesthetic, naturalism with a twist, to early college exposures to a diverse range of plants and environments (collecting trips in local prairies, field excursions to bogs in Canada and treks through forests of the Northeast). He also maintained the campus greenhouse, where he fell in love with tropicals. In recent years, influences on his designs include travels abroad to Europe, Asia and the Yucatan peninsula as well as observation of the work of great plantsmen such as Piet Oudolf and Roy Diblik. Woodruff’s designs often combine grasses, prairie natives and perennials with lush tropical foliage and seasonal blooms. This harmonious blending of plant material that is not conventionally grouped together is the ‘twist’ that makes his style unique.

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17 comments… add one

Debi January 9, 2010, 8:21 am

What fun! I shall be on the lookout for these in my neck o’ the woods!

Lene January 9, 2010, 9:54 am

Looked at the web site – the free standing pockets look interesting and quite beautiful. I really like the idea that they are Made in USA (NOT China) and mainly from recycled plastic bottles. That alone is worth the (extra) cost.

Not-So-Angry Redhead January 9, 2010, 10:40 am

This gives me ideas… Awesome find!

jodi (bloomingwriter) January 9, 2010, 12:26 pm

I’m intrigued…wonder if they’ve got them here in Canada yet? I’ll have to contact the company and find out.

I think you can order them online.

Christine January 9, 2010, 12:47 pm

Flora’s shop is always a fun trip. She’s such a great curator with the way the nursery is laid out and its offerings.
Those bags have got my wheels spinning on the possibilities!

Loree/danger garden January 9, 2010, 1:51 pm

I was quite skeptical of these until I too saw them in person at Flora Grubb. A well thought out and unique product! Go USA!

Nicole January 9, 2010, 2:19 pm

I visited Flora Grub 18 months ago and just loved it. While the succulents I got there all bit the dust/ended up eaten by snails while I was traveling, the agaves (bovicornuta, blue glow and another whose name I can’t remember) are doing great. FG has such artistic and creative displays. I look forward to your future post with photos of the nursery and more details. These woolly pockets look cool.

Thanks for sharing your experience Nicole. Look for my follow up post with plenty of photos in February.

Joanne January 9, 2010, 3:50 pm

Well that’s a good solution to my rather too large a collection of house plants.

Darla January 9, 2010, 6:30 pm

Get out of here…these look great!

Amy Emerick January 9, 2010, 6:45 pm

I have been looking for some containers to hang up on a wrought iron fence, brick, etc. I will have to check the website out. Thanks for sharing this cool idea!

Susan aka Miss R January 10, 2010, 11:32 am

This is my one absolute must stop for a trip to the Bay Area and beyond in February.

You’ll love it! Great selection of plants displayed in a unique way.

don January 10, 2010, 12:25 pm

these look intriguing. I can picture having some hanging around, adding color and character.

Thanks for sharing

Gail January 10, 2010, 5:46 pm

Love them! I wonder how easily they will attach to brick walls? gail

Gail. Check out the online tutorials. Installation is addressed.

Fern January 11, 2010, 1:48 am

I love these in principle, but I’ve never lived anywhere that allowed holes to made in the exterior of the building. Kind of stinks, because apartment and condo gardeners would be the ones who need the extra space the most. But no landlord is going to allow tenants to take a drill to their building, and my condo complex doesn’t allow any exterior mods either.

Fern. Check out the instructional video. Near the end they address ‘saddle-back’ style. Essentially attaching pockets back-to-back and draping them over a balcony railing.

Scott Calhoun January 11, 2010, 2:20 pm

Adam, I’m planning on making an agave wall with these comprised of cliff-dwelling species. I’ll report back. Great post. I visited Flora Grubb last spring and I’m still thinking about ideas I got.

Scott. I’m envious you live in a climate where you can have a wall of Agave. I’ll be anxious to see photos and hear of your experience.

Felicity Waters February 3, 2010, 1:55 am

what a great plant mix

Cindy Compton March 18, 2010, 11:18 pm

Just be careful watering Woolly Pockets with sheet rock walls! I overwatered mine (over the lip) and it dripped onto my sheet rock wall and did quite a bit of damage to the wall – had to replace the sheetrock, repaint, etc. My fault I guess, just be watchful…

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