Bushwalk Australia

Ok, a question for the green thumbs here (hopefully there's one or two of you lurking)...

We've recently shifted into a new office with much better natural light and space for indoor plants, which the boss is keen to see to brighten and freshen up the place. Naturally I want Tassie natives near me, alpine and sub-alpine species ideally, but most require more sun than the 700-2000 lux we're getting during the day to grow well. Obviously it's an airconditioned environment so constant warmish temps and low humidity, but I'm used to keeping up the water with my native at home.

We're also going to be limited with pot size, we have fancypants pot holders built into our workstation cupboards that will only take a 180mm/7" pot. My Pencil and King Billy pines have already grown enough in a few years to need potting on into (much) bigger homes.

Curious what people might recommend? I'm thinking various fern species - Maidenhair (Adiantum aethiopicum) seems suitably containable - and potentially bauera and other understory species that are used to shade or part-shade. Also very keen to try Lemon boronia (Boronia citriodora) for reasons that don't need to be explained Climbing heath (Pryonotes cerinthoides) sounds like another option though keeping it contained might be an issue. If I can get hold of another specimen I'd be keen to try Pandani again, though our last one sadly didn't survive (maybe too much sun/heat outside).

Keen to hear what others have managed to keep inside successfully! Thanks in advance...

Last time I was at PoTs, they had dwarf Milligania - that works well in pots and should cope with indoors. Prostanthera - native mint? There are a number of species, they cope well with pruning and you should be able to find one that would do well in your office environment. Microcarpus - creeping pine: slow growing, small, very decorative and also very hardy. Maybe some cushion plants? Bauera will do well but keep it trimmed or it will try to strangle you one night. There's at least one ground-cover Hibbertia that would probably be OK in pots; that's very showy when in flower.
I'd suggest you get in touch with one or two of the native nurseries - Redbreast in Margate, PoTs in Ridgeway - and ask their advice.

Thanks Lee, sounds like some good suggestions, especially the Creeping pine (and similar but unrelated Chestnut pine) always a soft spot for our native conifers. Redbreast have a nursery at Flowerdale here in the north, will try to get out there soon. I've bought from Habitat Plants at Liffey in the past but they don't really do retail sales anymore except when they're getting rid of excess stock.

north-north-west wrote:Bauera will do well but keep it trimmed or it will try to strangle you one night.

Hehe if I had my way, I'd surround my workstation with bauera and tight tea tree to keep my workmates from bothering me
Actually scoparia would be even better, except we've had zero luck keeping it alive at home.

Northerners ...

email or phone Plants of Tasmania. They'll give you good advice and if they have something you can't get elsewhere I can pick it up for you and deliver it next time I'm up north.

It may go ok, my pencil pine is doing great which cops full sun in summer at 150m ASL. So I assume 700-2000 lux would probably be fine for a shade loving plant depending how many hours of light per day.

From experience at Flowerdale you can get some plants cheaper than Margate from their allocated stock that doesn't get sent south.
I don't think habitat at Liffey are around anymore? Been a while since I've heard about them.

Alternatively on Friday and Saturday the Forth native nursery sometimes has good selection and much cheaper than PoTN.

headwerkn wrote:

north-north-west wrote:Bauera will do well but keep it trimmed or it will try to strangle you one night.

Hehe if I had my way, I'd surround my workstation with bauera and tight tea tree to keep my workmates from bothering me
Actually scoparia would be even better, except we've had zero luck keeping it alive at home.

Horizontal scrub? No-one could get near you.

north-north-west wrote:email or phone Plants of Tasmania. They'll give you good advice and if they have something you can't get elsewhere I can pick it up for you and deliver it next time I'm up north.

The folks at Plants of Tasmania are super helpful. At least the previous owners - I think it has changed hands in recent years.

We went to them with an idea to have a mix of Tassie tube stock to decorate the tables at our wedding a few years back. They grew us a selection of Tassie species, so instead of dead flowers, we had living banksias, correas, flag iris and the like. It looked great and everyone got a native plant for their garden at the end of the night.

I like your office idea!

Thornbill wrote:We went to them with an idea to have a mix of Tassie tube stock to decorate the tables at our wedding a few years back. They grew us a selection of Tassie species, so instead of dead flowers, we had living banksias, correas, flag iris and the like. It looked great and everyone got a native plant for their garden at the end of the night.

That's an brilliant idea... and a wedding I'd actually want to go to!

headwerkn wrote:Hehe if I had my way, I'd surround my workstation with bauera and tight tea tree to keep my workmates from bothering me
Actually scoparia would be even better, except we've had zero luck keeping it alive at home.

Coprosma and Gahnia. No vegetational barrier is complete without a nice lush patch of Gahnia, and Coprosma has to be one of the scratchiest plants in existence.

Seriously - Astelia. Would be interesting to find out if the berries are a little more palatable when grown in captivity.
Also, you should have a stock of "spares" to rotate in and out so that everything gets a break from the office environment. Over summer, have some of the showier flowering plants to swap in - things like Blandfordia, Isophysis, Styllidium, maybe some of the longer-flowering native orchids (Pterostylis nana lasts well in a pot, for instance).

north-north-west wrote:No vegetational barrier is complete without a nice lush patch of Gahnia

And don't forget the gloves. I've learned not to grab onto it without gloves .