300ft triffid that’s taken over our office
WHEN their boss put a pot plant in a corner of the office, staff thought it would help brighten the place up.
But 12 years on, the devil’s ivy has lived up to its name. It has taken over – and is still growing.
The plant is 300ft long, trails up the walls and covers most of the ceiling.
Staff at Protective Solutions Ltd in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, say they have threatened to prune the triffid-like monster but their boss Des Brennan, who founded the packaging firm in 2006, won’t let them.
Mr Brennan, 54, believes the fluorescent lights and warm air have assisted its astonishing growth. He bought it as a small cutting and cannot remember what type of plant it is. But experts say that, with its heart-shaped thick, waxy, yellow and green leaves, it is almost certainly Epipremnum aureum – also known as devil’s ivy.
‘It’s absolutely massive,’ Mr Brennan said. ‘It goes round our office a couple of times, and then criss- crosses across the ceiling too. In the summer, when the leaves all come out, it’s more like a canopy in here.’
He says the plant is very low-maintenance – but has a mind of its own.
‘We water it once every couple of days,’ he said. ‘ In the winter months, when all the leaves die off, we don’t have to do anything. It does cost a fortune in elastic bands though, to pin it on to the roof. It’s a very defiant plant. If you happen to catch a bit of branch in a door and break it off the plant, it seems to grow a few more shoots.
‘It’s a big talking point. People know our office as the one with the big plant. Some of the girls talk to the plant, but I don’t believe in all that stuff.
‘We have a lot of fun at Christmas – we hang lights and baubles from it.’
One of Mr Brennan’s workers, a sales executive called Charlotte, said: ‘I don’t really like spiders and we have a few spiders that hide in the plant. We do have a good laugh about it. We keep threatening to cut it and prune it for Des, but he won’t let us.’ Experts say devil’s ivy, which grows wild in south-east Asia, will help improve air quality in an office – but it can also cause a nasty rash. Mr Brennan is determined to keep it, however much it spreads.
‘When it grows too big to fit in the office, we’ll have to punch a hole in the roof and let it grow up on the mezzanine,’ he said.