Founded in August 2020, Zion Botanical is a full-service interior plant design company specializing in custom design proposals, installations, and ongoing maintenance. The company serves residential, commercial, retail, and corporate spaces, tailoring each project to enhance its environment. In addition to interior work, Zion Botanical offers small to medium-scale exterior container design, installation, and maintenance. Their services also include plant care consultations, repotting, and educational guidance to help clients better understand and care for their greenery. Believing plants foster positivity and creativity, Zion Botanical approaches every project as a living art piece. With a mission to create sustainable, purposeful designs, the company elevates spaces by blending intentional artistry with the natural beauty of plants—bringing life and balance to every setting.
1. Sho Pizza Bar | East Nashville
Sho Pizza Bar, a Neo-politan pizza and cocktail bar with Japanese influences, is the latest creation from Chef Sean Brock & Co. Completed in March, it marked Zion Botanical’s first installation in East Nashville’s Riverside Village. While new to the neighborhood, it was not the team’s first collaboration with Brock—previous projects include the design, installation, and maintenance of Audrey, their inaugural commercial account, and The Continental.
At Sho, the plant aesthetic emerged through a collaborative process between designer and client, resulting in a balance of refinement and creativity that complements the restaurant’s unique identity. Beyond live plantings, Zion Botanical introduced a distinctive dried flora statement piece, expanding the design vocabulary. The result is a botanical environment that enriches the dining experience and reflects Sho’s imaginative spirit.
2. Urban Cowboy Bar | Downtown
Urban Cowboy, a boutique hotel brand with locations in the Catskills and Denver, is locally recognized for its East Nashville hotel in Lockeland Springs and the Dive Motel on Dickerson Road. Downtown, the brand expanded into the historic Arcade with Urban Cowboy Bar, a multi-level bar and event venue that also serves Brooklyn’s famed Roberta’s pizza.
For the bar’s botanical design, owner Lyon Porter envisioned a dramatic canopy of cascading pothos vines, appearing as one continuous “monster vine” framing the space. Standard nursery plants, however, rarely exceeded four feet, requiring a special order. Sourcing from a Florida grower, designers secured ten-foot vines that thrived despite Nashville’s climate. The result transformed the bar, softening industrial architecture with a lush, organic statement piece that embodied creativity, persistence, and vision.
3. The Gilmore Hotel | 12 South
Avantstay’s new build-out, The Gilmore Hotel, brings fresh energy to Nashville’s 12 South neighborhood. The design team was tasked with creating a courtyard landscape that felt layered, textured, and lush. To achieve this, they incorporated a thoughtful mix of annuals and perennials while accounting for shifting sunlight exposure throughout the year, ensuring each planting thrived in every season.
A distinctive request came from the client: corten steel planters. Delivered in raw steel, these vessels typically require months of natural weathering to achieve their rusted patina. To accelerate the process, designers applied a specialized corrosive spray, creating the warm finish in two weeks before sealing it with polyurethane for durability. The result is an instantly established courtyard, where greenery and corten steel balance texture, permanence, and hospitality.
4. Urban Grub | 12 South
Urban Grub, a staple of 12 South, partnered with Zion Botanical in Fall 2023 to transform its exterior into living, seasonal works of art. With multiple outdoor spaces, the restaurant has become a canvas for evolving plant installations that change with the rhythm of the year.
Each spring and summer, the beer garden bursts with tropical flair, featuring vibrant annuals, lush perennials, and bold greenery. The design has shifted toward sustainability, prioritizing native species and evergreens for year-round beauty—exuberant in the warmer months, richly textured through fall and winter.
Inside, a fern garden interwoven with hardy vines blurs the line between indoors and out. Serviced twice weekly, the spaces thrive through every season, reflecting both sustainability and Urban Grub’s enduring spirit.
5. Bill’s Sandwich Palace | East Nashville
Bill’s Sandwich Palace has been a local favorite since launching out of TKO in 2020. Known for a playful and ever-changing menu, the spot continues to draw fans with inventive creations. Chef Aaron Clemins, celebrated for his work at the beloved but now-closed Kuchnia and Keller, leads the culinary vision with creativity and passion. Over time, the restaurant’s atmosphere has evolved as greenery has been added, giving the space a fresh and inviting feel. While the design team often enjoys creating lush, jungle-like interiors, this project highlights the beauty of restraint—proving that less can indeed be more. With its balance of imaginative food and thoughtful ambiance, Bill’s Sandwich Palace has earned a loyal following. “We’re all Bill, Bill.”
text around front page top image: Alesha Sebie, Founder of Zion Botanical