Stewarts Office Plants

2nd hand pots: it's an ill wind...

2012-01-20T14:32:00.003Z

...that blows no one any good. Read on...

As explained in detail elsewhere on our website, we have a large stock of second hand plant containers, as a byproduct of the fact that many of our customers rent their pots from us, so we get the pots back if the rental deal ends or is renewed with new pots.

In a recent post I showed you our pot stock in its lovely tidy new home.

Sometimes we get plants in pots back from a contract in such good condition (often better than new if the plants have developed nicely) that we can't bear to dispose of them, and we hold on to them in the hope that a new owner will be found for them as they are.

Sadly, a chain of car dealers we look after went out of business recently and we got two sets of magnificent plants back, some which had only recently been installed, some though were over five years old. Car showrooms are very light, so plants tend to do very well in them (with our maintenance, anyway!).

I am happy to report that we have found homes for almost all of them, including the whole set of nearly new displays - like the one illustrated - which have not only gone back in to a car dealer, but in my opinion a much nicer one - much more my kind of cars. Meanwhile, the new clients benefit from much better rental terms than they would have done with brand new plants and pots.

It also has to be said that we have installed so many of these bonsai Ficus Ginsengs in car showrooms that it's verging on a Stewarts cliche (or a 'house style', at the very least). But you must admit a bonsai tree in a nice plain tall pot like this just looks right in this kind of location.

Now a picture of what all those plants were for

2012-01-20T13:33:00.002Z

Well, half of it anyway - the other half being beyond the stairs.

This is what the huge quantity of plants in my previous post were obtained for: ~60ft of stage front to be turned into a mass of greenery for a dance championship in Bournemouth.

I can't take all the credit: my floristry-trained boss Rebecca took over the laying out, and I happily let her. Though I did choose the plant species - how many different ones can the indoor plant fans spot in this pic? I believe there's 18.

As I mentioned, we also provided all the fresh flowers.

As of a couple of hours ago, all these plants (400 small plants and 60 specimens) are back in my greenhouse, which is now rather full.

Oh, and it's our quarterly stocktake at the end of the month, so by filling my greenhouse to this extent, I've rather created a rod for my own back, haven't I?

So... if anyone wants a lot of indoor plants in hurry, I'm your man! Any offer considered!

Jonathan

I got a bit carried away ordering plants

2012-01-13T16:06:00.002Z

Every other Monday I send an email to our Dutch plant supplier telling them what I want delivering later that week. Usually I get between three and six trolleys of plants but this week I ordered eight trolleys packed to the top with lovely bushy plants.

So many plants that we've completely run out of bench space for them. The reason for this extravagance? Next week we are providing a huge (and very lush) temporary display in front of the stage at an event at a conference centre in Bournemouth. 60 feet of plants 5 foot deep takes a lot of stock. All the plants you can see here are for this job.

We are also supplying the fresh flowers for the same event.

I haven't quite worked out what I'll do with them all afterwards; most will get fed into the stock for replacements as part of our maintenance service but some are plants we rarely use, so I'm thinking of holding a Stewarts Interior Landscaping 'garage sale' in the early spring. Watch this space....

Jonathan

A new home for our old pots

2011-12-22T14:13:00.005Z

As a purveyor of plant displays on a rental basis (and also a bunch of compulsive hoarders), we have a large stock of ex-rental pots in storage. I would estimate 4-500 in total!

There is a purpose to this hoarding, as they can be resprayed and reused if a new order for the same pot comes in, as they are as good as new when resprayed.

However, the bit of polytunnel in which they were stored was required by our sister nursery to expand their growing capacity, so we were asked to move all our pots to a new one they find less conducive to growing plants. All fine, except it took two of us a couple of days in all to move them all over (as the two polytunnels were a van drive apart).

This did provide me a golden opportunity to pander to my OCD by putting all the different pot ranges in nice neat lines. There are many different types and sizes of pot, some more or less indistinguishable; I hope I've rendered myself redundancy-proof by being the only person at Stewarts that can tell them all apart.

I was trying to instruct my helper Claire on the subtleties of design that differentiate a Kubis from a Cubis, a Smooth Cubis (old), a Smooth Cubis (new), or indeed a Bajazi, all of which look very similar to the layman. But I think she just thought I was making it up.

Then I started explaining the differences between Penangs, Malays, Zeniths and Bedouins, which also all look the same. I'm surprised she didn't leave me to move them on my own...

Jonathan

A dog is for Christmas...

2011-12-22T08:03:00.002Z

Now the Christmas Tree rush is over, I thought I'd share this funny little incident that occurred when we were erecting the last tree at a retirement home in Bournemouth.

Being a friendly sort of retirement home
they have a cat and a dog for the residents' pleasure. You would expect the dog to be a peaceable kind of animal under the circumstances, and this first photo seems to show we got off to a good start....

...but before long he wanted to start playing tug.

With my hand.

Luckily as the owner of a Bulldog I am used to teeth marks on my hands...

...but the final straw was when he decided to steal one of Debra's gloves.

Debra is not only quite fond of her gloves, but she's also really not a dog person.

As any student of body language will be able to tell from this picture.

Odd isn't it? Every year we sit down before the busy Christmas Tree period and try and make contingencies for what might happen (rush of late orders/bad weather/etc.), but "spaniel stealing glove" didn't feature in that list.

Christmas trees all delivered

2011-12-13T10:17:00.002Z

Another Christmas Tree delivery period successfully completed. Having expected (what with the recession and all) that we would be having a quiet year, we didn't expect to have one of our busiest years yet. Seventy trees, and almost all delivered by Debra the Christmas co-ordinator and me!

Here's some statistics:

- A total of 520 feet in height of trees

- Of which 300 feet were decorated

- 1000 miles of driving to deliver them

- I estimate 4 barrels of biscuits, 5 chocolate bars and 70 cups of coffee.

The tree on the right is a large tree in blue and silver decorations that we thought looked particularly good.

I also thought I'd add some pics of the gestation of the biggest (18 foot) tree that we do:

First, the ever dignified Derek making a bow tie of a bow, not knowing Becca is adding her own contribution to the photo:

Becca was obviously in a festive mood, as she decided to decorate the safety cones we position round our work area:

Because this tree is larger than our biggest ladders, we actually have to decorate the top third while it's still on its side. It takes Debra's (working on tree) great decoration skills to know how to decorate a tree before she knows how it's going to hang once upright:

By the way, is it my imagination, or is Claire (red hair) checking Derek's manly frame out in the background?

Finally, the finished product, with from left to right: Claire, Derek, me and Debra.

If you're wondering whether I'm going to do a sales pitch for Christmas Trees, you've missed your chance this year, but for next year, please contact us next Autumn. Do not leave it until December, as it turns out we get very busy!

Jonathan

'Recession? What recession?' - Part 2

2011-11-24T15:03:00.002Z

I haven't posted in a while. Here's why: once again, despite the dire economic conditions, and the fact that office plant companies like Stewarts are a good weather vane of business confidence, we are having an extremely busy time fitting in deliveries to all the new customers and those existing ones that are expanding their business with us. Like the customer in Poole who have thrown caution to the wind and swapped their sensible, tasteful planters they had before, for the zany curvy pots shown above, among others.

In fact the role call of new contracts in the last month is as follows:

New customers:

Online retail firm in Portsmouth: 12 planters

Telecoms firm in Basingstoke: 20 planters

Engineering company near Stewarts: 7 refurbished planters

Insurance company in Poole: 12 planters

Financial customer in Bournemouth: 61 planters (!)

Existing customers:

Property company in Poole: 12 upgraded planters

Pharmaceutical company in Bournemouth: 13 extra planters

Oh, and one more. This built-in-bed in a new build house in Branksome:

These trees are 2.5-3m high, in case the pictures doesn't do them justice. Incidentally the stunning house around the plants is for sale - yours for £5m...

Now much as I'd love to kick back and enjoy a respite, we have (starting tomorrow at 0700) over 60 Christmas Trees to deliver, and already a backlog of new installations to carry out the moment they are out of the way.

Phew!

Jonathan

Watering plants in the rain...

2011-08-19T14:12:00.002+01:00

When we visit people's offices to carry out our maintenance service, we have to water any external plants whatever the weather, and if we're delivering new plants we have to water them especially heavily. Whatever the weather, as we won't be back for a couple of weeks. It's worth remembering that it would have to rain very heavily for several days without break to give an outdoor container plant the water it needs for a fortnight.

All this is in way of explanation for anyone that - while we were having yesterday's torrential rain storm - might have seen me thoroughly watering two new spiral Buxus plants outside an office in Poole, or my colleague Claire standing on the roof of an office watering their terrace plants with a hose for an hour. You don't have to be mad to work at Stewarts Interior Landscaping, but it helps, as the old saying goes.

One more thing, if we're watering your indoor plants and it's raining outside, you're not the first person to think of suggesting that we should simply move our plants outside. We will, however, try and appear amused by the suggestion!

Jonathan

The biggest pot I've ever sold!

2011-07-28T09:00:00.003+01:00

This picture doesn't really give a sense of how big it is: inside the wooden liner that the client had made is a 1.5m diameter and 90cm deep fibreglass liner, and the plant (my favourite Dracaena Surculosa - looks like a kind of spotty bamboo) is 2.5m high!

The quantity stats were pretty impressive too: 13 x 50l bags of the clay aggregate we use as drainage, plus 17 x 75l bags of compost, and to surround the main plant another 30 small plants of various species.

Nicer still, for once we were working only a couple of miles from our base at Stewarts Country Garden Centre in Wimborne, and in a lovely new office building. As loyal readers will know, we cover Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire and parts of Devon, Somerset, Sussex and Surrey. So a five minute commute is a refreshing change.

Even better, the client commented afterwards "Everyone has commented positively on the planters, thanks for being so efficient", so our efforts were appreciated.

Jonathan's best customer...

2011-07-28T08:33:00.005+01:00

...which is deliberately ambiguous. They are my best customer because it's the Gainsborough Arms, the fantastic village pub at the end of my road, but - regrettably for my liver - I'm one of their best customers.

So I was very happy to be asked to provide hanging baskets, later some shrubs in pots to delineate their outside seating area, and finally some large pots with shrub roses in. i later recruited my next door neighbour (a talented gardener) to look after these roses - in return for beer.

Got to love village life! As the landlord & landlady: Denny and Mecky are following my basket care instructions closely, the baskets are now thriving like few others I have seen; they do the work and I get the credit.

Health benefits of plants in the news again

2011-06-13T09:56:00.005+01:00

A colleague has brought in an article which appeared in the weekend paper in the 'Health' section about the benefits of plants in offices. We've known about this for a long time, but this particular study found that those who could see the most plants from their desks took the least sick leave. As well as the plants removing volatile organic compounds that can affect health, it is now thought that there may be a psychological explanation too, in that people believe plants are healthy, which leads them to evaluate their own health more optimistically.

So even if you don't have much space in your office, perhaps you might consider desk top bowls so that everyone can appreciate and benefit from a plant?

Let me know if you'd like to put the above studies to the test - ruthh@stewarts.co.uk - and we'll visit with some ideas.

Remember these?

2011-05-26T14:38:00.001+01:00

Stunning aren't they? This is a 'Finishing Touch', a stylish orchid arrangement which we leave on Reception for four weeks, when we replace it for a new one. The new one will use a different colour container, different colour orchids and new sculptural materials too.
When you consider that fresh flowers start at £20 a week, these last much longer and look as good when we take them away as they do when we deliver them (sometimes this can't be said of fresh flowers).
The large arrangement pictured would cost you £13.75 + VAT each week, but we have others which reduce costs down to as little as £5.50 + VAT each week.
Let me know if you'd like to try one and I'll bring a sample along to leave on your desk for a week or so - no obligation.
Call Ruth on 01425 283126 or 07714 827961.

Special offers on planted containers

2011-05-19T16:34:00.004+01:00

As ever, I'm back to tell you about our special offers. If you are concerned about the cost of interior plants, perhaps you aren't aware that you can have one of our stock containers, planted with a standard 1.5M specimen plant, on a 2 year rental, with fortnightly maintenance, for as little as £6.85 each plant per month? If you feel like committing for a little longer, a 3 year rental option is available for £5.90 per month per plant.
I think that's a pretty good deal. It still includes visits by our fully trained staff to water, feed, prune and clean the plants and plant replacements too, should any fail!
The catch? Only that this deal uses our second-hand stock containers (like those pictured), as we are keen to re-use them, so although these are in great condition, we wouldn't be able to offer you the wide range of colours that we normally do.
Let me know if you'd like further information - my direct line is 01425 283126, mobile is 07714 827961 and email is ruthh@stewarts.co.uk.

My plant needs repotting....

2011-05-19T14:34:00.005+01:00

Another in my occasional series of tips on indoor plant care.

Maybe it's because I've potted so many (it must be multiple thousands by now) but I'm reluctant to re-pot plants unnecessarily. The view out of my office door today of my to-do list...

One of the misconceptions I encounter frequently when people ask me for advice on their office plants or their houseplants at home, as that 'they need repotting'.

In some people's books this a cure all for a plants ills. I cannot emphasise enough how infrequently repotting is the answer to an ill plant's woes.

It is easy to think why it might help:

1. It gives the plant a dose of fresh soil. True, but the nutrients in fresh compost are used up in a matter of weeks or months. How often were you planning on repotting it?
2. It gives the roots room to grow. Again, true, but I've dug out perfectly healthy houseplants, showing no signs of ill health from being potbound, that have been in the same pot for decades, with roots going round and round the inside of the pot.

Now here's why you should restrain yourself.

1. Plants have delicate hairs all over their roots, which are very easily damaged. Pulling a plant out of its pot is like taking a pair of walking boots off with the laces done up. It's possible, but it won't do your toes much good.

2. Being a little bit potbound will inhibit a plant's growth. Think before you pot on whether you actually want your plant to get a lot bigger. If you don't then prune the plant (most of them love it) and keep the pot.

3. Houseplants will live in tiny pots in comparison to their size. I've seen it many, many times. As long as they get enough water and food, they'll live in terrible soil in a tiny pot (hydroponic plants live in gravel after all).

Here are the only reasons you should repot a plant, in my opinion:
1. It's in a pot with drainage and the roots are escaping.
2. It's easier to get the watering right in a bigger pot.
3. The pot looks too small. Indoor plants are there to make your home or office look nice. If the pot looks out of proportion, change it!

Recession? What recession?

2011-05-12T08:30:00.000+01:00

After the expected busy few weeks I was kind of expecting things to slow down a bit, but here at Stewarts we seem to be busier than ever, with what seems like a new customer signing up for our maintenance service every day.

We can thank Ruth for that, who is your first point of contact if you are considering sourcing plants from us.

These new customers have come in all across our coverage area (Hampshire, Dorset and parts of surrounding counties); off the top of my head there are ones in Alton and Fareham in Hampshire, Bournemouth, and gratifyingly one just down the road in Wimborne, Dorset, where we are based, with another local one in the pipeline...

Also absolutely buzzing at the moment is our short-term hire service of plants (mainly topiary) for events such as weddings, office opening etc. So much so that I can hardly keep up.

Some recession!

Jonathan

Very busy few weeks coming for us

2011-04-06T12:12:00.005+01:00

While the nation looks forward to two consecutive four-day weekends, service companies like Stewarts Landscaping have to fit their usual five days' work a week into four, then three, then four days. So apologies if I'm not so thrilled at all the days off...

We manage, but our maintenance service customers may get their plants watered by a different technician, and on a different day up to a week early or late. Sorry about that - but you will get the same number of visits in the end. If any regular customers read this, you're welcome to give us a call and I'll tell you when we're planning on coming in.

Stewarts are justifiably proud of the fact that we offer fortnightly service (while some of our competitors have quietly moved to three-weekly visits). If you are getting quotes for office plants - check the small print and see if the companies you've approached are all offering the same level of service.

Apart from over Christmas (when no one wants us anyway!) we will always come once a fortnight, even if - at busy times like this - we mangle the schedule a bit!

Jonathan

Lime green planters - now why is Jonathan so keen...?

2011-04-01T08:45:00.005+01:00

We installed these fantastically garish planters the other day. They're RAL 6018, a bright lime green, and they really livened up the funky web design company's office that Ruth had sold them to. They serve as a useful reminder to the fact that because Stewarts use bespoke GRP planters from a trusted local supplier, we can provide you with pots in any colour you can imagine, and some that you probably don't yet know exist!

The question remains: why am I so drawn toward this particular colour, when I deliver so many different ones? Maybe it's something to do with the colour of my car, which is exactly the same understated, elegant shade of green?

And Stewarts trust me to advise customers on what colour pots to have....

Jonathan

How to prune indoor plants - beginner's guide

2011-03-21T10:49:00.006Z

When I see office plants that people look after themselves (and often ones looked after by rival companies!) one thing that comes home to me again and again is that people don't prune enough.
So this is my potted guide to pruning indoor plants.

Now I have a bit of a reputation as a secateur-wielding brute, so what I say may not agree with what's in the books, but I'll say it anyway.

Indoor plants fall in to three categories, as below. How do you work out which is which? Simply, look at the way the plant grows. If in doubt cut a bit off and see how it responds.

1. Plants that can be shaped

The prime example of this would be the Ficus family, or any plant that has been pruned to a standard (lollipop) shape. Also the Crassula (Money Tree) can be treated this way. Basically, any plant that re-grows outwards when you cut something off the bdy of the plant.

Pruning has two stages and two purposes. The first is to keep the shape. To do this, simply cut off anything that sticks out where it shouldn't! The only problem is, pruning encourages growth where you make the cut, so this alone can make the problem worse. So the second stage is to occasionally make a 'strategic cut' and remove an entire branch back to well inside the bush. Otherwise all new growth will be on the outside and the middle will gradually become bare.

2. Plants that grow vertical 'canes'

The chief examples being Dracaenas (dragon trees) and Yuccas.

Let's face it, we've all seen one of these which is all wiggly stem with a handful of leaves on the end! As with the plants in the first group, these grow new shoots from where you cut them, so quite simply cut a stem back to where you want it to sprout from. If you look at the picture above/right, you can see the Y-shaped junctions where the plant has been pruned before. This is what you will achieve if you prune a head off. The problem is these types of plant tend to have just a handful of big heads, so you can only really cut one off at a time, so you need to prune progressively, i.e. cut one, wait until it sprouts a few leaves, then cut another when the plant can bear it. The bits you remove, by the way, are viable plants in their own right. Either repot in another container or simply plunge into the soil of the parent plant and gain another stem. Without any special measures you have a better-than-even chance of survival!

3. Plants that grow shots from the soil

This is the tricky one. Examples would mostly be the palms (like the Howea shown here), but also a lot of small houseplants.

The key thing they have in common (you can usually tell by looking at how they've grown) is that they won't regrow from a prune point if you cut a bit off. Instead new shoots appear from the soil, or from the very base of the plant.

The only way you can prune these is to thin them out: cut out leaves to reduce the overall size, selecting leaves which are damaged, or simply going in the wrong direction. In the case of the palms you'll find that the new leaves appear in the middle, so the oldest leaves are usually on the outside of the plant.

Unlike the first two groups this does not promote new growth, and does not really benefit the plant, it's purely to control the size if it's taking over the room!

When to prune?

The other question I often get asked is "When is the right time to prune my plant?"

The simple answer is "When it needs it!" Especially in offices, indoor plants grow all year round, albeit more slowly in the winter, so I recommend pruning little and often. If you need to do something drastic, spring/summer is probably best, to give the plant the best chance of re-sprouting. Follow up with a good feed for even better results.

So in summary: don't be scared. Not pruning at all is much worse than the most amateur pruning, and you'll be amazed how satisfying it is when your plant sprouts healthy new growth as a result of your efforts. Happy chopping!

Jonathan

LOAN PLANTS!!!

2011-03-17T16:48:00.002Z

If you're still undecided as to whether some lovely plants would look good in your offices and be appreciated by staff and visitors, to help you decide, we have these 3 ready-planted containers which we'd be keen to offer you for a few weeks, provided we can find a suitable spot at your premises for them. Whilst they are with you, we come along and maintain them - that way you get an idea of the service we provide if you decide to go ahead and have your own plants. This loan and the service provided by Stewarts during the loan is free of charge and, includes fortnightly visits by our fully trained staff who water, prune, clean and feed the plants.
All you have to do is enjoy them.

Give me a call on 01202 882463 if you'd like to set this up, or email me on ruthh@stewarts.co.uk.

Welcome to our greenhouse

2011-03-09T08:34:00.004Z

Just thought I'd post a picture of our greenhouse, as it's a lovely peaceful place to work. That's the door to my luxurious office on the left!

As we are expecting our fortnightly plant injection from Holland any time now, this is about as empty as it ever gets. When it's full you often have to push overhanging leaves out of the way to get down the aisles.

Research shows that plants make the workplace a healthier environment, so maybe this is why all the staff in the separate admin office have a cold, and I have resisted it so far.

If you visit the Wimborne Stewarts you can catch a glimpse of this green oasis through a door in the furniture department. If you're a current or potential interior landscaping customer, you're more than welcome to arrange to come in for a look round.

Jonathan

As one van door closes, another opens...

2011-02-18T14:22:00.003Z

After five and a half happy years, Stewarts Interior Landscaping say goodbye to their trusty delivery Transit van (left) and hello to a brand spanking new one (right). It's more or less the same but with some great toys in the cabin; it's got some stuff my car doesn't!

We need a van this big to carry our six foot high ready-planted pots, our largest ladders, and it will take a fifteen foot Christmas Tree on its side. And we need the 140 bhp version because, erm, we, erm, just do, OK?

We leased the last one but we've bought this one, so I'm lavishing even more TLC on it than before (if that's possible) as it's "mine". Until you've done it, you've no idea how long it takes to polish and wax a van that big. Imagine getting to the middle of the roof! My arms were killing me.

Question: should I feed my plants in the winter?

2011-01-26T13:03:00.003Z

Answer: Orthodox advice on interior plants (and orthodox advice to staff in our industry) is that all plants should be fed roughly monthly from Easter to October. We use proprietary powder feeds mixed in our watering cans.

However, some plants (particularly Ficuses, like Benjamina) start to suffer from feed deficiency (manifested by losing leaves in the case of Ficuses) by this time in the winter, so it has become our practice to give plants a gentle feed once or twice during the off season.

Some of my staff in fact claim never to stop feeding completely, merely to cut down the strength and frequency employed. One particularly venerable technician has a very complicated schedule involving different brands of plant food in varying quantities throughout the year, which for the life of me I can't fathom out. But hey, it works for him.

So in short, yes, you probably should give the fast growing plants like Ficuses a little feed about now. Of course if you have office plants looked after by Stewarts, we do all this thinking and feeding for you!

2011-01-13T10:20:00.002Z

GOOD FOR YOU

FACT: Indoor plants can reduce fatique, coughs, sore throats and other cold-related illnesses by more than 30%

Contact with plants and nature is a calming tonic for the body and soul. More and more scientific research is proving that being near plants is good for our mental and physical wellbeing.
Plants help reduce stress, make people happier, lower symptons of discomfort and minor ailments, speed recovery from illness, improve concentration, productivity and creativity, save energy and create clean air in a green and natural way.

FACT: Hospital patients with plants in their room have less pain, anxiety, fatigue, take significantly less pain medication, have lower blood pressure and heart rates, and are happier with their recovery rooms than patients without plants

True? Houseplants spread germs in hospitals? FALSE! Houseplants actually clean the air removing impurities, not adding to them! The humble houseplant could contribute to savings to the NHS.

FACT: Plants make you happy! When houseplants are placed in a room, people's blood pressure becomes significiantly lower, and they find tasks less stressful

FACT: Plants take in CO2 and release oxygen. This is important to your health in general and also to your bone health

FACT: Plant-filled rooms contain 60-60% fewer airborne moulds and bacteria than rooms without plants

FACT: Plants can reduce dust in a room by a fifth and help reduce toxins in the home

True? Dont put houseplants in the bedroom as they use up all the ari! FALSE! Actually the opposite happens as plants naturally refresh the air by absorbing harmful CO2 and emitting oxygen. The best air purifying houseplants are Orchids, Bromeliads and Succulents. These plants conserve their energy during the day and refresh the air predominantly during the night, which means they will purfiy the air in your bedroom while you sleep!

FACT: For people who sit and work at a computer for more than 4 hours per day, a houseplant nearby has been proven to increase productivity.

FACT: Indoor air pollution, often referred to as indoor air quality (IAQ), contributes to 40% of absenteeism

FACT: Houseplants can reduce symptons of Sick Building Syndrome by a quarter, and the results have been found to be long-lasting

FACT: Houseplants can improve the health of office workers and attentiveness increases as much as 70% when plants are put in a classroom.

This information has been provided by Plants for Life, which aims to promote and recognise the real benefits of houseplants in the home, work, environment and to our personal health. Plants for Life is a 'not-for-profit organisation that collates and communicates independent academic research into the health and wellbeing that houseplants bring to our every day lives.

If you would like some more information on this report then please contact us.
There is more information on this report so if you would like a full copy then click on this link and then print www.plants4life.org/p4l-report.pdf

Christmas tree: we managed it!

2010-12-13T14:54:00.002Z

Following on from the picture in the last entry, in which I said a mere covering of snow wouldn't stop us delivering Christmas Trees, a couple more pics. First off, the big tree was meant to go on a big landscaping dept. pickup, but it was decided that these weren't up to the snowy conditions, so ever resourceful, we appropriated a colleague's 4x4 and strapped it to the roof of that.

Several hours later (the big trees are very labour-intensive) the 18' tree was upright and decorated. Photos don't really do them justice - bear in mind that the little black pot is over 3' wide!

It takes more than a bit of snow...

2010-12-02T08:36:00.003Z

...to stop Stewarts delivering a Christmas tree!

This is our delivery van this AM, which we'd fully loaded the night before for our biggest day of deliveries, so there's no backing down now.

If we survive, I may blog the results later.

Quirky containers

2010-11-25T16:25:00.001Z

Don't these look excellent? The plants are Sansevieria laurentii (1M versions) and the containers
black curved fibreglass towers, 350mm wide x 900mm tall. They create a great screen, as well as a
talking point! They were recently installed in new Hook offices.

The tree - the next episode

2010-11-23T16:35:00.000Z

Further to Jonathan's blog about the tree, needless to say, it was quickly snapped up! It now has pride of place in the middle of a large new air-conditioning showroom in Hedge End. The guys there told me they were looking for a very large tree for the middle of their showroom the week before, when I visited to discuss their possible requirements for plants. Neither of us thought something as beautiful as this tree would be available a few days later! I think you'll agree it looks great!

FREE big tree - you missed your chance...

2010-11-15T13:21:00.007Z

On behalf of one of our clients, I am able to offer this 5-6m Ficus Benjamina tree for free - apart from transport costs. We've been looking after it since the eighties, and can vouch for its excellent health.

Fortunately the client has the logistics to load and transport the tree, providing you are within, say, an hour of Wimborne.

Stewarts' only involvement will be to give the tree a drastic prune if need be in order to enable it to be moved, and of course we would be happy to offer our maintenance service in its new home.

So if you are looking for a big tree at a bargain price (a new one this size would possibly fetch £10,000!) then email me and I'll pass your details onto my client to talk directly.

Jonathan

(SEE POST ABOVE - THIS TREE HAS NOW GONE TO A NEW HOME)

Artificial plants get a bath

2010-11-15T13:06:00.004Z

Q. How do you clean artifical plants that are fifty feet above the ground in a shopping centre?

A. You take them all out, wash them and put them back again! Here's a picture of them being laid out to dry. Now, loyal reader, go to a Southampton shopping centre and see if you can find them in the flesh. Clue: look up.

On the plus side, it was pouring down with rain the day we did this, so we sprayed them with detergent then used the outside world as a 'rinse cycle'.

On the minus side, it means going in before everyone else wakes up (3:30 alarm call) twice instead of just once, but since we've been looking after this shopping centre, the artificial plants have looked a lot cleaner, as we are able to do a much more thorough job.

Another example of Stewarts lateral thinking giving you cleaner, shinier plants!

Christmas is coming

2010-10-06T15:26:00.003+01:00

Christmas is fast approaching us now and the team are in full swing of organising all the orders for customers who have Christmas Tree Hire. All of our trees available are either live or artificial, the customers choice, and fully decorated with lights. These are delivered to clients offices for their communal or reception areas. As part of the service they are also collected before the 12th night. For the customer this means no hassle, all our clients have to do is choose the colours they would prefer and when they would like it delivered (depending on available days) and thats it! We do the rest.

Purple, or blue?

2010-09-17T15:12:00.004+01:00

We've just returned from Southampton, where we've installed a lovely pair of 3.2m branched Yuccas at a college.

The photo doesn't do their size justice (maybe because the photographer - me - is so tall). It also really doesn't do the pot colour justice. This pot - I promise - is 'Deep Purple' (aka BS 22D45) which is a dark violet purple, and looks it in the flesh.

But two different cameras have both taken pictures of it that have come out looking completely blue. I would call it Royal Blue (an in joke, as long time readers may note).

And they say the camera never lies....

FICUS BENJAMINA

2010-09-02T14:17:00.019+01:00

This plant is more commonly know as the weeping fig, and comes in many different culitvars, and it part of the rubber tree family.

It grows wild in the tropical forest of India, South East Asia and Northern Australia to about a height of 30 metres.

As an indoor plant it likes bright indirect sun conditions, but can tolarate conciderable shade, but it does not react very well to being moved or changes in temperature and will drop leaves like crazy, but it does adapt to its new climate.

It can be pruned to give a suitable shape for indoor landscaping and when young the flexible stems can be twisted or braided to make a very attractive feature.

In a report from NASA it showed that the Ficus is effective at filtering indoor toxins, so is ideal for indoor plant displays in office environments.

We use quite a few different varieties in our indoor plant contracts:

Ficus Gold King

Ficus Danielle

Ficus Starlight

Ficus benjamina braided

Summer colour for hire

2010-07-09T08:49:00.002+01:00

We recently prepared these 3' troughs full of Geraniums, Impatiens New Guinea and Ivy for a short hire for a client. They are now beautifying our portacabin a treat, but we mustn't forget our commercial imperative, so...

They are for hire for short periods for events for as little as £10 each (including delivery and collection), depending where you are based and how many you hire.

Equally I am open to offers from people that want to buy them outright or hire them for the rest of summer.

As always we hire out the topiary Bay and Box that you can see behind at a similar rate.

Jonathan

Help make Stewarts' job easier

2010-07-06T08:26:00.002+01:00

It's a little known fact that interior landscaping companies like Stewarts are not allowed to use any pesticides in their clients' premises. We are not allowed to use MAPP labelled substances (i.e. ones intended for professional use) and we are also not allowed to use things that are sold to the public in garden centres as they are labelled "for home and garden use only", even though they are considered safe for use at home.
So if a pest appears on one of our plants, we are less able to combat it than a member of the public. We are also not meant to use our leafshine products to control pests, but if using them as intended (to clean the plant) kills the bugs, that's legal. Daft, isn't it?

Now, you may be aware that the new government have launched a consultation into what laws the public would like repealing, and I have suggested the laws covering pesticide use by companies like us.

Follow this link and rate my suggestion!

Note, you will have to register on there first, but it takes two minutes.

Many thanks,

Jonathan

Government cuts - don't lose the 'pot plants'!

2010-06-03T10:00:00.002+01:00

I've been listening to various members of our new Government talking about the need for efficiency savings in government departments, and using 'pot plants' as a buzzword for where money can be saved. In fact one of David Laws' first acts was to cancel the plant contract for his department.

So I've taken it upon myself to write to the Prime Minister and explain to him that plants in offices have been shown to have such a beneficial effect on staff morale and specifically absenteeism that they are self-financing. So he might be wise to keep plants in his government's office buildings.

Don't believe me? This website is a mine of scientific research on the benefits of plants in the workplace.

Stewarts don't have any central government contracts, though at my last employer we did, and I can certainly recall some scope for efficiencies. My favourite was an eight storey building that had two TVs on each landing playing a rolling presentation about their environmental credentials, 24 hours a day.

Lovely little Bonsai trees

2010-05-19T14:21:00.003+01:00

Only because I found out that they existed, I bought us a tray of these gorgeous little Ficus Ginseng bonsai trees. For scale, this one is about 25cm tall. They really are lovely, and don't possess the usual bonsai characteristic of 'dropping dead' (most bonsai are miniature versions of outdoor trees, so hate being indoors, whereas this is a specific indoor bonsai tree). We can get Ficus Ginseng up to 1m high, indeed we've just installed some in a Japanese car showroom where they look very appropriate, but can't beat these midgets for cuteness.

The problem is, none of us can think of an appropriate place in an existing customer to plant them; they're very easy to care for, but they ideally need to be in a small pot in a sunny spot.

Like my sitting room windowsill, where I now have a matching pair I bought for myself in pearlescent red bowls.

Not that that's why I bought a whole tray of them with company money of course...

Summer baskets... but not yet!

2010-05-12T08:09:00.005+01:00

Not a picture of a hanging basket, but of a frost-covered plant, to illustrate the point that on the 12th of May we just had a hard frost. At one point on my morning commute, my van's dashboard said it was -1 deg C outside!

Why am I saying this? Because at this time of year, Stewarts are selling lots of summer bedding plants, and Stewarts Interior Landscaping are (despite the name) supplying lots of summer hanging baskets, and summer plants should not be put out until after the last frost. We come under a lot of pressure from clients to have the summer baskets as early as possible and I always refuse to deliver until the end of May. However, my reasoning that there may be a late frost is usually scoffed at. This year it would appear that my pessimism is justified.

So if you want lovely summer hanging baskets - when I'm good and ready to let you have them - get in touch!

Jonathan

Caryota Mitis

2010-05-11T14:13:00.007+01:00

Caryota Mitis, commonly called the fishtail palm because of its very attractive ragged edged leaves which look like fish tails.

It comes from South East Asia, so it prefers a warm, humid
habitat and is more tolerant of a drier soil than overwatering, and although it can stand full sun it can also tolerate low light levels. It prefers to be slightly pot bound and grown indoors can reach about 6ft, as with all palms do not prune, only remove dead branches by cutting off at the stem.

This is a plant that we do not use for a lot of our office plant
displays, as it does best in a warm high humid atmosphere, and not so well in offices with heating that could be switched off at night, or air conditioning which keeps a cooler atmosphere, and the Caryota tends to tip (leaves get brown around the edges and looks dry).

We recently installed one as part of a interior landscaping contract in a poolside area, were it looked absolutely stunning and hopefully should do well, as it was very warm and humid, not the ideal place to be doing a planting job and we could have done with a dip in the pool when we had finished!!

Keeping our staff hanging on

2010-04-30T15:13:00.004+01:00

Here's an interesting way to spend the last hour before the bank holiday weekend. We decided to buy two whole new sets of harness and fall arrest equipment for the handful of jobs that require us to work at height. So Tracey is testing whether our new harness and rope grab system works, when safely tied to a tree off camera to the left. Trying it all out was quite a giggle; hopefully we'll never give this equipment a chance to save our lives, but we never cut corners on safety for our staff.

Guzmania

2010-04-20T15:15:00.011+01:00

There are over 120 different varieties of Guzmanias, ranging in colour from white, yellow, orange, red and purple, with interesting names like grand prix, jazz, luna and on one particular order we placed recently for some orange ones, they came in with the name of hasta la vista, I would love to know how they came up with that one!!

We use them in our interior plant displays to add colour, but as the 'flower' part only last a few weeks, they have to be changed reqularly.

The guzmania is part of the Bromeliad family, and they originated from tropical areas in South America and were named in honour of a 18th centry spanish botanist.

They are fairly easy to look after, and like indirect light, not direct sunlight and watered sparingly especially in the winter months they need to be kept on the dry side.

According to a recent study, they can remove air pollutants such as formaldehyde and benzene, which is found in cigeratte smoke.

We also use them in a range of finishing touches arrangements we do, which are idea for reception desks and changed on a regular basis, and give a more cost effective alternative to weekly fresh flowers but still with visual impact.

Delta 30 Finishing Touch

2010-04-12T16:51:00.000+01:00

How about this for a Finishing Touch? It stands 1.3M tall and really looks amazing, so eye-catching. At £18.75 a week, it stays with you for 4 weeks, thereafter we replace it with a completely new, fresh one, using a different colour container, with different colour flowering plants (3 of them in this arrangement) and sculptural materials.
If any of you would like to see a sample of any of our Finishing Touches, please give me a call or email and I'll bring one along for you to keep for a few days: ruthh@stewarts.co.uk or 07714 827961.

Orchid bowls

2010-04-12T16:45:00.000+01:00

Another useful and money-saving idea: why not consider having one of these orchid bowls on your Reception desk in place of weekly fresh flowers? The idea is that you would keep the bowl for 4 weeks at a cost of £13.75 + VAT each week (flowers are very much more expensive) and then we bring you a completely new one, using a different colour orchid and a different colour bowl.
There are many more options to choose from too - for as little as £5.50 a week.
If you need more information, please email me re 'Finishing Touches' on: ruthh@stewarts.co.uk, or call 01202 882463.

Money-saving ideas

2010-03-24T10:05:00.004Z

Why not have another look at office plants now spring is here?
We've still got a lot of smart second-hand containers we'd like to re-use (Stewarts loves to recycle), just as they are, or re-sprayed to suit your office (or home!) colour scheme.
Give me a call (01425 283126 or 07714 827961) and I'll give you more information.
We can also save you money on Reception flowers by offering you some eye-catching displays like orchid bowls or Guzmania bowls, for lots less than weekly fresh flowers.

How do I get this tree trunk out?

2010-03-11T08:06:00.003Z

Folks, I'm in a bind here. We have these socket-shaped metal Christmas Tree stands into which we slot the bottom of a cut tree. Having been very busy since Xmas, I have been ignoring the fact that I have one sitting in the greenhouse with a stump of wood jammed solidly in. But I can't ignore it forever.

Any suggestions on how to remove it are welcome, it really is stuck good and proper!

Best idea so far has been set fire to it, burning the wood and leaving the metal. This is the calibre of ideas I have to work with...

Jonathan

Echinocactus grusonii - My unusual first choice

2010-03-01T15:51:00.009Z

Hi my name is Kim and I work for Stewarts Interior Landscaping, we look after office plants. I work in the office, so know very little about the plants we use to make the offices enviromnentally pleasing, so I have been set the task of writing about the type of plants that we use and why.

My first choice is this very unusual plant, that we use only in a couple of Interior plant contracts, when they asked for something particularly sculptural with an unsual twist, of course they can only be used in a position where people cannot spike themselves.

This cactus originates from Mexico and can grow to a metre tall, and its common name is 'Mother- in-laws pillow' (best not to ask why!!)

It is an extremely prickly plant, and care has to be take when potting it up, the plant technicians draw straws to see who gets landed with the task! When it has been placed in a container (see picture), I think you will agree that it looks particularly striking. It does like a sunny position and does not like to be overwatered as they can rot.

It can produce flowers, but only after about 20 years, so you'll have to be patient!!

Our coverage area

2010-02-02T11:02:00.004Z

In our constant quest to take plants to the plantless, we have expanded our coverage area again. While our core area is Dorset and Hampshire and surrounding counties, we now include Bristol and Swindon within our remit. Once again my mastery of MS Paint comes in handy:

In fact because of where I live, you'll get a personal service from me in those areas. Apologies if you were hoping for someone better looking...

At present, other customers as far afield as Weybridge and Exeter use our maintenance service. We'd also be happy to hear from you wherever you are, as we can provide the plants then use one of our trusted subcontractors to do the maintenance.

Jonathan

Another year, another 18 foot Christmas Tree

2009-12-14T11:57:00.007Z

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!

Saving money on Reception flowers

2009-12-04T16:31:00.005Z

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!
Do let me know if you'd like to see a sample - Ruth (ruthh@stewarts.co.uk or 01202 882463).

Stewarts offer national coverage

2009-10-28T09:11:00.002Z

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. Ruth will be happy to help.

Recent installations

2009-10-06T16:44:00.003+01:00

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 aiport. 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!

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

2009-07-29T16:00:00.003+01:00

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!

We complete our biggest ever installation

2009-07-03T15:39:00.004+01:00

(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!

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

2009-04-28T08:56:00.004+01:00

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.

Meet the team!

2009-03-18T12:16:00.005Z

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!

We now go further to look after your plants!

2009-03-03T08:59:00.006Z

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!

Some random facts about Stewarts Office Plants

2008-12-23T14:38:00.002Z

Just a few interesting (?) facts about Stewarts Office Plants before we break for Christmas:

- We have about 390 maintenance customers, stretching from Exeter to Chichester and Weybridge (see our coverage map) but mainly in Dorset and Hampshire, who had 67 Christmas Trees between them

- In total we look after almost 6,000 plants for those customers!

- Our ten vans do approximately 110,000 miles a year in total.

- The nine operational staff have 120 years' experience between us (I worked it out as 116, six months ago) .

- We can supply plant pots in approximately three hundred colours, in fact I have only used about fifty of those in my time here!

There you go. Merry Christmas, everybody!

Praise for our Christmas Trees

2008-12-17T09:24:00.012Z

As Rebecca said below, we've now delivered all 67 Christmas Trees to our clients, plus a few swags, Poinsettas and Christmas-themed floral arrangements too.

This is a photo of our largest tree. Bear in mind that I'm the 6'6" chap in the middle; the tree is about 22 feet high! Now there's just the small matter of getting them all back, in three vans, in three working days. Luckily, most are more modestly sized!

Meanwhile, here's some of the emailed comments we've had about our trees this year:

“Can I say that we are delighted with the tree once again. It has been beautifully decorated and is a great shape.”
A Winchester client
“Lots of favourable comments received regarding the trees and decorations, so your teams are up to their usual high standard.”
A Bournemouth client
“We are delighted with it, it looks perfect and is just the right size and everyone, including visitors/customers etc. has commented on it.”
A Portsmouth client

“The tree looks really lovely!”

A Southampton client

"Very fine indeed."

A Bournemouth client

The office plant team

2008-12-16T14:59:00.003Z

The interior office plant team have now completed the delivery and installation of the decorated Christmas trees to your offices and receptions. We will be back after Christmas to remove and tidy up all the needles that will probably be deposited on your floors.

We would like to wish you all a very happy Christmas and best wishes for 2009. Thank you for your continued support and custom in our quest for making the UK a better place by having indoor plants.

For 2009 we are aiming to send regular newsletters to tell our customers what we are up to and what is available out there so if you would like to be added to our database to recieve our newsletter please let us know. There are so many benefits for having plants in the work place and home and this is just one of the topics that will be included within our regular newsletters.

West Quay Shopping Centre

2008-11-25T16:01:00.004Z

Stewarts Office Plants have just, effective November 08, taken on the plant maintenance at West Quay Shopping Centre and we are delighted! Stewarts Landscaping has taken over the grounds maintenance so all in all, the team are keeping busy.

The Interior Plants are looked after every week. We have a dedicated team of technicians who get up early and look after the plants before the shopping centre opens. This service of caring for plants includes watering indoor plants, cleaning, dusting, pruning, feeding and anything else the plant requires to help it flourish. It also includes free plant replacement for plants that become tired, tatty or fail to flourish. Every 4 weeks the team change all the flowering planted containers using something like Anthuriums which has a fairly long flowering period and can stand a bit of tough vandalism from time to time.

The Grounds Maintenance includes everything from grass cutting, weeding, leaf clearance, shrub and border tidying and pruning.

We plan to implement a few changes/improvements to the planting schemes over time, with WestQuay's approval of course, but in the meantime, we look forward to a long and successful working relationship with Southampton's best known shopping centre.

Christmas begins!

2008-11-17T11:57:00.008Z

Strictly speaking it began last week when we delivered four trees to a shopping centre, but the mass decoration of artificial trees starts today, so they will be ready for delivery from the end of November.

Because we are very tightly-staffed the rest of the year, we have recruited an extra Christmas tree decorator... for four weeks only!

Julie has not worked for Stewarts before, but she's well known to me: we've lived together for over ten years!

Debra, who runs the whole Christmas operation with ruthless efficiency, has still got room for a very few more orders, so email her if you want to know more about our Christmas tree service.

Wood BMW Bournemouth

2008-10-30T12:40:00.003Z

A shiny new showroom has opened at Wood BMW in Wallisdown, Bournemouth and Stewarts Office Plants have provided some truly gorgeous Ficus Nitida 'lollipop style' plants for it. The spec was that they all needed to be uniform and tightly rounded in appearance, which can be difficult with live specimens (cos nature tends to go its own way), but with some skillful snipping and shaping by Anna, one of our very capable technicians, we're confident we can keep these lovely plants looking great.

Giving a dragon some backbone

2008-09-02T09:22:00.003+01:00

It's that time of year again when Stewarts help to decorate the display stand of locally-based play equipment company Hags at the Saltex trade show in Windsor. This year the centrepiece of the stand is a 22 tonne dragon's head (big enough for a tall chap like me to walk through the mouth!). A turfed mound was created to represent the dragon's body, and we put criss-crossed Phormiums along the crest to represent its spiky backbone.

As for the actual process of planting shrubs into a freshly-turfed and not-very-compacted mound of topsoil, don't ask....

Incidentally, the dragon's head is currently still for sale by Hags, if anyone is interested!!!

Re-use and Re-cycle

2008-08-15T10:53:00.005+01:00

As Jonathan said, we do love to re-cycle at Stewarts. To this end, we offer some excellent deals on our re-cycled containers - see just a few in the photograph! They are just sitting waiting to be re-sprayed in some of our latest colour options (matt finishes, like expresso, bronze and silver make the containers look especially contemporary), filled with a lovely, fresh new plant and placed in a corner of your office for all to benefit from and enjoy.

Why not call or email me and I'll be happy to let you have an idea of cost. The containers in the photograph are not the only style available, by the way.

Ruth
T: 07714 827961 or ruthh@stewarts.co.uk

Rubbish!

2008-08-14T15:18:00.003+01:00

As with all manual industries, Stewarts Office Plants creates a lot of waste. However, we're very proud of the fact we recycle almost everything, thanks to our purpose-built recycling facilities at our Broomhill base. Our green waste is separated into soil, woody waste and green waste, all of which is chipped/shredded & mixed up, then allowed to rot down, before being re-used as compost & mulch by our landscaping department. Among my less managerial duties is emptying the trailers of muck, but at least it means I can fulfill every boy's childhood dream of driving a tractor!

We also receive a lot of packaging with our plant consignments: the cellophane and cardboard is compacted and baled for recycling, and all the used plant pots are put in the 'pot exchange' in the garden centre car park. We even re-use the cardboard that our new pots come in on the next delivery!

Anecdotally, I don't believe any of our competitors can touch our level of recycling, so if this element of our business is important to you, then we're the company for you.

Houseplants?

2008-08-05T12:55:00.002+01:00

Just come back from a new house being built in Bournemouth, where Stewarts have installed a 3.5m Dracaena Song of India, and two groups of three Kentia Palms up to 3.5m in height in the open-plan living area. Here's a picture of my installation team posing by their handiwork (well done, guys). Filling these 1.8m diameter tree pits used over 100 of our 75 litre compost bags!

Makes my skinny 5ft plant & two bowls on the windowsill in my living room look a bit pathetic!

A challenging install goes like a dream

2008-08-04T08:57:00.004+01:00

Remember how windy it was on Friday morning? We were up the end of Bournemouth pier at 07:30 installing nine Chamaerops Humilis palms in the al fresco seating area of the restaurant there, where it was windy enough to blow the palms off our trolleys, despite the fact we could barely lift them ourselves! That wasn't our only difficulty though:

1. The displays needed to be secured in position, but also removed for winter each year. Normally we bolt exterior pots through their bases, but this would have meant digging the plant out to undo the bolt - hardly ideal. So I came up with the idea of having some metal plates made (very quickly, by JP Design in Ferndown) that were bolted to the bottom of the pot in advance, and protruded out of the sides, enabling bolts to be fitted/removed without disturbing the plant. Complete success!

2. These required all sorts of drill bits, bolts, washers etc. to be used, on a windy day, on a surface that you could see the sea through the gaps in. I became careful to the point of paranoia about not dropping anything. On the other hand, sweeping up any spilled soil was a doddle - just sweep it through a gap!

3. Obviously there's no vehicle access to the end of the pier, so everything had to be trolleyed up (see comment above about the wind blowing things over), and the vehicle access to the end of the pier is only available until 10:00am. In the end, we left at 10:01, while a council employee stood patiently waiting to close the gate.

Despite all that, it went rather well, and the plants look great. Incidentally the pots are in two-tone gold on black, which we've never used before, but I suspect we will again as it looks rather nice. Good choice, Ruth.

You can see 'my' fixing plates sticking out of the sides if you look closely, but they're pretty discreet. The only issue now is whether we'll be able to lift the displays up when we collect them, as we planted them up in situ so we don't know how much the finished product actually weighs...

No-one gets away from Stewarts!

2008-07-15T16:26:00.006+01:00

A company in Poole asked us to give their beloved Bonsai Ficus Retusa some TLC last week, so I went and collected it from them.

Knowing that Christine, one of my recently retired (and much missed) employees, is a bonsai expert, I invited her back to perform the trickiest work for me. Payment was in the form of strong tea and a lemon slice from the garden centre's coffee shop (and I rewarded myself with a caramel slice for thinking of getting her to come in!).

We (well, she) removed it from its pot, cleaned all the tired old soil from it, then very cleverly tied it to the pot to make it more stable, and finally we replanted it in fresh bonsai compost, and it's now more or less ready to go.

Thanks Christine!

Watch out, there's a Ruth about!

2008-07-11T09:31:00.002+01:00

In an attempt to spread the word about Stewarts Interior Landscaping, I'm out and about one day a week, calling into various business parks and commercial buildings from Exeter to Basingstoke, north as far as Newbury and all points in between! If you would like me to stop off and see you, bringing along suggestions for office plants to enhance your workplace, please give me a call on 01425 283126 or 07714 827961.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Ruth

116 years of experience!

2008-05-28T08:42:00.003+01:00

A list of all my staff's employment start dates passed across my desk recently, and it set me thinking. I sat and worked out how many years experience of caring for office plants we had between us, and it adds up to one hundred and sixteen years!

This is of course meaningless without knowing how many of us there are doing the job: nine people, so that equates to an equally impressive (almost) thirteen years experience each! Added to which, none of us have spent less than six years in the industry at present. As far as I am aware, no other office plant company can come close to this average level of experience.

What does all this mean to potential and existing clients? Well, although our new starters (if I remember rightly...) receive a very thorough four weeks of training, caring for office plants is a job that can only be completely mastered by doing it for a few years, so this is one reason why the standard of our maintenance service is second to none.

Jonathan

Hanging basket time - don't delay!

2008-05-07T12:31:00.003+01:00

We usually deliver our summer hanging baskets at the end of May. Now the weather has suddenly turned summery (it's 28 deg C already in my office in the greenhouse!) we expect the phone to start ringing as all our clients' thoughts turn to their workplaces' outdoor spaces at once...

The snag is that hanging baskets need a little time to 'grow on', in order that they are delivered with some flowers already in evidence, so if you want baskets for the end of the month, you need to order now.
Email me or ring the office, and we'll send you an order form. As a guide price, our most popular size of basket (16" diameter) retails at £29.00 + VAT, which includes delivery in our usual coverage area! You can specify colour, and plant mixture as required, and please note that we also provide and plant window troughs, summer bedding etc.

A new look for our coffee shop

2008-04-01T16:55:00.005+01:00

The Stewarts Country Garden Centre (near Wimborne, where Stewarts Office Plants is based too) has just finished having their coffee shop enlarged and refurbished.
While the existing displays were very nice, the new colour scheme and much enlarged space meant we had to put something new in. Rebecca opted for a combination of matt graphite pots in the main area and the gorgeous pearl red in the new section, which is decorated in a dark red colour. For the planting she decided on - among other things - three large olive trees to sit in large square pots in the main area, where the great light conditions are ideal for olives.
We planted them in situ first thing this morning before the garden centre opened, and I have to admit they look great.

Notice also that Rebecca has hung some of our Wall Art range around the coffee shop. While my picture may paint a thousand words, why not come in to the Country Garden Centre, stop for a coffee, and take a closer look at our plants & pictures? If you’re a potential business customer in the Bournemouth/Poole area, what better way to see Stewarts Office Plants’ products in the flesh… and legitimately get out of the office for a couple of hours? You might even be able to claim the price of the coffees on expenses!

Jonathan

Jonathan takes an unexpected journey....

2008-03-18T19:09:00.002Z

Stewarts look after the plants on a pair of passenger ferries called the Express & Vitesse, sailing out of Weymouth & Poole. Due to the somewhat erratic schedule we have to fit in with, these plants are looked after by yours truly, aided by Claire, my assistant.
I went to Weymouth this morning to look after the plants on Express, and found Vitesse there too. As I'm due to return on Tuesday after Easter (bank holiday weeks are busy enough for us with five days' work to complete in four) to do Vitesse, I wandered on board to see if I could get these plants done too. The boat was swarming with workmen, and no-one stopped me getting started, so imagine my surprise when I looked out of the window 30 minutes later to realise we were sailing out of the harbour.
This has happened to us before; the boat occasionally goes out to turn round or change berth, so I casually enquired of one of the other workmen (who seemed very relaxed): "Ermm, where are we off to?"
"Oh, just round the bay I think."
"Oh, that's a relief, I've nearly finished!", I replied.
"I think they're staying out for about four hours, mate", after which it became clear the rest of the workmen were there all day anyway so they didn't mind the trip out.

A short conversation with the crew confirmed this, so I gave the plants possibly the most thorough clean and prune they will ever get, and when we docked (happily a mere three hours later), I made a mental note always to double-check whether I was staying in port in future.

Needless to say I have endured a wide range of jokes at my expense in the office ('Have you brought us any brie back?', 'How are your sea legs?' etc.), which I rather suspect I deserve.

Plants that improve your office's air quality

2008-02-18T09:10:00.005Z

I often get asked to provide plants specifically to improve the air in a modern office. As you may be aware, the air in modern air-conditioned offices contains a lot of impurities, and the right kinds of plants really can make a difference by absorbing a lot of the nasties. A lot of offices with aircon have very dry air, so the increase in humidity is useful too. Believe it or not, it has been shown that a sufficient quantity of plants relative to staff numbers can actually pay for themselves by reducing the cost of absenteeism due to sickness!

Don't believe me? There's a mass of data available at the Plants for People website to back me up.

As for what plants work best, you need a lot of leaf area, so broad-leaved plants are best, and high humidity is encouraged by thirsty plants. So a broad-leaved Ficus, like the burgundy rubber plant I installed in Southampton last year is ideal.

Air-improving alternatives to the Ficus family include broad-leaved Dracaenas, Spathiphyllums and Aglaonemas. You'll find pictures of all of these on the main office plants website.

How many vans can we get in the greenhouse?

2008-02-15T16:26:00.004Z

Ummm... that'll be one then. We're doing a one-day hire to a training event in Blandford Forum, Dorset on Monday. Plants need to be in place by 0830, so rather than load up in the morning, we've loaded on Friday afternoon and left the doors open. Obviously we have to park the van in the greenhouse as the plants (a mixture of Ficuses and Kentia palms) need to be kept above 15 deg C.

The trouble is we can't get out of the greenhouse now, so it looks like we're in here until Monday too! D'oh...

Edit. Monday morning: we did of course squeeze out on Fiday and delivered the plants on time this morning, with the added benefit of a toasty warm van when every one else was scraping ice off their cars.

This is where we will look after office plants

2008-02-08T14:53:00.001Z

I keep trying to describe our coverage area in previous posts, but it's quite wordy, as it consists of several part-counties (e.g. in Devon we'll go to Exeter, but no further; sorry, Plymouth!).

So I decided to use my extensive MS Paint skills to draw a coverage map and post it on the blog (acknowledgements to Streetmap!).

Note that this line is quite 'fuzzy' (it's not just your eyes!), in other words our key areas are Dorset and Hampshire); we get more choosy as we reach the red line. However if you're just outside the line and you're looking at quite a major project, then do contact us - we do make exceptions!

No danger of Stewarts running out of pots!

2008-02-08T13:42:00.000Z

At the risk of repeating what I've said about our very affordable resprayed pot range, I thought I'd show potential office plants customers that there's plenty of options when it comes to reusing our second-hand pots.

This picture shows about half of them, the big line of our ever-popular Zenith range at back right consists of over a hundred alone, and all can be resprayed in any colour you can imagine.

This makes particular sense if you're buying a large number of plants for an office, as the saving on the initial outlay is significant, and as I've mentioned before the quality is as new.

So if you're in our coverage area (Bournemouth, Southampton, rest of Dorset & Hants, South Wiltshire etc.) and you're on a tight budget, get in touch. If you're fairly local to our base in Wimborne and you want an excuse to get out of the office for a while, I'd be happy to show you what's available.

What colour is 'Royal Blue'?

2008-01-10T11:34:00.000Z

We were recently invited by a hotel chain to put plants in their soon-to-be-completed Southampton branch. The on-site contact was very amenable about what we suggested, but the containers must be 'Royal Blue', as this was the corporate colour.

As anyone who's bought plant pots from me will know I'm a paint code geek, but I really struggled to decide what constituted Royal Blue. A search of Wikipedia - if anything - muddied the waters, as it turns out 'old' Royal Blue was a very dark blue, whereas it is now considered to be a mid to light blue, very like the links in this post.

My paint supplier pointed out that on the old BS381C (middle of page), colour 106 is called Royal Blue, but that's almost black! Help! Eventually I narrowed the choice down to the more modern RAL (top of page) colours, and suggested RAL 5010. The client agreed (rather too readily) and I worried about it until yesterday when we put the pots in.

Thankfully, this story has a happy ending, as the client was delighted, and look at the colour match with the chair next to it: spot on!

(Incidentally, this display features one of our specialities for prominent places like receptions: three Anthuriums in different colours. You pay about twice as much per month as for an ordinary plant, but we change the plants when they stop flowering. It still works out a fraction of the price of fresh flowers)

So did I get it right? Is this Royal Blue in your opinion? Feel free to look at the colour chart and email me with your own nomination - release your inner 'paint code geek'!

All ready for Christmas...

2007-11-28T11:12:00.000Z

Apart from a shopping centre who had their trees weeks ago, the first of our customers received their fully-decorated Christmas trees this week. Here's a photo of a a few more all ready to go out.

Unfortunately, all the red & gold ones are at the front, but we also do some great combinations of silver, blue, burgundy, black, lime green (honestly!), bronze, etc. etc.

Delivering 72 trees to Dorset, Hampshire and Surrey in three weeks is quite a challenge; the real challenge is collecting them all between New Year and Twelfth Night. That's three working days!!!

As Rebecca said above, if this service interests you, then contact us in early autumn next year and we'll send you a 2008 price list.

What a difference a respray can make...

2007-11-16T15:54:00.000Z

Rather than being a plain gloss colour, a lot of our latest planters are finished in matt metallic shades, which look great; a lot less plasticky (is that how you spell it?).

This looks just as good on more traditionally-styled planters, such as this Zenith planter, which is finished in a matt dark bronze, a perfect match for the brown leather furniture in this recently refurbished reception area in Salisbury.

Apart from our great range of competitively priced new fibreglass pots, we make extensive use of pots that have come back from old rental contracts, then been resprayed by the manufacturer, making them as good as new.

The reason for doing this? It's very economical! This display cost less than £70.00 + VAT; alternatively you could rent it for as little as £7.00 per month, which would include us looking after it for you. If you select the next size down of Zenith pot, we'll do it for even less!

So if you're in our coverage area (Dorchester, Bournemouth, Salisbury, Southampton, Portsmouth, Basingstoke and surrounding areas), and your office plants are in horrible old-fashioned pots, give us a call. You might be surprised how little it costs to upgrade!

Christmas

2007-11-14T09:51:00.000Z

Well, the team are well into Christmas now, preparing everything ready to install the Christmas Trees into clients' offices and receptions. This is an extra service that we offer to our clients alongside the office plants. We supply and decorate live and artificial Christmas Trees right around Dorset and Hampshire. Included in the service is collecting them before the twelfth night after Christmas. We are pretty full now with orders, but you are welcome to call to ask if there is any room to squeeze you in. If we are unable to help this year then bear us in mind for next year...put it in your diaries for 2008. It is best to contact us at the end of September or the beginning of October. Happy Christmas.

No Parking!

2007-11-08T16:14:00.000Z

I recently installed seventeen plants at a health club in Guildford. The club had a problem with customers parking on the pavement right outside, so rather than having a line of ugly bollards, we put a line of six simple blue square pots planted with Chamaerops palms (my favourite outdoor palm) across the kerb..... and bolted them to the ground!

As I worked, the occasional customer arrived and gave me a very dirty look as I permanently cordoned off 'their' space - job done! Got a similar parking problem? Drop me a line!

New balls for Portsmouth Football Club?

2007-10-16T15:25:00.000+01:00

No, just 3 Echinocactus, chosen by Pompey for the Reception desk at their new headquarters in Portsmouth. Stewarts Interior Landscaping have recently supplied the Club with plants and containers for each area of the offices in Fratton. We are hoping they may choose some artwork for the office walls too: www.stewartswallart.com.

With regard to the wall art, we do have many more landscaping images than those appearing on the website - just give me a call and I'll send through the web links if you don't find what you are looking for on the wall art website above.

Ruth

Stewarts help Hags win gold!

2007-09-13T16:28:00.000+01:00

We recently provided the planting to the trade stand of Dorset-based play equipment supplier Hags at a commercial landscaping trade fair in Windsor. They subsequently won the gold medal for their category of stand!

Clearly it wasn't entirely down to the planting we provided, but I bet we tipped the balance in their favour. Quite apart from our contribution, the whole stand looked great, and their gold was well-deserved.

The brief was to plant up two beds that Hags staff would be constructing for us with 'sensory' plants (i.e. scented or tactile plants), so I used thirteen types of plant, three of each, including grasses, lavenders and rosemaries.

Predator bugs

2007-08-10T12:06:00.001+01:00

This week, we've been to two of our sites (one in Weybridge, one in Chandlers Ford), releasing insects into the office plants there. Don't believe me? Read on....

We are forbidden by law from using chemical pesticides indoors. Keeping the plants very clean and shiny prevents most pests, but it's impossible to keep large (4m+) trees spotlessly clean all the way up. This is where predator bugs come in. We were treating a common pest called Mealy Bug, by releasing some bugs called Cryptolaemus, which are very small orange ladybirds. We can treat any pest this way, but only on large plants or display beds.

The theory is that the predators start eating the pest, then if there's almost none left their numbers decrease too, so that a stable population is established.

However... They are somewhat frustrating to release, as they seem to be quite happy to stay in the tube in which they are delivered, thank you very much, and don't seem that enamoured with their prey at first. Plus they need releasing in the evening, so a nice late night for me. D'oh!

P.S. It's worth noting that the garden centres sell a whole range of these predators too. You take a card and send it off and they are mailed directly to you.

Gorgeous burgundy rubber plant

2007-08-06T16:24:00.001+01:00

I'm in love again!

White/pink-walled office, one of our lovely new burgundy/brown pots and to top it off, a burgundy-leaved rubber plant. My dutch supplier says it's called Ficus Elastica Burgundy or F.E. Abidjan; all I know is it's a real head-turner, and got a lot of attention when we installed it.

You've seen the old-fashioned green rubber plant, well this is similar, but with a deep, glossy dark red colour to the leaves.

As far as I know it's the only one in an office in Southampton, or anywhere in Hampshire & Dorset. Who's going to be second then?

Photographic images on display in Dorchester

2007-07-03T11:11:00.001+01:00

Some of our wonderful photographic images are on display on canvas in Dorchester, Dorset. Prospect House, part of the Enterprise Group, approached us and asked if we would display our artwork for their one year anniversary of the building. Prospect House is located on the Poundbury development is designed for start up support for new businesses this includes rented office space.

Beautiful Photographic Pictures arrive at Stewarts

2007-06-25T20:00:00.000+01:00

Stewarts Hampshire and Dorset Office Plants have just launched an exciting new product. As well as providing tropical indoor plants to many offices in the South we can now offer you unique and stunning photographic art. Perfect for receptions, offices, hotels and restaurants these stunning pictures will enhance your wall space for both your employees and clients to enjoy. The wall art is available as a print or canvas and can be ordered direct from the website or we would be happy to visit you to recommend the perfect colours/images for your space.

Canvas Wall Art arrives

2007-06-24T18:02:00.000+01:00

We have just launched a new website. We are now able to offer beautiful photographic images on quality canvas and prints ideal for your home and office area. Take a look at the beautiful unique picture gallery for you to choose from....they really are stunning. We have just recently sold some of our art work to an exclusive Golf Course in Dorset. Our images will also be displayed soon in an office in Basingstoke and on display in a gallery in Dorchester.

New Forest Ponies

2007-06-22T15:25:00.000+01:00

A visit to the New Forest in Hampshire is a must. Visit now and enjoy seeing the New Forest Ponies with their babies basking in the sun. We visited recently and took some photographs of them, take a look, through our gallery. You can order these pictures as a print or a canvas as wall art for your home or office.

Special offer - buy 6 for £320!!

2007-06-19T08:59:00.002+01:00

In case you'd like to try your hand at looking after your office plants in-house, why not purchase 6 assorted plant specimens from Stewarts, in smart tapered square containers like the ones shown in the picture, for just £320 + VAT. Round containers are also available.

After some time, if you find you need some help to look after them, we will be pleased to take over and maintain them for you, for a bargain price of £25.00 + VAT per month, which would include any plant replacements needed.

We are happy to offer this service to anyone south of, or on the A303/M3, from Guildford to Exeter, and all points in between (Portsmouth, Southampton, Bournemouth, Basingstoke, etc.).

You don't just have to restrict your plant purchase to 6, of course ...

Let me know if you'd like further details.

Ruth

You missed your chance!

2007-05-21T14:07:00.000+01:00

To be the first to have the lovely Ficus Amstel Gold in your office, that is. That honour belongs to a civil engineering company in Ringwood in Hampshire, who took delivery of a pair in simple silver square pots a couple of weeks ago.

Here's a picture of Mike watering them for the first time, which is a reminder that we're famous for the standard of our maintenance service, with our staff having on average ten years service at Stewarts. Very few firms can say that, and having racked up nine years myself, I know that experience is the only way you can master the care of indoor plants.

Jonathan

New styles and new prices!

2007-04-26T11:33:00.000+01:00

In an attempt to make office plants more affordable, we've managed to come up with some excellent stylish new containers at some very reasonable prices. If we've been to see you before and provided a quotation you considered to be too expensive, or if you are considering plants for the first time, we'll price using these new containers. You can have any colour you like (including this great new matt metallic burgundy) and we have some lovely plants to go into them
too.
Hear from you soon!
Ruth

Claire's being creative again!

2007-04-13T16:13:00.000+01:00

Our florist Claire has just created this artificial display for a client, using silk poppy flowers. Isn't it great? You could rent something similar, changed for a fresh display every three months, for £10.00 a month. As ever contact me for details!

New just in: Ficus Amstel Gold

2007-04-13T11:39:00.000+01:00

Also just off the boat from Holland: an absolutely gorgeous variegated long-leaved Weeping Fig. The lower leaves are two different greens, further up they are almost yellow, and the new foliage at the top is a rusty red. I'm told this plant needs lots of light, so if you have a bright reception area in need of a plant, this could be the one for you. I'm in love with it, I just wish my house wasn't so dark.... If you want to know more get in touch or have a look in Gardenlands, where I pinched the idea from, if I'm honest!

New just in: Dracaena Art

2007-04-13T11:23:00.000+01:00

Just off the boat from Holland, a new type of the trusty Dracaena family. It's like the common D. Janet Craig, but with a lovely vivid yellow stripe around the leaf edge. What's more it will cope in a poorly lit spot. Want to be the first office in Dorset or Hampshire to have one? Email me!

Hanging Basket Time

2007-04-04T11:29:00.000+01:00

It's time to think about hanging baskets! If you want them ready for late May you need to order soon. Stewarts can supply baskets and tubs in a range of sizes to customers in Dorset, Hampshire and South Wiltshire, and we can look after them for you too. We can't offer a daily watering service, but we do install automatic irrigation systems, then visit fortnightly to feed and prune the baskets. Interested? Email Jonathan and you'll be sent a price list for baskets, or we'll come out and see whether a irrigation system could be installed if you wish.

Jonathan here

2007-04-04T09:13:00.000+01:00

Hi, I'm in charge of the day-to-day running of Stewarts Office Plants. This involves delivery of new plant displays, and ensuring existing customers receive the highest quality maintenance service. As you can see from the picture, I also handle the removal of particularly tricky plants from their pots, after which I like to pose with my trophy....

If you are an existing customer and you need anything at all, email me without delay!

What a whopper

2007-04-02T15:48:00.000+01:00

Roy de Koning from our main container supplier showing off one his huge pots! Of course, we can provide something a bit smaller for your office....

Finishing touches - Ken Dodd style

2007-04-02T09:39:00.000+01:00

Our popular finishing touches range is a great opportunity for Claire to try some wacky ideas in her search for creative innovation. Wire, String, Twigs, Bamboo and even feather dusters are pressed into service as embellishments to the living plant. In this case the live plant is the ever popular Anthurium . If you want know more about finishing touches then eMail Ruth

New website!

2007-03-27T13:21:00.000+01:00

Take a look at our shiny new web site Stewarts Office Plants . We hope you find the albums easy to browse and that the information you need is there for you. If in doubt about anything please call 01202 882463 or email
Come back here now and again to find out what's happening in the world of Office plants.