Winter gardens in offices are gradually becoming more commonplace, and there are several reasons why. First of all, bosses have begun to view their staff with a higher degree of respect, understanding that the creature comforts brought in to make their office time more pleasant will ultimately be repaid a thousand fold. In the second place, the image component of any office space is beginning to be of more and more significance, and the winter garden might not be the last office fixture to play this role.
In winter gardens of the European type, the sky’s the limit and anything is possible. Today they are being outfitted with fountains and waterfalls and even filled with soft furnishings. Sometimes you will see here decorative birds or an aquarium full of fish, or even wild animals. It’s surprising but it’s a fact – modern man spends so much less of his day in the forest, so you know that the forest simply has got to come into the office.
The Roots
The culture of winter gardens in offices has come to us from the West one baby step at a time. The trend of creating such places for rest and relaxation is growing, but without a great deal of fuss and bother. Several years ago, Russian companies were still completely unschooled in the ways of office relaxation. The fault lay with elementary problems like high rental rates and a lack of free office space. Since those days rental rates have anything but dropped, and many companies continue to suffer from a deficit of space, but company heads are still taking better and better care of their workers and thinking more about their working conditions.
Without question, not every office can allow itself a large winter garden and the natural alternative is the beautification of vestibules and corridors with greenery and potted plants. Meanwhile many large Western companies, with the Russian ones in tow, are sectioning off areas for winter gardens during the initial design phase of the building – a truly ideal solution, as the very beginning is the best time to work out the necessary engineering systems and think through questions of lighting. Professionally done winter gardens must be equipped with all of the necessary utilities in order to begin to play their role as rest zones, rooms for informal conferences, VIP meeting areas, or spaces for corporate events and holidays.
Where Ye Sow, Ye Shall Reap
“A winter garden is best of all situated somewhere close to the center of an office, cordoned off by a transparent screen, in order that every employee passing by might enjoy the harmonizing sight,” says the head of Phytodecor, Alexander Melnikov. “Only it’s best not to forget that plants need light. A vary good option is placing a winter garden near a window.” Marika Vern, Managing Director of Terraculture Russia, takes a very serious attitude toward the winter garden’s surroundings. “A winter garden is better situated in those places where there is enough natural light. The more popular winter gardens are arranged in an office with a glass roof or walls. Here there is all the light necessary for the normal life of a plant. Creating such a garden requires an appropriate system of heat-insulation and ventilation,” says the expert.
Live plants require constant ventilation and so an air conditioner placed in the same space is absolutely counterproductive. Under no circumstances should the two concepts be confused – ventilation and air conditioning are not the same thing. The winter garden is best kept far from the air conditioners, requiring constant access to warmth, moisture, and air cleaned of dust. At the same time, if it is a small garden, it may be best to situate it close to a water source. In order that the plants and visitors might both enjoy the experience, it’s best not to economize too much on space. The minimum area for a winter garden is 20 square meters. The space has to have enough area to accommodate the plant beds, the furniture, and the aquarium (if you’re set on having one.)
Gardens Vary
Completely independent of an office’s size and a company’s financial options, winter gardens might be quite large (with all the necessary utilities and engineering systems) or they might be quite small and even almost toy-like. Little gardens with plants in pots don’t demand all so much engineering hullabaloo, and certainly don’t need artificially intelligent sprinkler systems. All they need is a responsible pair of hands with a watering can. Large winter gardens are a different matter, where the plants actually take root. Here hydroponics are more often used than not. This method actually allows the raising of plants without soil, instead using a mineral and water mixture to nourish them. A layer of keramzit expanded-clay aggregate is applied to the plant’s root system, since it has excellent water-absorbent properties. In such gardens the latest technical achievements are often taken advantage of, where special equipment can be used to hydrate the plants consistently and efficiently. The winter gardens differ from one another not only in terms of size, but in their style as well. Not long ago the Japanese style was all the rage, but now we are seeing such variations as ‘high-tech,’ ‘minimalism,’ ‘country,’ and ‘eclectic.’ Alexander Melnikov, the head of the Phytodecor Studio, believes that there is more stylistic variety in foreign offices. “Winter gardens in a foreign office are most often actual greenhouses and rest zones at once. In such gardens one can use small tables or stones, and there is even the possibility of installing a movie theater and singing birds. The air in such green houses circulates through the entire office building, and employees at their work stations can enjoy the oxygen which might be harder to find out in the ‘urban jungle.’ Plants provide not only beauty, but also energy, fresh air, and good vibrations,” says Melnikov.
Stylish Plants
Plants for winter gardens in the office have an individual character, completely independently of the conditions under which they take care of their contents. To speak of modern trends, many such gardens support from 1.5 – 2 sqm of trees, with fig trees, dragon trees, and palms enjoying the most popularity. Citrus plants require extremely tender subtropical microclimates and quickly die if they are mishandled, but despite their caprices they are quite beloved and often ordered. It is important to point out that for the full growth of tropical and subtropical plants humidity no less than 60% is required.
The popular compact plants include begonias, azaleas, orchids, small conifers, and banzai trees. Vertical landscaping is also quite possible today thanks to vases and hanging planters. Certain winter garden enthusiasts would love to create a birch grove or pine forest in their very own office, but is that level of craft even available?
“While planning a winter garden and choosing the plants to use, we consider the general decor of the office in which the garden will be on view, the lighting conditions, and the preferences of the client,” says the managing director of Terraculture Russia, Marika Vern. “However, we can’t always bring to life the client’s wishes, since many plants simple don’t match up with the available bits of ground. For example, winter gardens are better suited by evergreens from the tropics or subtropics than by the birches to which we’re so used. So making a little Russian forest in an office is tough to pull off.”
How Much Does It Cost?
“If we think over our winter gardens when the office itself is still being designed, on the whole it might be a cheaper procedure,” says Alexander Melnik. “The company’s prestige factor might justify all the expenses. In the West the creation of recreational zones is always predicted during planning and design phases. It is yet another incidence of the management’s care for employee health.”
The minimum price for a winter garden with all the pots, planters, and botanical lamps is at least 10 thousand dollars. Of course, there really is no maximum price, other than the ceiling that the client might impose. For example, certain large plant species might cost more than a thousand dollars.
“The correlation between prices and styles might show that high-tech fads are significantly more expensive than classic design. In fact he high-tech style planters are usually two or three times more expensive than the rest,” confirms the general director of Live Decor, Yulia Yaschenko. “We also need to remember that the expenses for a project grow considerably if they require periodic reworking under greenhouse conditions. Some species need to be sent to the ‘sanitarium’ every three to four months. As a result, the most demanding client has to buy twice as many plants, so that he’s not regularly left with an empty winter garden. The second issue might affect flowering plants such as orchids, which flower for two or tree months and then must be changed. These varieties are called ‘planned replacement plants.’”
It is essential that management not only cover the expenses of the beautiful winter garden, but also think over all the conditions under which it will exist surrounded by office activities and consider that the survival of certain valuable, exotic plants might not be guaranteed. The expenses generated by any one plant are often accounted for by management based on the cost of the plant itself at market. On average, the monthly expenses however are an additional 20% of its original price tag, or 35% per month if it is a flowering plant and its replacement is expected and inevitable. In this event the issue has a great deal to do with the species itself.
Problems and Difficulties
The main difficulty which might be encountered during the creation of a winter garden is the absence of access to water and the troubles associated with utilities. In order that the plants might be comfortable, it is necessary to provide quality drainage systems and insurance against leakage. Winter gardens require hydration, which can only be provided by professional engineers.
The lack of light crops up as a common problem, usually requiring supplemental systems. But with such equipment, it is important to be careful. Botanical lamps may be better for plants than they are for people, since they tend to tire the eyes quite quickly. It’s generally best to use such lighting fixtures periodically, replacing them with healthier alternatives, such as skylights.
It is also important to remember ventilation, without which a plant will not grow in the necessary fashion. Moscow offices often are filled with very dry air and it may even be impossible to open the windows, which is very unhealthy for the plants. One of the most widespread plant diseases, ‘red spider,’ is caused by bad ventilation.
Who to Trust for Our Plant Care?
The handling of plants in a winter garden is most often the responsibility of somebody in the company, who most likely also helped with the creation of the garden. On the other hand, the office managers might seek to hire their own specialized employee to take care of the questions that might arise during the process of caring for the flowers. Yulia Yaschenko, General Director of Live Decor, remarks that “The care taken over a winter garden is significant. Many companies use the services of the original vendors. The only other option is to use a maintenance company which might provide the constant attention and personnel which will look after the plants, though their expertise is hardly that close to horticulture!”