SUMMER 2017 61
DESIGNERS AND MAKERS OF THE 21ST CENTURY have a wealth of material choices available to them . The best among us are exploring new ways to apply these materials in built form , while attempting to solve the often complex challenges of sustainability and durability .
As landscape architects , we are charged with applying the most wonderful and perhaps most challenging material of all – living plants . Our knowledge of plant species , their creative use in the built environment , and the long term maintenance of such installations is what can set us apart from other disciplines . Indoor planting is a clear example of the value of such specialised knowledge ; it is one of the few situations where landscape professionals are invited into the realm of the interior architect , and it is our knowledge which can ensure the health of the interior garden and thus the success of the interdisciplinary project .
It was only a century or so ago that potted plants started to be moved indoors by experimenting gardeners - a usually exotic species would be fussed over in a prime growing position of the house - and in some respects little has changed since . Many of us will recall the sight of a lush hanging fern in the bathroom or laundry of our childhood homes , or perhaps it was a dusty , half-dead Ficus in the living room which comes to mind ! With an increasingly urban population however , indoor gardens have become more popular and more diverse . The physical and mental health benefits of growing plants in our living / work spaces is now well documented , while the creative use of plants as a design element is at the forefront of 21st Century architecture . Multiple pot plants are now a must-have in many homes and retail spaces , while large-scale interior plantings are often specified as standard in modern city offices and apartment buildings .
The use of native plants for indoor planting is not well documented . Whether this is due to lack of experimentation , or because our most commonly cultivated native species are simply not suitable for indoor use , is ripe for investigation . Several of our native epiphytic and lithophytic species ( see previous editions ) are well suited to planting indoors however , due to their generally shallow root systems and their ability to adapt to challenging growing conditions .
Arthropodium bifurcatum can be seen adorning interior green-walls throughout the country , its lush , drooping leaves and showy white flower spikes conjuring images of the northern coastal cliffs from where it originates . Fuchsia procumbens is a softly-spreading groundcover which is classified as ‘ at risk ’ in the wild , its rounded , lime-green leaves will hang veil-like over the edge of pots and fill spaces between larger indoor specimens . Microsorum pustulatum is one of several native ferns to make the list , it has broad , glossy fronds and a climbing-clinging habit - it is a handsome choice for low-light situations indoors . Peperomia urvilleana hangs from rock crevices and tree-forks in northern forests , making it
TRADESCANTIA FLUMINENSIS : This may be grown as an indoor plant in variegated forms . It requires moist soil to do well .
BEGONIA : There are about 1795 species in this ABOVE genus : of perennials . Vitium Many are comnisi suitable aut faccata for use as tissum colourful eatur and , simusa ornamental cullaut apelita indoor plants tquibusam .