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• Who is this Greenscaper, anyway?
• 21st century plant care in the digital age
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• Inside the Greenscaper Consumer Lab
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InsidePlantsLive.org appears to be the only weblog covering inside plants, my all-inclusive term for plants maintained inside buildings. It doesn't matter whether you call them interior plants, indoor plants, houseplants or house plants. It doesn’t matter if they’re in a bungalow, business, big box, greenhouse, or on your balcony. A few words about the language I use.

Daily news and information about growing, retailing, interiorscaping, consumer education and new products is my beat. I also offer plant care advice based on researched and tested information rather than subjective anecdotal experience.

I respect your opinions and invite your input. A weblog is designed for interaction so I urge you to add your comments below the posting or send an e-mail. I'll respond to them all.

e-mail Bob Hyland

If you're going to spend some of your valuable time reading a blog, you ought to know something about who's dishing the dirt and giving advice.

I’m Bob Hyland, an inside plants professional, with over 30 years experience including live, preserved and replica (silk) plants. My major specialization has been subirrigation (capillary) watering and now hydroculture. I have operated the GreenScaper Consumer Lab (now called the Greenscaper Inside Plants Science Lab), a self-funded non-profit inside plants test lab since 1997. It is the only one of its kind.

My experience includes positions as C.E.O of a leading interior plantscaping firm in Los Angeles. It was the first company in the country to convert to Planter Technology controlled watering irrigation (sub-irrigation). I was also a principal of Hyland Associates an interior plantscaping consultancy. My experience also includes seminar instructor, speaker at national trade show meetings and author of many trade magazine articles.

Prior to this, I was a technology marketing professional for 25 years with NCR, IBM, and Nortel. I held positions as Product Marketing Manager and Sales Manager among others

While at IBM, I was the recipient of an IBM Significant Contribution Award for the creation and implementation of a product marketing campaign.

My undergraduate education in business, specializing in marketing, was at Hofstra University. Graduate studies include landscape architecture and ornamental horticulture at Cal Poly Graduate School of Environmental Design.

This is what Interiorscape magazine said.

“Bob is truly an advanced thinker in our industry. We can think of no other individual who’s more familiar and tuned in to advanced technology for interiorscapes.” “Surely, when the history is written of our still evolving industry, Bob will be recognized as the interiorscaper that modernized the industry with irrigation technology, and for that we will owe him a debt.”

Flattering words, but the job is still undone.

Unparalleled technological progress marks our lives. Yet, survival of inside plants remains dependent on rather arcane, primitive methods. Many of us continue to “poke, pour, and pray” just as the ancients did three thousand years ago.

The mantra of “drench and drain” has its roots in greenhouse growing and outdoor gardening. A soluble salts fetish comes from greenhouse growers who are constantly watering and fertilizing their crops.

It is erroneous to apply this experience to the maintenance of plants in buildings. Commercial interior plant maintainers know better but unfortunately are not motivated to give away what they perceive as trade secrets.

Mythology and folklore all too often prevail over science. Rather than measure, we typically guess about critical plant needs such as light levels and soil moisture. Lacking the right tools and information, plants in our homes and offices continue to die needlessly from improper care.

There are new tools and techniques to discuss. I believe it’s long overdue for scientific plant care methods to replace low tech or no tech green thumb mythology.

Did you know that sales of containerized foliage plants are declining while outdoor gardening is booming? The National Gardening Association estimates overall gardening sales increased 300% since 1985. By contrast, indoor plants are stagnant. US Department of Agriculture statistics show a decline of 11% in containerized foliage plant wholesale receipts since 1980 (inflation adjusted).

Floriculture, its umbrella market category, however, increased 240% (20% per year) from 1986 to 1998. In addition to potted foliage, floriculture includes cut flowers, potted flowering plants, bedding plants, and cultivated greens.

The growth of gardening and floriculture demonstrates the popularity of plants with the American public. Why then are containerized foliage plants for inside use being left behind in the gardening boom?

The answer may be that consumers have judged indoor plants to be too much trouble in our time bound society. There is no national survey to support this but consumers have obviously voted with their wallets. Quality, ease-of-use and affordability are generic qualities for all products. Inside plants seem to have failed these tests. That need not be so in the future.

The Greenscaper Consumer Lab, a plants in buildings applied research test lab, has grown from a few plants on one shelf in 1997 to a dozen shelf systems and over 400 plants. The environment is real world residential rather than a greenhouse.

All of the plants are watered periodically using measured sub-irrigation (MSI) or hydroculture. Each is also weighed at that time. They are currently on a twice a month plant care schedule and are thriving. The plants are installed in either artificial soil mix or expanded clay pellets.

A prime goal of the Greenscaper Consumer Lab is to dispel widespread misinformation about subirrigation and hydroculture plant care. There is widespread belief in the houseplant community that inside plants must be watered from the top with drainage from the bottom. The same information is parroted from one houseplant book to another, from one website to another with no source information to support it.

My extensive testing does not support the reasoning for drench and drain watering. I believe this out of date advice in books and on the web is a drag on the plants in buildings industry. “Green thumb” mythology is just that — a myth, perpetuated primarily by USDA Extension Programs and outdoor gardeners who don't really understand the uniqeness of inside plant maintenance.

The past years of lab testing and prior professional experience proves to me that sub-irrigation and hydroculture are far superior methods for indoor plants. Drench and drain top watering is difficult to learn and has significant horticultural weaknesses.

Documented test lab results are available for peer review by qualified professionals. I have followed scientific methods to the best of my ability and maintained detailed Excel spreadsheet records.

Much of the content of this weblog is about marketing. I have extensive corporate and small business marketing experience to share. There is need for new out of the box thinking for retailers, interior plantscape companies, garden centers and producers.

Ask about your special situation. Perhaps there is an opportunity for a mutually beneficial consulting relationship either via the Internet or in person.

I have an active PR program underway to publicize this weblog and the topic of inside plants. I'm open to joint venturing this effort with interested parties. There is a strong need for PR beyond facilities management.

Interior designers and architects, for example, have much to do with the destiny of the inside plants business.

Householders who maintain inside plants are major stakeholders. Many forget, or are too young to know, that the interior plantscaping business evolved from the residential plant boom of the '70s. The business was created by individuals not by companies.

Allied industries such as the lighting and home furnishings industries could also be of major help to the inside plants business. I have seen no evidence of any efforts to cross-pollinate information between these and the plants in buildings industries.