In todays age, most people spend a majority of their time indoors. While comfortable, this lifestyle keeps our interactions with the natural world at a depressingly low level. The worst part? It’s keeping us stressed and sick. There are numerous benefits to placing plants in homes and offices, from improved air quality to reduced stress levels. Fortunately, more people are starting to recognize how important it is to keep people living and working around plants, and they’re beginning to include plants in their interior designs.
With more and more commercial and residential buildings adding plants to their floor plans, interior gardens are becoming increasingly commonplace. While bringing plants indoors may seem like a simple enough task, it actually involves a great deal of strategy and selection to accomplish on a large scale. In fact, this process is so involved that interior landscape design, or ‘plantscaping,’ has become a career path of its own!
Plantscaping Explained
Plantscaping may sound like a made-up word someone created in an attempt to distinguish the field from landscaping, but we promise, there’s a reason for the choice! While plantscaping and landscaping may seem similar on the surface, as they both deal with plants, the two fields have entirely different focuses.
Plantscaping is an all-encompassing term that refers to the arrangement, integration and maintenance of plants inside and immediately around a building. While it is also called interior landscaping, plantscaping fundamentally differs from landscaping, which focuses on plants’ integration with each other and exterior elements in an outdoor space.
What Is the Plantscaping Process?
Plantscaping services focus on two things: plants and pots. Plants are the primary design element of the installation and must be chosen to fit both the aesthetic and environment of the installation. Pots and containers are the artistic factors, determining whether the plant is a standalone piece or part of a larger structure. They integrate the plant into the rest of the installation.
The integration of these elements into an installation is a larger process one that is split into three fundamental phases: design, selection and installation. These phases are explained in more detail below:
Design: Plantscaping design focuses much more on architecture and interior design, analyzing how certain plants and containers will fit in with a concept based on the angles, horizons, colors and focal points of the installation. While it may seem simple, choosing the plant with the right color combination, textures and care needs for the application is a difficult task by itself and often overlaps with the next phase of plantscaping.
Selection: Plantscaping selection is an essential part of both design and installation, as selecting the right plant will affect both the success of the design and the long-term success of the installation. Any plant selected must not only fit the aesthetic needs of the design but also be able to tolerate the conditions in which it is planted, from the soil composition and light exposure to the watering schedule and air conditions. The plant must also meet certain size requirements so that it doesn’t out-grow the application.
Installation: The final step of plantscaping is installation, which often includes providing continuing care for the plants. All the plants in the installation must be placed in the appropriate containers and conditions according to their needs, with proper care and watering to ensure the success and health of the plant.
In practice, this process begins with a visit to the site, where the designer will see the space and discuss expectations and budget with the owner. Once finished, the designer will start working on a plan that fits both the expectations and the space, fulfilling the design part of the process. They will then take all the details into consideration and select the specific plants and pots most appropriate for the space.
Once this is done, the designer submits a bid with the proposition and pricing to the client. If approved, the designer and client agree on a delivery and installation date. In some cases, this discussion will also include a maintenance agreement, where the designer is paid to water, trim, clean and fertilize the plants as needed.
Plantscaping Services
Plantscaping can be used in a variety of applications. Just a few of the services that Plant Escape offers include:
Interior design: All types of interior environments, both commercial and residential, can benefit from professional plantscaping. Plant Escape has served hospitals, hotels, restaurants, office buildings and more, creating full plant installations complete with blooms, mosses and decorative rocks.
Exterior design: Plantscaping does venture into the outside world on many occasions, designing pathways, courtyards and deck installations, as well as flower beds and trees ‘ all with the intention of improving the view from a building’s interior.
Green roof gardens: Roof gardens are becoming more popular in urban areas today, and Plant Escape offers advice and installation services to help you get the living wall, sky hedges or roof patio you’ve always wanted.
Special occasions: Parties and holidays can always benefit from well-placed plants, whether they’re holiday trees or simple decor for an office party. Plant Escape can help decorate your next event with the right kinds of plants.
This list shows just the beginning of what interior plantscaping can accomplish for your interior design. For more information about plantscaping services, talk to us at Plant Escape, a Denver plantscaping company that has been serving Colorado since 1978.
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For over 40 years, Plant Escape has provided comprehensive plantscaping services to both commercial and residential clients, crafting beautiful interiors and exteriors with tropical plants and flowers and maintaining them to the highest standards. We are also a green company, working to conserve and support wildlife and vegetation with our work. In combination, our efforts have earned us 40 years worth of awards on both a regional and national level, including the Grand Award for Color Design from the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado, which we have won more than 10 times. Contact us today at 303.584.0496 for a free consultation and estimate for your next plantscaping project.