Make Be-Leaves has been making artificial trees, plants and green walls for 42 years. You’ve probably walked past their work in a hotel lobby, a restaurant or an office and never knew it wasn’t real. That’s the whole idea.
I’ve worked with Make Be-Leaves for years, and this fall I rebuilt their website from scratch. Here’s what went into this artificial plant website design, from the photos to the galleries.
Make Be-Leaves at a Glance
- Client: Make Be-Leaves, a Southern California studio making custom artificial trees, plants, flowers and green walls
- Leadership: designer and owner Susie Ameche, who has led the studio since 1983
- Credentials: a WBENC-certified woman-owned business, a GSA contractor for 25 years and a California-certified flame treatment applicator (NFPA 701)
- Project: a from-scratch rebuild of makebe-leaves.com, moving 441 photos and 25 galleries
- Clients include: hotels, restaurants, casinos, healthcare facilities, government projects and private homes
Let the Work Do the Talking
Stock photos can’t sell a custom olive tree. Make Be-Leaves has decades of photos from real jobs, so the new site is built around them. The homepage opens with big photos of their own projects, and every collection, from trees to green walls to flowers, starts with the real thing in a real space.
Those photos include some well-known jobs: a 19-foot olive tree for Mercedes-Benz Beverly Hills built on a natural wood trunk, and the olive tree in John Legend and Chrissy Teigen’s great room that made the cover of Architectural Digest. Each one now has its own project page with the story behind it.
Photos You Can Actually Look At
Designers and architects look through a lot of pictures before they pick up the phone. Now every gallery opens full screen, tells you what you’re looking at and swipes easily on a phone. See one you like? Send it to a client, or send it straight to Make Be-Leaves with a question. The photo goes along with the message, so nobody has to describe “the tall one with the curvy trunk.”
Green Walls, Inside and Out
A lobby wall and a storefront wall aren’t built the same way. The green walls page lets you see just the indoor projects or just the outdoor ones, so you only look at what fits your space.
Nothing Lost in the Move
Forty-two years leaves a lot behind online, and plenty of it still brings in visitors from Google. I moved over 441 photos and 25 galleries, kept the project stories and articles, and made sure old links still land on the right page. Older, smaller photos got their own archive page, where they still look good.
Artificial Plant Website Design Built to Last
The old site leaned on a pile of outdated add-ons. The new one is simpler, easier to keep up to date and ready for Google from day one. There’s even a dark mode for the night owls.
Your Business Could Use a Showroom Too
If people need to see what you make, your website should feel like walking into your showroom. Real photos, easy to browse, and an easy way to ask about the exact thing in front of them. That works for trees, and it works for cabinets, landscaping, signs, furniture and pretty much anything made by hand.
Wondering what a project like this costs? Read How Much Does A Website Cost? If your current site runs on a pile of outdated add-ons, my Halloween checkup, Is Your Website Dead or a Zombie?, covers the warning signs.
Questions About the Make Be-Leaves Website
Who built the Make Be-Leaves website?
I did. I’m Michael Pace of Michael PACE digital, a web designer and developer in Los Angeles. I’ve worked with Make Be-Leaves for years and rebuilt makebe-leaves.com from scratch in 2026.
What can visitors do on the new site?
Browse trees, plants, flowers and green walls by collection, open any gallery full screen, filter green walls by indoor or outdoor, and send a question about a specific photo straight to the studio.
Are Make Be-Leaves plants safe for commercial spaces?
Make Be-Leaves offers UV-rated outdoor foliage and flame-certified options, and the studio is a California-certified flame treatment applicator working to the NFPA 701 standard. Their commercial plants page has the details.
Take a look at makebe-leaves.com, read how I rebuilt the LoneStar Components and Wicked Pool Guys websites, or see more of my web design work.
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