Hi there, I am an interior designer from Vancouver. Most of the work I do is office designs so not much gardening is needed. But these days it seems many offices are going green and they are looking for more organic options. Anyway, I am looking for some organic gardening ideas for the interior of corporate and industrial offices. Have any? looking forward to disucssion. Barbara.
Being in the silk plant business myself we do many offices and it seems like the most popular are the dracaenas, ivy for ledges, Deiffenbachias, pothos, Areca palms with simple but elegant floral arrangements for entrances. Most of the designers we deal with want to keep it clean and simple. If they are going tropical then bamboo trees are great for corners because of their width and can also be used for dividers in a room if you place multiple trees in a row. There are also some neutral trees such as ficus or ruscus which are traditionally easy to maintain and they come in so many different varieties and styles. The pots are probably the most important feature in the decor, so make sure you have the right size and combination of colors for the job. I hope this helps and good luck on your project.
Hi cyoung35, Good advice. Thank you! Silks are definately very popular. I was thinking more along the lines of garden bed ideas. Some of the newer offices have enclosed fountain arrangements with rocks, soil and a few assorted green plants and flower gardens. Some are very artistic, some look functional and some appear zen like. One idea that came to me last night was to create a communal office garden where all staff are responsible. Its a type of group relationship building practice that is used on top of some of the buildings now. The question that seems to come up is - what are good plants to start with - so it doesn't get too complicated in the beginning. Barbara.
I'll ask some of my designers and see if they have done anything like this before and get back to you later. Sounds like it is going to be very unique and beautiful.
