THINK GREENERY...
Plants shine again in home decor
Ever since Greenery 15-0343 was announced as the Pantone colour of the year for 2017, plants have literally been sprouting all over the place — hanging from macramé holders, clustered on tables in cute mismatched pots, or artfully arranged as living walls.
They’re everywhere, it seems, and growing.
With inspiration coming from both the home decor and fashion fronts —and “it” plant the ficus lyrata, more commonly known as the fiddle-leaf fig tree, standing out as the season’s most sought-after living greenery — there’s never been a better time to decorate with nature’s bounty, experts say.
“There’s really a buzz around plants right now, whether it’s in interior design or fashion. It started a couple of years ago with (Christian) Dior and the trend has been growing steadily since,” explained Benoit Godin, a horticulturalist, designer and the owner of Vertuose, a unique Mile End boutique that specializes in plant design.
“There were no plants at all for a while, and now they’re everywhere. It’s not even a question anymore when decorating, it’s a necessity.”
According to Godin, the concept of plant design was created in 2008 by Patrick Nadeau, a French architect who became enamoured with botany after a life-changing trip to Japan.
“It was an innovative approach that sought to define how to integrate plants into design in a thought-out, interesting way,” Godin said, in describing the view of plants as an essential part of home decor.
Like furniture, artwork and other accent pieces, plants are a powerful tool for transforming an indoor space. Sonia Liby, the vice-president and co-owner of Alphaplantes in Griffintown, has a couple of tips to help people make a dramatic statement with the nature-inspired look:
“Pay attention to scale, so if you have high ceilings select tall planters, and don’t just install all your plants in the window,” she said.
“Select one flowering plant that you can change every season.”
An advocate of the less is more motto, Liby also warns customers against having too many little plants in an open-concept condo space. “It’s better to have a few large plants than too many small ones,” she said.
While the quickest and easiest option is just to get one large plant and place it next to your main sofa or reading chair, there are a growing number of creative ways to incorporate plants and flowers into the decor — including living walls, hanging planters and terrariums.
“Adding hanging plants to the space is unexpected and adds a new layer to the decor,” Liby said. “We can also install hanging plants upside down, with small magnetic planters.”
Terrariums — also known as Wardian cases after the botanist Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward, who first developed them in 1829 — are glass containers that create tiny ecosystems for plants to flourish in. They’re one of the most popular products at Vertuose.
“We started selling containers made of clear glass three or four years ago and they’re still popular,” Godin said. “The fact that the plants are housed in a little space gives them a magical feel that really touches people.”
As for coloured pots and containers, Liby suggests using neutral tones like terracotta, charcoal and white.
While the ficus lyrata has been featured in more decor and fashion spreads than most, and is even considered the official plant of the French luxury fashion house Céline, a number of other plants are clamouring for equal attention, including the sansevieria snake plant, the flowering zamioculcas, and the split-leaf philodendron or monstera deliciosa.
The one thing that differentiates plants from other decor elements is the maintenance required to keep them healthy and alive.
“It’s all about location. Choosing the right plant for the right space and conditions gives it an 80 per cent chance of surviving,” Godin said. “Nature does a great job of taking care of itself but what you give to the plant in care, by way of watering, it gives back to you by growing and evolving.”
Godin recently launched Vertuose’s new website to help clients care for their plants, post-purchase, with handy information files. As for Liby, she suggests people start with easy-to-carefor plants like the aforementioned sansevieria.