House Plant Studio Pharmacy

A house plant studio as a pharmacy sounds a rather fanciful idea.

But increasingly we’re realizing the benefit of surrounding ourselves with plants as we work.

At the recent RHS Chelsea Flower Show six studios filled with house plants showed the way.

 

Breaking new ground

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show has always been a spring show.

But the spring shows of 2020 and of 2021 were cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Therefore it was with some relief that the RHS show went ahead this September.

This was the very first time that there had been an autumn show.

At this show there were several new show garden categories.

For me the house plant studio category was the most exciting one.

 

Six garden buildings each packed with plants demonstrated how a house plant studio might look.

 

See how the judges viewed their efforts here.

The House Plant Studio Pharmacy

Getting right to the point of how plants benefit our health and well being, the Pharmacy of House Plants hit the nail on the head!

Fitted out like a retail pharmacy, this little shop was stuffed full of indoor plants of every kind.

At the back were rows of glass bottles. These were of the type you would typically see in old traditional pharmacies.

Each bottle was labelled with an essential element needed for plant growth. Normally these would be labelled with tinctures and chemicals.

 

 

Aquatic Plants

Perhaps the next new thing; aquatic plants featured strongly at the back of the pharmacy house plant studio.

These are truly aquatic plants and are grown in glass containers filled with clean water.

The water is changed weekly. This provides the plants with enough oxygen which of course plant roots need.

Water should always be at room temperature. These aquatic plant species do not tolerate cold water!

 

Propagation too

Many outdoor plants can be easily propagated simply by placing a stem cutting in clean water.

I’ve found this is to be true of lots of house plants!

The Pharmacy of House Plants had root cuttings in water.

Many plant species have roots that will produce shoots and leaves if submerged in water.

Why not propagate some of your plants whilst working at your desk? It’s a great way to connect with your plants!

You’re certain to be on hand to see if anything is going wrong and there to take prompt action to correct it.

I’m going to be trying to root more house plant cuttings in my studio.

The plants are removed periodically and submerged overnight in containers filled with dilute plant food. After this they are returned to the clean water again. It’s important to do this regularly.

 

Biophilia

It’s now widely accepted that biophilia is beneficial to our lives. That begs the question “What exactly is biophilia and the biophilic effect?”

One interpretation is that biophilia is “an innate and genetically determined affinity of human beings with the natural world”.

Surrounding ourselves with natural objects leads to healthier and happier lives.

It’s now accepted that biophilia results in higher productivity.

My image here shows easy to care for succulent plants that need occasional watering and plenty of good light. These would be good plants to start with if you are inexperienced at looking after indoor plants.

 

You can read more on biophilia in this article here.

Bio-sonification

With bio-sonics plants react to us!

In front of the Pharmacy of House Plants studio a wired up variegated Monstera plant sent vibrations to a laptop.

A piece of clever software interpreted those vibrations into sound.

This for me was a revelation and a real show stopper!

The sound from this particular plant was extremely soothing and relaxing.

This is just the sort of sound that I could work with!

As I watched someone touched the leaves and I noticed that the sounds changed. This fascinated me!

There was no doubt that there was an inter-reaction between plants and man!

It was noticeable that the reaction differed with whoever touched the plant.

If like me you’re fascinated with bio-sonics you will enjoy learning more about it in this video here.

 

Team Work

The Pharmacy of House Plants exhibit was a combined effort primarily between London based plant supplier Patch Plants and the Edible Bus Stop organisation.

Patch Plants sourced and supplied the massive range of highest quality house plants.

Founding director of the Edible Bus Stop Mak Gilchrist curated the exhibit.

Pascale Duval designed the exhibit with Mak Gilchrist. The producer was Maree Featherstonhaugh.

More Reading

I wrote about 10 trends I spotted at Chelsea Flower Show here.

In 2018 the RHS hosted The Urban Garden Show. This was full of indoor plants. I visited that show too. Read about my visit here.

You might be interested in reading about one of my visits to a Chelsea Flower Show held in spring.

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