Stewarts Office Plants

We supply many businesses across the South, from Sussex and Surrey, through Hampshire and Dorset to Wiltshire and Somerset. For more information about the services we offer visit our home page, or contact us here. In this blog you'll find news, interesting snippets, stories and pictures of our staff's adventures out on the road.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Another year, another 18 foot Christmas Tree

With one tree left to put up, it's time for me to post my annual "rogues' gallery photo" in front of our largest Christmas Tree that we erect.


From the left, we have Ian (and his incredible blinding jacket), Claire S, yours truly (the giant), Debra (who runs the Christmas operation), and Claire D (the new kid).

This eighteen-footer is quite a work of engineering to install. First we decorate the top few feet while it's laying down then the five of us get some helpers and get it upright in the pot. Then a bespoke three-legged collar is bolted round the stem and supported with wooden battens. the pot is filled with ballast, then finally the tree is wired to the vertical columns behind. That thing's going nowhere...until New Year!

Friday, December 04, 2009

Saving money on Reception flowers


While the team are busy delivering and decorating Christmas trees, I thought I'd remind you about a service offered by Stewarts Interior Landscaping which has proved especially popular with companies wishing to economise on weekly Reception floristry.
'Finishing Touches' are designed to take the place of weekly fresh flowers on Reception (or anywhere else) and they consist of live, flowering plants, such as orchids, or Guzmania, planted with or without sculptural materials, into smart, modern containers. The arrangements are left in place for 4 weeks and are then replaced by another similar Finishing Touch, but using different colour live plant and container, to ring the changes.
Price wise, you can expect to save 60% or more on fresh flowers - Finishing Touches start at only £5.50 + VAT per week!

Jonathan

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Stewarts offer national coverage

Although we have a coverage area that's centred on Dorset and Hampshire, we work with a national network of like-minded office plant companies with whom we have reciprocal sub-contracting arrangments, so we can offer national coverage to clients that wish to have one contract covering all their offices across the UK.

So you have the advantages of a small local firm, without the disadvantages that large national firms can bring.

If this level of service is of interest, please get in touch.

Jonathan

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Recent installations



I thought you'd be interested to see 2 of our most recent - and very different - installations. The first was for replica Buxus cone-shaped trees, 6' high, to be placed outside a newly refurbished hotel near Bournemouth Airport. The owner of the hotel wanted matching Buxus balls which, as you see, finish the whole thing off perfectly. Jonathan fixed the trees into the stylish black fibreglass containers and the hotel have even had people stop to ask where the plants came from, attempting to create the look in their own gardens!

Secondly, we installed some live plants at a company in Bristol who have taken over some stunning old buildings. The plants needed to be just right - so did the containers - and we have, we think, found plants and container shapes and colours to suit the style of the company buildings. You may remember that containers can be made and finished in any colour to suit company surroundings or logos!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

"That's a great job you've got there..."

This is one of the most popular remarks we get as we walk around people's offices watering their plants. Most of the time it is, but occasionally we have to do something really messy, like today's removal of some no-longer-required pots from a shopping centre. They were so big that they had to be dug out completely, then the water in the bottom had to be tipped out down at our (very muddy) recycling area. The result? Three very mucky Stewarts staff:




"That's a great job you've got there..."

Anyone wants to do a job-swap before we go back next week, I'm all ears!

Jonathan

Friday, July 03, 2009

We complete our biggest ever installation

(well, for as long as anyone can remember!)

Stewarts Office Plants are just putting the finishing touches to a 133-planter installation in Winchester, which is by far the largest we have completed in the seven years I have worked here!

The client involved had an interior designer on their staff who did much of the design work (my role was to tell her she couldn't have all the plants she liked) and chose some really funky colours, like the RAL 4006 Traffic Purple pot below:


Pretty much everyone had a hand in this install, which when completed next week will have taken seven van trips just to ferry all the plants to site. All while wearing hard hats and yellow jackets in this really hot humid weather, phew!

Jonathan

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Hanging baskets: don't delay! Actually, do delay...

Amongst our services is the supply of locally-grown hanging baskets and now's the time to get your order in for delivery at the end of May.

Our prices start at £28.50 + VAT which includes delivery, installation, and (if required) collection at the end of the season. As our baskets are made to order, you can specify the plants and colours in the baskets. We can also install brackets, irrigation systems and even look after them for you.

A note of caution however: I've already had clients asking why they can't have their summer baskets now. This morning's unexpected frost is a reminder as to why the tender plants that are used in summer baskets should not be used outside until mid-May at the earliest.

Jonathan

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Meet the team!

Because some of us work part-time, and others only come in on certain days, it's very rare all Stewarts Office Plants' staff get together, but we did yesterday:

What a remarkably good looking bunch... except the tall bald guy at the back... me!

Jonathan

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

We now go further to look after your plants!

We have decided to expand our coverage area somewhat, particularly to the east. Until now we have looked after plants in an area bounded by Exeter, Salisbury, Basingstoke, Guildford and Chichester, though our core area is Poole, Bournemouth, Southampton, Winchester and Portsmouth. We are now prepared to go as far as Newbury, Reading, Gatwick and Brighton - if anyone wants us to!
(Acknowledgements to Google Maps)
Once again, this is a fuzzy line - if you're just outside our area, we can bend the rules if you are contemplating a large number of plants; just get in touch.

Jonathan