When car buyers stop into Pacific Subaru, 14700 Hendry Avenue, Hawthorne, Calif., they receive a special "green" welcome at the LAcarGUY dealership. The showroom features a living wall, a 14-foot high vertical garden with ten rows of planter boxes containing 120 plants, created with the LiveWall® green wall system.

"Living walls, also known as green walls, are structural systems that attach to existing exterior or interior walls to transform unadorned wall surfaces into vertical gardens," said Dave MacKenzie, president of the Spring Lake, Mich., designer of living walls and vertical garden products. "When installed indoors, they make interior spaces more appealing and inviting and improve indoor air quality." "Think about the typical car showroom. They are sterile, stressful. Our living wall is an organic, green element that creates a more relaxed, welcoming environment," said James Hartzberg, general manager at the dealership. "As a symbol of our commitment to sustainability, it connects with the values of car buyers."

"The green wall brings to life what we and the automotive manufacturer stand for," said Alisha Auringer, manager of the environment, LAcarGUY. "It visually expresses our commitment to caring for the environment."

Installed in January 2016 by Outside Matters Landscaping (El Segundo, Calif.), the green wall is 13 feet, 7 inches high and 8 feet wide. Totaling 110 square feet, it has ten rows, each with six modular wall-planters lined with plant container inserts that have a mix of six different indoor plants. Florasource, Ltd. (San Clemente, Calif.), an independent horticulture supply company and Southern California representative of the living wall company, advised on green wall design and plant selection and provided 120 pre-grown nursery plants in the containers.

Love of the outdoors and concern for the environment are hallmarks of the automotive brand. For example, they have built all their cars in zero-landfill manufacturing facilities since 2004. This family of dealerships is passionate about the environment. Among its green initiatives, they were the first dealer in the country to promote adoption of electric vehicles by offering charging stations open to the public at its dealerships. This particular dealer earned distinction as an Eco-Friendly Certified Dealer "?u joining the ranks of dealers that meet stringent environmental standards. In addition to the green wall, they have a 100-foot-long stormwater retention planter that captures all the runoff from its building, and daylighting solar tubes reduce electricity consumption in the service area.

"Whether they want to test drive a Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle that reduces smog-forming emissions to nearly zero, take a look at our green wall, or learn more about our environmental stewardship and conservation efforts, we invite people to visit us," said Hartzberg.