Ruud Kleinpaste
Ruud Kleinpaste on why we must invite nature into our homes.
Why we must bring nature indoors
when I was young…
No, this is not going to be one of those grumpy old fellow-type stories about the fabulous past. Well, maybe a little bit, as I am getting quite concerned about a few worrying trends in today’s society, and most of them have to do with our immediate environment: our homes, our workplaces and our gardens… and a little bit of occupational safety and health (OSH).
When I was born the total human population on our planet was around 2.5 billion (to be accurate, it was 2,630,584,384 – Google it and you’ll find I am right).
I was born on the most populous island in the world ( Java), grew up in one of the most densely populated countries in the world (the Netherlands) but fled to the relative paradise of space, forests, beaches, mountains and nature (Aotearoa), where everything has a lower and slower pace.
When I was young, most homes had a piano (yes!), and music lessons connected us to our culture and art – until colour television came along.
Almost every suburban house was surrounded by a small garden, one that was meticulously designed and maintained, especially the front garden through which you walked on your way to the front door. This garden was your business card in the community.
Apartment dwellers could only grow greenery on their balconies. Some folk chose to enclose those balconies to create small glasshouses where tropical and semi-tropical plants survived.
Even today, in many homes, house plants are the green link to sanity, the only connection to nature at home and even at work. They allow you to garden all day, every day if you so wish.
You can take growing house plants to any level you like. It’s to do with science, ecology, green prescriptions and interior design.
What plants can you grow and where; what pot sizes and mix requirements? Come to think of it, this could be a great education challenge for the primary school curriculum.
Of course, the growing conditions inside our dwellings allow us to choose from plants that grow in lowlight forests in medium relative humidity. Even behind a window, light levels can be 20 times lower than in full sun – check it out with a camera that has a decent light meter on board. You’d be surprised!
Away from windows, in even darker spots, there is still a great number of botanical candidates to choose from. I’ve always liked the look of our native karaka tree, which grows in frost-free, forested areas. If you’ve ever seen the myriads of seedlings growing into saplings, you’ll be aware of their ability to hang in there in almost complete absence of sunlight.
As a student in the Netherlands, I grew a great variety of coleus on the windowsill. They’re easy to propagate as cuttings and would make a great teachable topic for the young ones in the household.
But my love for tropical habitats often turned my attention to coffee and palm species. These, too, will grow up under the various canopy layers, so a warm home is in fact excellent territory for it.
Ficus benjamina is another easy house plant with one curious adaptation, however: as soon as you shift it from a dark spot to a lighter position, this plant will shed most of its leaves to accommodate the new conditions, as if it needs to grow new leaves with different chlorophyll levels in order to adjust.
Ever grown a hoya? It’s one of the easiest captives on the planet. Flowers appear in auxiliary umbellate clusters at the tip of peduncles. Don’t enjoy that description? How about flowers that are the colour of ivory or porcelain?
These house plants are not just our green, indoor connection to nature, they’re also miniature versions of ecological learnings.
Imagine my absolute surprise and disgust to read an article in my local newspaper with the headline: “Growing resistance to office plants”.
Apparently, they are now a health and safety hazard for a number of really good reasons and quite a few government departments were quoted as being seriously worried about this.
This has the smell of Mr and Mrs OSH all over it! In earthquakes they could fall on you; they’re a tripping hazard and… they attract all sorts of unwanted bugs!
I won’t comment on that, but… when I was young…
House plants are not just our green, indoor connection to nature. They’re also miniature versions of ecological learnings.