Peter Adamson, from Frencham’s, had an interesting career working in IT and acting before he studied horticulture at Holmesglen TAFE, winning student of the year. He also ran a garden centre in South Yarra for over 10 years before working with Frencham’s. Peter spoke of the benefits of having plants indoor and working with architects to incorporate living plants into the environment. Plants absorb harmful compounds and gases in the atmosphere through their leaves, they stabilise humidity. Plants are a critical part of new building fit outs to obtain the Green Star ratings; they have a big impact on productivity and the wellbeing of staff in offices. Frencham’s provide the plants and maintain them, replacing when necessary.Their technicians are very popular in the offices and nursery people are considered one of the top five trusted trades! Frencham’s was established over 100 years ago and is still family-owned. They started as a cut-flower business before moving into indoor plants. They had a growing nursery in Camberwell which moved to the Basin in the 1970’s. They also have growing operations in Queensland due to the faster growing rate there. They now only have hothouses in Boronia and work with premium growers rather than growing the plants themselves. They have 23 franchises in Melbourne, currently run by the grandson and great-grandsons of the original owner, supplying offices, shopping centres, hotels and other commercial spaces. Plants in shopping centres discourage vandalism.They only supply to the corporate sector and some of their clients have over 400 of their plants! They have patented their own watering system, re-potting plants into sealed pots providing an ideal mix of water and air around the plants’ root systems and making it easy for the technicians to maintain. They are a similar system to the Décor water well pots which Peter recommends for home. Clay and ceramic pots in saucers are not really practical as they can crack, leak and ruin carpet. They now use lightweight resin, plastic and fiberglass pots. They can be produced in various colours and are made in NSW and China, with manufacture in China being much cheaper but offering variable quality. The manufacturing process is now much cleaner and the pots are resilient and not heavy to move. Plants no longer required are recycled and sold at markets but are not suitable to put outside. Cube shaped planters and troughs are the most popular at the moment, but conical, round, wedge and other shapes are available. In some locations, such as Block Arcade, the plants are rotated regularly depending on the seasons – e.g. poinsettias for Christmas and orchids over winter. Plants can be used to screen off areas due to noise and can be removed if necessary. Three or four plants together in a ‘mixed foliage’ pot which can look really effective, but the plants need to have similar watering requirements. Bromeliads are very popular, hardy and don’t need much water. ‘Hanging garden’ style installations are very popular now, providing green walls and taking up less floor space. These are expensive to install, due to the framework, but look fabulous with trailing plants in fairly small pots. Over the last few years, coloured mulches have become popular; these and pebbles look effective but the pebbles are sourced from China using dubious environmental practices. Frencham’s now use recycled truck tyres to make effective rubber pebbles which saves landfill, are environmental, renewable and lightweight and look very effective coated with shiny black or white resin. Commercial growers – mostly in Queensland and northern NSW - grow on a huge scale and new varieties are constantly emerging. At home, water your indoor plants every two weeks or so, depending on variety and try to replicate the plant’s natural habitat. Check backs of leaves for pests and diseases such as scale, rust, mites, thrips, aphids, fungal gnats and the like.
