Proving once again that horticulture is always in the last place you look I got a lot of joy out of Hong Kong airport.
But first – best flight ever! The 9 hours literally flew by. Sorry, terrible pun but actually true. After the hard slog of moving out of my house and closing down my life for 6 months, I’ve never so happy to just sit in the one place. Seated in a row of four, sadly next to the toilet, but happily next to an empty seat and two lovely guys from the Gold Coast with big muscles. Nothing like a bit of space and some eye candy to add to my sense of well being. Add scotch on the rocks and excellent movie options and I was one happy little vegemite.
Landing at HK is a bit like landing on an aircraft carrier in the the ocean. Our landing was somewhat disconcertingly displayed on google earth on our viewing screens. It was like a bad cartoon. The plane looked too big for the space, and while the boys assured me that was in fact not true they looked as relieved as I when the ordeal was over.
I’ve never looked to an airport for horticultural inspiration but they have obviously put in a lot of thought here. The airport displays are clever in their simplicity and soften the space. Their favourite plant is ivy, (hedera sp), something I admit to a general prejudice against for its weedy tendencies. They use it as an ubiquitous groundcover here around other feature plants and I can appreciate its beauty here. Lush, green and simple. It looked so lush I fancied a bit of a roll in it but thought that might have been viewed as unseemly. Green spaces seem to have that effect on me.
The old faithfuls of indoor plants are all here. Ficus lyrata (fiddle leaf fig), Aglaonema, sansevieria (mother in laws tongue), chamaedorea (parlour palm), calathea (peacock plant), anthurium (flamingo flower), spathiphyllum (peace lily), schefflera (umbrella), syngonium (arrowhead) more weeds! All old school, low maintenance and hardy. For contrast they had a few modern plants like the fiery colours of the bromeliad Guzmania.
Their choices here are both intelligent and healthful. Not too long ago I read an article in a sadly now defunct horticultural magazine about the research NASA has been doing into the value of indoor plants. They’ve proved they do in fact clean the air and remove those pesky whatsits known as VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds) that are found in our common modern day life products like paints and plastics. I can’t profess to know much about VOC’s but I did buy paint free of it for my house. I do know that an indoor space feels better with a little greenery in it.
The most useful from a clean air perspective are not surprisingly the old faithfuls. After too many years out in the untrendy wilderness and being disparagingly referred to as granny plants they are back. And not just back, but back in a way where granny can say I told you so!
Happy Horti 