Marriage of Old and New

No, this isn't a Photoshop creation. It's a rendering of a real building. Waverly Gate is a 21st century structure built inside a Victorian building façade that's over 100 years old. It used to be the General Post Office (GPO) in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The top floor contains a 30,000 sq. ft. two-section roof garden installed by Rentokil Tropical Plants.

If you’re interested in architectural preservation, you’ll enjoy the Waverly Gate website. There are construction photos and a timeline history of the site. It’s a particularly well done website and worth the time to explore.

I searched for current photos of the new building but didn’t find any. I’ll continue to look and will update this post when I find them. I’m particularly interested in photos of the roof garden.

Blog has been down

The blog has been off the web due to an ISP server problem. Thanks for your patience.

Rentokil Tropical Plants Speculation

Breaking News: If there's truth to this story, it has major implications regarding the US interior plantscaping market.

May 25 (Bloomberg) -- Chief Executive Douglas Flynn of Rentokil Initial Plc, the world's largest pest-control company, may be forced to shed units such as parcel delivery and tropical plant services to revive sales and profits and prevent a takeover.

``Rentokil has become a bit of a rag-bag and Flynn needs to make up his mind about what to focus on,'' said Stuart Fraser, a director at Brewin Dolphin Holdings in London, which manages $26 billion, including Rentokil shares. ``Disposals are inevitable. If he doesn't sort it out, an outside bidder may do it for him.''

Update 05-26-05 - There's a Doug Flynn video interview available here. Registration required.

Interior Hydroscaping in Singapore

Hydroculture-Space Pte Ltd makes no secret of how they provide water to the plants they maintain.

Introduction

Carrying the message of healthy living with nature, eight experienced executives pooled their talents together to establish Hydroculture-Space Pte Ltd with a vision of bringing nature closer to men and women who might otherwise have missed the benefits and comfort that nature can provide.

With the experiences that some of the executives had acquired working in the landscape industry over the last decade, we are poised to offer professionalism in horticultural services for projects in landscape implementation and maintenance and supply, rental and maintenance of indoor plants.

School in Finland

Does this look like a school? It looks more like a Fortune 500 corporate atrium to me. The photo is from the Plants-in-Buildings website. There are many more worth a look.

Plants-in-Buildings.com - Finland is known to have one of the best school systems in the developed World. These pictures of the interior of a school show its social areas, which are welcoming and relaxing.

Poet of Pots

You say you need a really big pot for your new Ficus tree? Read on...

People ask him what to plant in the giant pots he makes, and for a moment Frank Gallagher can't speak. He never saw them as something to hold plants but rather as pieces of shapely architecture on which the eye would light and the brain connected to it would experience what he calls a "feeling of warmth, comfort."

Check out more photos of Frank's creations. Amazing work!

Greenhouse in the Sky

Look up and you never know what you'll see in the Big Apple. Kidsturk on Flickr has a good eye.

Life on Turbo

This is the opening paragraph from an article in The Financial Express. Mumbai (Bombay) India. The author addresses the receptiveness of young people to change and innovation. That, of course, describes the fast-paced techno-change world they have grown up in.

What environmental support can we design to support our evolving lifestyle? Not since the 1990s, has there been such a change and it’s thanks to technology. In particular, the young today are more experimental, expressive, progressive and imaginative all at once. They treasure their privacy, work, entertainment and like to lead a contemporary lifestyle rather than borrow ideas from the past or be dictated to by others. The phrase ‘Breaking the Box’ is perfect to nail the young mind’s attitude to life. It inherently elevates ‘change’, ‘difference’ and innovation’ over everything else. Youth is mesmerised by new culture and willing to experiment.

The author goes on to suggest that the living environment should incorporate amenities that might help to counterbalance their “life on turbo” as she aptly termed it.

Whether it is the music system, a library, indoor plants, sleeping spot for your pet, sports gear or exercise equipment in your space, show your stuff. No matter how quirky your collection, if you love them, let them show.

This may be the most opportune time to promote the benefits of modern methods for indoor plant maintenance to young people. I believe that if they were properly introduced to hydroculture and sub-irrigation there would be a renaissance in the “houseplant” business. Attempting to change the embedded mindset of graying babyboomers is likely a lost cause.

Planters Palms

Planters, the largest interior landscaping company in the UAE installed preserved palms in the newly remodeled Ibn Battuta Shopping Mall.

Planterra Publicity

Here's a business article from the Detroit News featuring interior plantscaping company Planterra.

Blogging Status

Finding time to blog continues to be a challenge. Rather than discontinue blogging, I’m going to have to be more creative. This means for now that I’ll post only when I have time.

Pursuing further knowledge about passive hydroculture has added to the challenge. I’ve decided to convert from one third to one-half the plants in the Greenscaper Consumer Lab to hydroculture. This is a big job involving over 100 plants.

The rest will be sub-irrigated, using “aquapad culture” as the primary method. This is proving to be the most user-friendly and plant-friendly sub-irrigation method I’ve tested over the past 7 years for tabletop plants.

I’m doing all of this in preparation for donating the lab to an urban botanical garden. My goal is to see the hands-on research continue and to teach children of all ages.

Hydroponics Education in Colorado too

A charter school in Colorado will teach hydroponics. Read on...

That's not all that money will buy. By next year, students will be able to grow their own food using a greenhouse and a hydroponics system. It's Forbes' intention that the food grown will be used in the children's school lunches, will be donated to local low-income families and can be sold as both a fund-raiser and a business lesson for the students.

Forbes also plans to install an hydroponics system and a climbing wall in the gymnasium.

Biotech Coming to Palm Beach County

The Scripps Research Institute's decision to locate in northern Palm Beach County has triggered a surge in biotech education. Read on...

"Education has to move with the times, and that's what we're doing," said Lynne McGee, principal of Seminole Ridge. "Students may go on to become great scientists, because they were spurred on in high school.

The new career academy will feature a specialized computer lab, a hydroponics lab and high-tech scientific equipment.

IBM Encouraging Young Female Scientists

This can have nothing but a positive affect on the field of interior horticulture.
Read on...

"Studies show that young girls enjoy math as much as boys but, by the eighth grade, twice as many boys as girls show interest in pursuing careers in science, engineering and math," said Janet Perna, general manager, Information Management Solutions, IBM Software Group.

"We've got to make young girls understand that a career in technology does not have to be dull or boring. It's just the opposite. Technology and science-related careers offer opportunities to be creative, to become a leader, to give back to your community and to establish financial independence."

In Manila, Philippines, EXITE campers will learn how to farm without soil using the latest computer-controlled technology during a visit at a hydroponics farm.

New Yahoo Video Search

It looks like Yahoo scooped Google for the first time in my recent experience. I’ve been an early adopter of Google News Alerts, Desktop Search and Search History. Yahoo’s new video search is a cool new feature and I agree with the bullish outlook of the article. Video search opens up awesome new potential for the web.

How-to videos are definitely in the future of this blog.

I tried out a search on the word "houseplant” (one-track mind). The one and only hit in the spotlight was a video of a “moisture meter” on Barron Fujimoto’s blog Takoyaki.org. Please don’t try this at home.

Green Wall in Your Church

Is there a green wall in the future of your church?

Green Wall in Your Room?

USA Today reports on what might be in your "Hotel of Tomorrow".

A wall that breathes: Envisioning some backlash against high-tech surroundings, designers conceived a back-to-nature hotel room with a lush "living wall" of grass-like vegetation. The wall, with a built-in watering and lighting system, would serve as an air filtering device, too.

Bad Chi?

This just in from Bombay. Check it out. It may be bad chi you're dealing with rather than your watering.

Hydroculture Back Story

You might wonder about my rather sudden interest in hydroculture. A while back, I commented on a post by Jeff Page on the Interiorscape Magazine forum. Jeff is an up and coming interior plantscaper in Orange County, California. His company is Coast Live Tropicals

Jeff expressed an interest in hydroculture and I linked him to long time friend Gene Corey of Corey Nurseries. Many years ago, Corey Nurseries was in a failed business relationship with Jackson Perkins as U.S. distributors of the Luwasa Hydroculture system.

This contact triggered further communications. I admire Jeff's approach to the interior plantscaping business. He has an open-minded progressive attitude. Knowing my interest in watering methods, he sent me a Luwasa Hydroculture planter to try. Wrapped up in other projects, it took me a while to install a plant in it. Frankly, my interest was marginal knowing that there were no hydroculture plant suppliers in the U.S.

Then I read a post on the Garden Web Houseplant Forum. A woman, screen name Naturelover of Montreal wrote about her experience converting her houseplants to hydroculture. She linked to a photo album of her plants. I was most impressed by two things, one the quality of her plants and two that a layperson had actually converted existing soil based plants to expanded clay pellet hydroculture. Her enthusiasm was infectious. I thought if she could do it, I could and should try it out.

The rest is history. I’ve graduated to buying clay pellets in 50-liter bags and am in the process of converting a significant part of my plant lab to passive hydroculture. I’d like to thank both Jeff and Naturelover for teaching an old dog new tricks.

I now believe passive hydroculture is a viable alternative for houseplant care even if there are no U.S. plant suppliers. It seems feasible that end users can do the conversion for a wide variety of houseplants. There is likely a retail service potential here.

IKEA Hydroculture Planters

Click to enlarge.

Houseplant Life Span?

Click to enlarge. How long do you expect a houseplant to live? This article about a bonsai show got me thinking about the question. It is common for a bonsai to be more than a century old. Although most bonsai are outdoor plants, many practice indoor bonsai.

I maintain many Ficus benjamina plants in a miniature tree style and expect them to live a very long time. That isn’t necessarily the view of the producers of these plants.

My recent visit to Plant Tour Days here in San Diego reminded me of opinions expressed to me by many growers I’ve known over the years. It is disturbing to know, as a proponent of modern plant care methods, that many producers prefer they not last too long.

One grower upon learning about this blog even referred to me as the “enemy”. I’ll not forget him. How can a product expand its presence in the marketplace when the producers secretly hope for its demise? The world economy has become far too competitive for a built-in obsolescence strategy to work.

It appears the only constituency for this blog is the end-user. Plants in buildings don’t need any more enemies than growers with a short life span attitude and extension programs teaching grossly outdated plant care methods.

The results show in the USDA figures posted today.

Business Week Ballyhoos Blogs

A Business Week cover story says a lot about the significance of blogging. It is a worthwhile read for anyone building a business or espousing a cause as a public service.

Blogging is the most powerful communication tool of my lifetime. For those willing to put the time and effort into a blog, it is the most effective way for an individual to express a point of view. The cost is measured in time rather than money.

Don’t be misled by my cutback in posting frequency. This blog isn’t going away. There’s a story to be told and I plan do a better job of telling it when I am done with what I have to get done. That’s finding a home for the plant lab and relocating back to my hometown.

Foliage Plants Going Nowhere

Foliage plants for building interiors whether for homes, hotels or offices are a fine product. Unfortunately, there is little or no market leadership and the product category stagnates.

The latest USDA figures for 2004 show a 2% increase for floriculture crops but a 2% decline for foliage (pdf version).

Total Wholesale Value: The total wholesale value of floriculture crops grown by operations exceeding the $100,000 sales level is $4.89 billion for 2004, up 2 percent from the revised 2003 total.

These operations account for 94 percent of the total value of
floriculture crops, but comprise only 41 percent of all growers.
California contributes 21 percent of the total wholesale value for
the 36 States surveyed. Florida ranks second with 16 percent.
Michigan, Texas, and Ohio round out the top 5 States with
7 percent, 6 percent, and 4 percent, respectively.

Foliage Plants: The value of 2004 foliage plant production, at $639 million, is down 2 percent from the previous year.

Florida continues to dominate this category with 65 percent of the value. Potted foliage plants represent 87 percent of the total foliage value. The remainder of the value is from hanging baskets. The number of foliage producers, at 1,505, is 81 below 2003.