The native plant-off — LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AOTEAROA

Meg Back

“Those won’t survive you know” was the frequently heard comment that started it all.

Like many corporates, 2020 was a year for some necessary cost cutting for our company (Design, Engineering and Environmental Services consultancy WSP) and that included hiring indoor plants.

Faced with a row of empty plant holders adjacent to his desk, Principal Water Engineer Mark Groves decided to bring some baby natives from his property near Kaniere on the West Coast, and grow them inside until he could get over there next. The office in Christchurch looked to him like an ideal space.

And they didn’t die. Planty McPlantface – a kawakawa - and his cousins thrived. That prompted staff to ask the landscape architects amongst us about other natives which might look good as pot plants. And that is an interesting question – what New Zealand native plants do well as indoor plants?

Years ago while working at another company, when an indoor plant hire company offered us the choice of a selection of plants, we asked where the natives were? The reply was they weren’t used as they weren’t tested or proven.

The value in cultivating native plants in the wider landscape is well known, and cannot be underestimated. When we use our New Zealand native plants, it creates the opportunity to build a uniquely local identity to our landscapes, external or internal.

Additionally, the value of indoor plants is well documented. Interestingly we discovered from our google searches that the positive effect of an indoor plant is greater again when you adopt it or care for it (or even befriend it) yourself, with one article saying “the team found that the active involvement of workers in caring for office plants and the availability of greenery in the workspace helped lower their stress and fatigue throughout the experiment.

“There was also a noticeable decline in the participants' anxiety levels, which the researchers attributed to the calming effect of the plants.”

We really needed those benefits in 2020, with uncertainty and change being some of the only constants. And so it was decided a fun native plant experiment might be a good (and therapeutic) distraction.

The WSP Christchurch Office has 335 staff, with a range of engineers, architects, landscape architects, property management and other consultants. Most work out of a near new purpose built office with expansive areas of glazing.

Head of Water Sector and Regional Director, Amy Harrod set out some simple rules which included:

Plants must not impede walkways, shelving etc or cause a nuisance.
Plants that die must be removed promptly.

The idea was to have some fun in the office, get some plants back into our workplace and maybe get some insights into native plants along the way.

With a office full such skilled people there was no shortage of enthusiasm and knowledge (e.g. lighting engineers to read lux levels around the building). However to ensure good participation any initiative also ideally needed to be low budget. After a bit of brainstorming The Great WSP Native Plantoff was born.

To start you get a native plant, any native plant. The idea is to think outside the square. The staff member then enters their plant onto a centrally held spread sheet – name, botanic name, nickname, measurements, condition.

The plantoff was launched with a poster, and a spreadsheet created by Hannah (National Manager for Business Support Services); which includes humorous dropdown options. For level of care choose from options ranging from “plant addict” to “neglected – what plant?’ (nobody’s perfect and we feel it won’t hurt to find out which plants thrive on neglect).

Irregular newsletters feature facts, highlight some of the plants in the building, and offer prizes for involvement including engagement with the spreadsheet, or sometimes just lucky draws of donated plants. Nurseries we have spoken to have almost all been incredibly enthusiastic, supportive and generous with locals Southern Woods and Ouruhia both offering discounts and donating plants they felt would go well.

Despite lockdowns and holidays, plant numbers jumped within weeks to just under 30 (small prizes included spray bottles and chocolate).

By the end of 2020 when WSP arranged for holiday watering, the office had closer to 100 native plants (as well as some exotics) with at least 35 different species scattered around the different environments found in the three floors of the WSP office.

Many of the plants are scavenged and tiny, some of the loveliest were donated by nurseries. Some are trees which may one day have to be evicted when they get too big.

Tracey, who had already won a Griselinia lucida in a mini competition by arguing her plant “Ken Kawakawa” needed a companion, came up with the idea of “Sip and Plant”.

Donated plants and small native plants from people’s gardens were brought in, a health and safety briefing outlined the hazards and forms were signed (gloves and masks were provided). Then everyone got stuck in to “potting up”, mingling with workmates, then taking their plants back to their workstations to nurture.

The ongoing development of the plants continues to create interest in the office. The Geotech area features specimans amongst a spectacular rock garden. The property managers grew three renga regna from seed and refer to them as the triplets. Up in environment, engineer Sam Millar has labelled all his plants to educate his colleagues. One staff member was startled to come in and find a bird’s nest in her muehlenbeckia – another landscape architect had found it (empty) on site and brought it back.

Muehlenbeckia astonii - with a birds nest.

One early hypothesis was that native plants which thrive in the undergrowth would probably prosper. As well as the kawakawas which started it all, early performers include renga renga and several muelenbeckias – “astonii” looks great and “complexa” trails beautifully.

Another trailing native, lobelia angulata has been nicknamed “Houdini” for its ability to come back to life each time its errant owner neglects it. A rimu, a tītoki and a couple of puka’s are all looking great. Staff experiment, move plants when they struggle, and as a group are learning better how to care for the plants – many suffered from enthusiastic over watering as well as under.

So as the office returns to work for 2021 we’ll see how the plants have done in the rather extreme environment of the non air conditioned break, then continue to try new plants and see how they go.

A huge thank you to our supporters to date. And any plant growers who want to test their products in our three-storey wildly variable and unscientific lab, or just in general support our initiative, feel free give us a call!