Darrell T. Lewis is the man responsible for styling the Room and Board showroom a challenging task that requires constant care. He agree to tell us a little bit about his work:
The day-to-day care and maintenance of a retail showroom is a challenge in and of its self. Combine that with the addition of living organisms and you can have quite a workweek. Remember plants, especially cut flowers and leaves, need lots of fresh water rotation and regular feeding.
There is also a significant amount of prep work and staging involved in achieving an effortless look to a show room. For that reason plus the cost involved we tend to have periods where we may not feature any cut flowers and focus on longer lasting cut greens.
On plant choice:
Darrell chooses plants for a room with a consideration for the target customer and lifestyle that room reflects. So you would see wheat grass in a contemporary setting with our Andrea sofa while a bromeliad would be positioned with the York sofa in a more classic room. Room and Board has no hard rules but we attempt to keep our arrangements simple straightforward and varied like our furniture.
Success in the Showroom:
We have been very successful with any number of succulents and cut palm leaves. Coco palms, Steel Grass, Philodendron, Scindapsus Neon, and any of the hardy orchid varieties such as Oncidium and Phalaenopsis are always present and require minimal care. We have recently had in our showroom (as seen in the AT slideshow) Steel Grass, Bromeliad, Oncidium Orchid, Coco Palm, Philodendron leaves, Paddle plant, Kentia Fosteriana Tree and Ficus Pandurata Tree.
Generally, any plant that does not have a low light tolerance such as Ficus Pandufata and certain cacti can be a challenge.
Where you shop:
I rely mainly on a variety of vendors located in New Yorks floral district located on 28th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues. One such shop, Caribbean Cuts (Caribbeancuts.com), is where the Coconut was bought (they have them in three sizes).
Matt N.
Copyright © 2007 Apartment Therapy
This is exactly the kind of information I hoped this new column would provide. Thanks Matt!
thanks for labeling the plants!
anyone have thoughts on where to buy cheap metal planters? are they ok for all plants? i have some jasmine plants that i'm dreaming of repotting into copper planters.
yeah, thanks for responding to our requests for some care & maintenance info. please keep it coming (a bit more detailed advice would be really helpful, but that's just my opinion) & thanks again!
The gift shop at the BBG, Brooklyn Botanic Gardens (and probably the Bronx garden too) are a great source of plants and pots. They often have good beautiful large planters for much less than retail stores, especially if you get a membership discount.
AND the money supports the gardens.
Then there's IKEA, which always has veeeery cheap plant containers.
I had been hoping to learn the names of those plants; thank you. I noticed that the tree does not have a name but is mentioned in the article. It is a fiddleleaf fig - its Latin name is given.
As Patrick (the other one)'s winning apartment shows, dried horsetail plant can be used by display professional to good effect.
FYI: Suncatchers of Hilo sells sprouting coconuts on Ebay for $25 plus $12.50 shipping from Hawai'i.
My current project: a dried-peony wreath like the one shown on the back of Martha Stewart's _Great American Wreaths_ (back cover shown above - scroll down) with dried peonies purchased at $100 for 125 (shipping included) from an Illinois Ebay seller. It's a bargain when you consider that Stewart's book recommends buying freeze-dried peonies at $6 a head (and the wreath requires 100 heads).
It should last for years out of sunlight, if I can keep moths away (I may put some cedar chips in the straw backing).
Regards,
Molly B.
Click on my name above for the picture of the wreath. Click "back cover."
--M.
I've always been curious about these kinds of jobs. What is Darrell's official title? What is his professional background or training?
Rasil-
For copper planters you can also try Smith & Hawken. Probably not as cheap as the other suggestions given already, but worth a look.
would love to know where to get the "succulent planters" shown in the slide show...