In June 2008 our Design Center (where all of our products are made) completed two 19 ft. Shady Lady Olive Trees. The trees were custom made to different specifications to accommodate the client’s request. The client added a trunk to the trees for extra spread (they are usually 3 trunk trees for this height of tree but these had four trunks each). The trees had to achieve a 14-15’ spread over all.  The trees had to be delivered on a specific day because the contractor installing the trees had to have their crew from South Carolina there to unload the trees. So, freight was arranged to be guaranteed on a particular day for installation. The trees arrived on time, and they were “beautiful” (the client said). They were installed at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Atlanta and were installed to help block the view for a prominent Ruth’s Chris restaurant in the hotel. Mall Silks trees continue to be installed in prestigious locations through out the U.S. and we thank the architects, contractors, and building owners who use our trees. 

Over the past year, Mall Silks has received more and more requests for its fire retardant foliage options. Fire retardant foliage continues to be a growing request among designers and building owners. Mall Silks offers many of its tree products in an IFR (Inherently Fire Retardant) option and we can fire retard most of our other products by dipping the foliage and soaking it in an approved and tested fire retardant chemical. The IFR foliage is a type of foliage that is manufactured with a fire retardant chemical embedded in the fabric during the manufacturing process.  It comes to us direct from China in this fashion.  However, because China does not have strict fire retardant standards, Mall Silks has all of its IFR foliages individually and independently tested here in the USA in order to insure that they pass the protocol for the NFPA 701 small scale flame testing.  This test has strict requirements in order for artificial foliages to pass.  They can not lose more than 40% of their total mass and they must self extinguish after only 2 seconds!  Mall Silks has IFR foliages for the following trees and fire retardant certificates documenting the fire retardency of these products – Shady Lady Olive, Ficus Benjamina, Pin Oak, Maple, Bamboo, Synthetic bamboo canes, molded bark (for our museum series line), preserved palm tree fronds, and we have documentation showing that any of our silk plant products dipped and soaked in our fire retardant chemical also pass the NFPA 701 testing.  These foliages do come at a premium price as well.  We charge an additional 30% of the plant/tree cost in order to build a plant or tree using fire retardant products.  As always, please contact us if you have questions regarding our products.