From Moss Walls to Masterpieces: Lindsey Scherr Burgess Built Green Wallscapes from the Ground Up

Quinton Comino: Today I'm sitting down with Lindsay with Green Wallscapes. Fittingly, I wore my green shirt. They do walls that are made out of moss, made out of ferns, different sorts of living material, but it's preserved to last. They do a lot of custom stuff. They'll do smaller things, picture-frame-sized pieces that you can get, but they also do a lot of big custom installations, much like the wall behind me. That's something that someone would come to them and say, “Can you liven this space up? Hey, can you put my business logo here? I want customers to be wowed when they come through the door,” or “I want this in my house. I just need something a little more grounding. I want some of nature inside of my house.”

Well, that's where they come in. They're one of, if not the biggest, moss wall companies in the U.S. They've done projects in Canada, they've done projects in Jamaica. They source their high-quality moss from Europe to bring the absolute best green wallscapes to your business, your home, or whatever it is. So tune into this. It's going to be a really interesting interview where we're going to find out about this entire area of green wallscapes that frankly a lot of people haven't heard about, but it's really, really beautiful. And you'll see the passion that Lindsay has for the business and the expert and professional approach that they bring to all of their customers.

Quinton Comino: I love your background. Everything back there looks so nice.

Lindsay Scherr Burgess: All right, awesome. Thank you. Yeah, well this is what we make.

Quinton Comino: Yeah, that is awesome. Just so cool. I love it. I'm really excited. This is a more unique podcast for sure, having you guys on here. Just to give you a little overview, a little insight into what we do here at Home Nation—we provide homes all throughout the nation. Our customers love to see this podcast where we talk to homebuilders, contractors, and unique people much like yourself.

Lindsay Scherr Burgess: Yeah, absolutely.

Quinton Comino: Your team looks fantastic on your website. Tell us about what you guys do.

Lindsay Scherr Burgess: So my name is Lindsay Scherr Burgess. I’m the moss boss of Green Wallscapes. We create no-hassle preserved moss walls, logos, lettering, and art for companies and residences all over the US and Canada—even some projects in the Caribbean. We’ve done over a thousand moss walls in the last seven years. It started as a by-accident situation. I made a moss wall for myself because I liked it and saw it online on Pinterest. At the time there were only one or two companies doing it in the US, the rest were in Europe. So I thought, that's cool—I can make that. Went to Michael’s, bought a board, glued moss on, half of it fell off because I used the wrong adhesive. And then magically, Green Wallscapes was born. It sounds like that, but it’s not that simple. I have a background in sales, marketing, and business development. I spent years networking with architects and engineers. I knew how to build a business. Did I think I'd be doing commercial-grade manufacturing in the US? 100% no. But it started as a passion thing and evolved project by project. There were times I thought it was over—no more jobs—and then we’d get 10 more. It’s been very organic growth. I’ve had to fund the entire thing myself with no outside capital. I’m lucky to have a supportive husband through the good times, the struggles, and the challenges that come with running a business.

Quinton Comino: That's good. So what year did you say it started?

Lindsay Scherr Burgess: 2016–2017 is when I made my first moss wall. We started marketing in 2017. But in 2018, I had a project ending and asked, what am I going to do with my life? My husband said, "I think this is a business." I didn’t think so, but he was seeing them specified on building plans more often. He told me to give it six months and see if I could make it work. That was such a gift. I then had to learn how to do spec sheets, design drawings, systems—how to make this a repeatable, efficient process. At our peak, we did 40 projects a month. It was insanity. That was mid-2021 to 2022. Things slowed down once interest rates rose, but we’d gotten over the initial hump and had more corporate clients with multiple stores that sustained us. It’s been a wild ride. If you told me years ago it would look like this—I mean, from importing materials from Europe and Canada, learning import/export, it’s all figureoutable. You just make a million mistakes, especially in the beginning, but you work through it.

Quinton Comino: Yeah, that's good. No, a million mistakes, sometimes pretty costly mistakes. But thankfully nothing that threatened the business completely. I’m sure you had some close calls.

Lindsay Scherr Burgess: Yeah. Any entrepreneur doing this long enough knows it's like a sickness. You see problems and think you have the best solution, but then problems arise. Employee issues, material issues, cash flow issues—you have to keep smiling and showing up. In the beginning, it’s project by project. It's exhilarating someone will pay you for what you offer. Then you do hundreds of them and realize you need systems to scale without creating roadblocks. Business is about levers—marketing, sales, finance, operations—and knowing which to adjust. From 2020 to 2022, I did no marketing. We had an Etsy store and an SEO-optimized website almost by accident because we were early. We got tons of leads. Then in 2022, with the economy shifting and interest rates rising, people got more price-sensitive. We had to do more marketing to get opportunities in the door. It’s been an interesting evolution—thinking you have it figured out, then something knocks you off. Tariffs, for example, create uncertainty even if we don’t buy from China. It just creates decision paralysis. You're constantly dealing with outside forces while staying positive and motivational for your team.

Quinton Comino: Yeah, that's difficult. Your husband saw the opportunity, but how did you decide where to start? Did he have contacts lined up? You said you didn't market much, so who did you start selling to and how?

Lindsay Scherr Burgess: Very early on I had an Etsy store and put $5 a day on ads. There weren’t many moss companies, so I cornered that market. Anytime someone Googled moss anything, my pictures popped up. Those were the initial opportunities. The work was campy at first. When I look back at what people paid us for, it’s amazing. I tell people—you don’t have to be perfect to start. The stuff I was making back then was terrible, but we just tried things. Eventually, I realized I had to get serious. I made a Shopify website. Anytime we finished a project, I put up a picture and a description. Then I got better team members who could take on work, so I focused on SEO. Back then it was easier to rank. Now with AI, descriptions are everywhere, search volumes are down, so you need to adapt your website for AI overviews. It's a constant game of what's next. Technology, government policies, building trends—all of it matters. And interior design trends change. Spaces are so white and austere now that moss walls provide a grounding element.

Quinton Comino: So your business evolved organically. People called asking if you could do bigger things. Now you do major commercial jobs. What’s your average project size?

Lindsay Scherr Burgess: We do a lot of smalls—3x5, 48x48 logos, lettering, etc. They’re great for the team between big projects. But we also do enormous walls—100, 200+ square feet. Our sweet spot is 100–200 square feet. Those jobs make the most money and keep the lights on. The small stuff keeps the team busy between big jobs. We used to have more medium-size jobs—50–80 square feet—but that work has dwindled. It’s either small or big now. Part of it is the economy. During good times, people invested in sprucing up spaces. Now they’re more cautious because no one *needs* a moss wall. Though you'd be surprised how many have "moss emergencies" with tight deadlines. We've been lucky but also responsive to that luck with good inbound marketing and a presence on social media, email marketing, SEO, and a huge LinkedIn network. Those connections took years to build.

Quinton Comino: And for pricing, you do per square foot, right? How does that work?

Lindsay Scherr Burgess: Yes, it's per square foot. Simpler applications are $95–$105 per square foot. Highly custom work with lighting, logos, backlit features can be $300+. Most work is in the $135–$185 range. We've done maps with gold details needing coordination with multiple vendors. That gets expensive. But most is in that middle range. We’ve shipped all over—the US, Canada, the Caribbean. We've even done projects in Seattle and Oregon. We’ll work with anyone who wants to buy. Most installs are done by others. We fabricate to their dimensions and ship. Installers love it because our puzzle-cut seams reduce install time. We also occasionally do our own installs for really big walls.

Quinton Comino: That's amazing. So you focus on custom and high-end work, not mass-market stuff. Why not diversify more or sell on Amazon?

Lindsay Scherr Burgess: Honestly, there's not much money in mass-market. I can’t compete with China on price. And you can’t smell products on Amazon, so people get low-quality moss that smells weird and deteriorates. We've tried ads and Google Shopping—it didn’t lead to many opportunities. The money is in custom work. We’ve thought about partnerships with big retailers like Neiman Marcus or West Elm, who have distribution. But fulfillment and shipping are complicated and can create tons of customer service work. For now, we prefer highly custom, design-driven projects that make a big impact. It's what I'm passionate about and what our team does best. We’re profitable, sustainable, and focused on being the best at this niche rather than adding more complexity.

Quinton Comino: That’s fantastic. Lindsay, thank you so much for being on. It’s clear you love what you do. For anyone listening, Green Wallscapes is the place to go for custom, handmade, beautiful moss walls that last. GreenWallscapes.com, right?

Lindsay Scherr Burgess: Right! GreenWallscapes.com and we're also on all the social media.

Quinton Comino: Awesome. Thanks so much, Lindsay. Really appreciate having you on the show.

Lindsay Scherr Burgess: Thank you so much for having me. Bye.