Plants must leave in federal garage sale

Hundreds of tropical plants are being uprooted from bureaucrats’ offices and sold dirt cheap to save on the costs associated with caring for them, reports ROBERT BOSTELAAR.

Trees. Minerals. Water. And now … potted greenery? In what could be the latest resource sell-off, the federal government has plucked hundreds of tropical plants from bureaucrats’ offices in Ottawa and Gatineau and is offering them to the highest bidders through its gcsurplus.ca website.

And they’re going dirt cheap. In the past month more than 500 palms, ficus trees and mother-inlaw’s tongues have been snapped up for an average $3.36 each, soil and pot included. Another 200 are available in auctions closing this week.

“Some of the plants that I saw could easily be valued at over $100,” said a private horticultural contractor called in to check more than 100 of the tropical plants acquired by a private Ottawa company for its offices.

So far, the defoliation appears to be piecemeal. According to Public Works, the federal property manager, responsibility for acquiring and caring for office plants was downloaded in 2012 to the individual departments that occupy government buildings.

For divisions under pressure to prune costs, however, the plants are an easy target. They’re not on Facebook or Twitter, and if they scream when they’re carted from their homes, only those with super-sensitive ears will hear them.

Maintenance is the big factor. The greenery is watered, cleaned and kept free of pests by outside specialists at an estimated $2 to $4 a plant per month.

That’s a “crazily low figure,” according to the Ottawa contractor, who was reluctant to be named because he still does some business with government.

But multiplied by the thousands of indoor plants that must still adorn desks and line the hallways of government — Public Works on Wednesday couldn’t say exactly how many — the savings could be hard to ignore.

Horticulturalist Tony Hayton, who supplies plants to private businesses but long ago stopped bidding on government contracts, suggested any decision to uproot all indoor greenery would be shortsighted.

“NASA has done studies,” said Hayton, known as “the Plant Doctor” in two decades of appearances on Ottawa’s former CJOH-TV.

“Because of the plants, a number of things occur. People are more productive. They’re healthier. They have fewer sick days.”

With government-issue plants disappearing, will public servants be encouraged to tend their own workplace gardens? Public Works spokeswoman Lucie Brosseau said government workers can bring in plants if managers approve. The plants must be well maintained by the employee and cannot pose any health or safety risk or cause damage to buildings.

Tony Hayton, however, said office plants, or any indoor plants, won’t thrive without consistent care. “They work best with routine.”

The same, of course, is said of public servants.