Innervisions – Plantasia’s 2022 Poly’s Of Paradise

Fond of slapstick Peruvian duffel coat-wearing furballs? Well, you’re in the wrong place. Fond of jaw-dropping horticultural stylings, riotous with colour and texture, deftly worked across one thousand square metres of greenhouse? Well, you’ve arrived! This is Piddington, not Paddington. Quiet, unassuming, and not definitively fond of marmalade, Piddington is a tiny village in rural Oxfordshire. Here stands a truly unique gardening research facility in the shape of Plantasia. 

Several years ago, Plantasia began an annual celebration of all plant life. As it grows year-on-year that celebration is fast acquiring mythic status as a kind of quasi-pagan event in the best traditions of the UK’s ancient observation of the natural world. This year’s renewal was no exception.

If it would please you to step this way we’ll show you exactly how fearless and expressive growing can be. Fruit, vegetables, flowers, squashes, gourds, spices, and grasses all cultivated by Benjamin Biggs (Curator) and the team at Plantasia for the sheer love of nature. In a sense it is showing off, but showing off without ego. It’s an effort to show off a) how incredible plants can be, and b) how anything is possible.

Plantasia’s pioneering work for 2022 has included the Mills Indoor Wild Flower Meadow, designed to encourage pollinators, many of which help serve as natural pest control. This is very much in keeping with the ethos of Plantasia, to help plants achieve their maximum potential, to naturally aid their progression, and to grow with nature wherever possible. Similarly attractive to pollinators are the vast and varied floral sections at Plantasia. These run deep and tall with the biggest plants, including African Tree Lilies and Dahlias, comprising veritable thickets of vegetation each crowned with massive colourful blooms.

Cascading a full 8ft, the streams of dark magenta blooms on the Auto9 grown Love-Lies-Bleeding dominate the entry to the dedicated AutoPot section at Plantasia. This incredibly strong plant, able to achieve such height and support the ‘weeping willow’ style hanging blooms, contrasts nicely with the Canna Lily to the right. This plant is all about the vertical verdant volleys, with mighty pole-like stems and huge, thick, spear-like leaves all topped off with the fiery tongues of brilliant orange flowers.

Hauntingly pale yet towering and robust, the adjacent hydrangea exhibit resembles a sweeping, spectacular, mountainous range of competing triangular peaks. Despite the fluctuating and often extreme weather of summer 2022, the health of these flowers is something to behold. The hydrangeas remain resolutely vertical. Dozens of robust flower cones rise up from each plant in a run comprising twelve AutoPot XL modules. Ensuring the substrate in which the hydrangeas are grown is moist, but not over-watered, is a cinch thanks to the AutoPot modules which only supply water and nutrient solution in response to plant consumption. 

Bookending the hydrangeas are Auto8, Auto5, and Auto3 systems heavily laden with stunning Callaloos, Sunflower Sunsations, and Thithonia. The multi-pot module trays in which they’ve been grown are served by a single AQUAvalve5 water control device which is a real boon given the immense scale of the plants. If any access is required then it is only to a single point. This greatly reduces the number of components and maintenance. 

The sunflowers in the Auto5s are potted in 35L / 9 gallon fabric pots. These pots have allowed Plantasia to cue in the flowers to perfection. Obviously flowers are especially sensitive to conditions and Plantasia were keen that they shouldn’t peak too soon. Fabric pots aid rapid development and by using them the growing team were able to leave it as late as possible in order to hit the expo date in perfect order. Grand as they are, these wonderful plants are dwarfed by the AutoPot centrepieces featuring the thundering new XXL module.

A crowning achievement for the XXL module has been the cultivation of a papaya tree over the last year or so. The papaya is just one of the plants upon which we’ve been cutting the teeth of XXL in our R&D facilities. The aim has been to prove not only the function of the module itself but also to test the absolute scope of pot-based growing. Thus far the tree is towering at around 9ft tall with green, shapely leaves creating an impressive but not overly expansive canopy on the fully grown plant. Below that neat, tidy canopy the papaya fruit appear on a regular basis, providing a tasty ingredient for asian cuisine in its semi-ripe state, or as a mildly sweet, silky treat when grown to finish. Having a clear seven feet of height beneath the canopy is another huge bonus – who wouldn’t enjoy a quickly grown tree providing exotic shade in or around the home? 

Parallel projects in the XXL modules on show at Plantasia include Alocasia and Passion Fruit, plus yet more lilies and dahlias. Some of these have been grown in the XXL50 module, others in the XXL35. Both versions of the XXL module share the same tray, the XXL35 simply adds an adaptive collar to reduce the space occupied by a 35L pot. 

This AutoPot display isn’t just magic on the outside. Deep within every cell of these plants are nutrients and bio stimulants from the wizard new Source fertiliser range. Every fibre has been imbued with Sourcery! The fertilisers used here have been conceived as a plant nutrition in its purest form. Six clean, highly concentrated products for effective, efficient performance.

Extensively proven by the UK’s leading horticultural universities, the Source’s base nutrients and bio stimulants correlate exactly with plant needs. Since we’ve had the Source on trial we’ve seen outstanding results with all growing media across many, many cultivation systems. The bonus with AutoPot is that the concentration and purity of the fertiliser paired with our zero-waste watering systems elevates the Source’s efficiency – from exceptional to unparalleled.

Plantasia apply AutoPot Watering Systems throughout the greenhouse with different modules taking on distinct roles. Ever a visual spectacle, the tomato vines grow from long runs of easy2grow modules. This creates extensive, leafy green corridors bejewelled with ripening fruit and thick with an irresistibly sweet aroma. Equally productive are the melons in easy2grow modules, the fruit sat upon the pots with a very pleasing wall of green leaves behind that serves as an attractive screen. Gourds and cucumbers are trained likewise from easy2grow modules fitted with 8.5 litre pots. At first glance these aren’t that obvious but lift the leaves and you’ll see the plants are teaming with fruit.

Legions of chillies, sweet peppers, and aubergines occupy 1Pot modules. These are ideally sized to allow the plants ample space to develop and are easy to reposition when seeking to create a nice even canopy. There’s no end to the variety within the enormous number of these 1Pot-housed plants, especially where the chillies are concerned.

With such variety it is essential that every plant is able to self regulate its feeding and watering. Trying to hand water or humanly manage the tens, if not hundreds, of independent systems that would otherwise be required to administer individual feeding regimes would make the whole enterprise prohibitively difficult and expensive. 

Simply running AutoPot throughout immediately removes such complications as each and every plant controls its own irrigation, automatically, and with no requirement for electricity. At a time when energy costs are seriously threatening the viability of indoor growing, the AutoPot Watering Systems power-free operation also plays a key role in helping to secure the continuation of Plantasia’s grand tradition.

Words can’t convey how impressed we are year on year with this incredible tribute to nature and to our systems. As ever our profuse thanks go out to Ben and the team at Plantasia. Not only are they a huge inspiration with the expo they’re also superbly well informed on all aspects of growing and provide a wealth of helpful info – follow them @plantasia_shop now!