Bringing outdoor trees inside used to be a stunt. In 2015 we did it for Linda's Zomerweek — the first Dutch television programme to use outdoor trees and plants from Ebben Nurseries indoors, kept healthy under special lighting. It worked, and it has been a service ever since.
Large specimen planting, indoors
Project planting means taking responsibility for the complete interior styling with plants: selecting the material, getting it into the building, presenting it properly and keeping it alive under conditions it was never grown for.
The difference between a plant that lasts three weeks and one that lasts three years is light, root volume and water — in that order. We design for all three before the first tree is craned in.
Where we do it
- Offices, receptions and atria
- Retail interiors and shop-in-shop environments
- Television studios and stage sets — several Dutch programmes
- Events, fairs and showrooms
- Hotels, restaurants and hospitality interiors
- Showpiece specimen trees in glazed and covered spaces
What is included
- Plant selection and sourcing, including large specimen material
- Grow lighting specified to keep plants healthy in interior light levels
- Containers, soil build-up and root volume
- Irrigation, from hand-watering regimes to automated systems
- Placement, installation and access planning for oversized material
- Maintenance, rotation and seasonal replacement
- Hire for temporary installations and events
Access to the material, not just the drawing
Interior planting schemes fail most often because the specified specimen does not exist at that size, in that form, at that moment. Working from a nursery network — including specimen tree growers — means the plan is written around material that can be delivered, and the substitutions are decided by us rather than on site by whoever is unloading the truck.
Light is the whole problem
An office interior that feels bright to a person can sit at a fraction of the light a tree needs to hold its leaves. The plant does not die quickly; it thins, drops its lower canopy and looks wrong about four months after handover, which is exactly when everyone has stopped paying attention.
We measure the available light before selecting anything, then either choose species that tolerate it or specify supplementary lighting designed to look like part of the interior. That is what made the television work possible in the first place: outdoor trees under lighting engineered to keep them healthy on set.
Getting large material into a finished building
- Access survey — doors, lifts, ceiling heights, floor loading and crane positions
- Delivery sequencing against the building programme, before the finishes go in
- Protection of finished floors and surfaces during installation
- Container and root-ball dimensions checked against the access route, not the drawing
- Acclimatisation of material before it enters the interior climate
- Out-of-hours installation for trading and occupied buildings
Frequently asked questions
Can outdoor trees really be used indoors?
Yes, with the right species, the right lighting and the right root volume. We have been doing it for Dutch television productions since 2015, and the same principles apply to offices, retail and hospitality.
Do you hire plants for temporary events?
Yes. Hire, installation and removal for fairs, events and temporary installations, as well as permanent schemes.
Do you maintain the planting after installation?
Yes — maintenance, rotation and seasonal replacement can be included, which is normally what decides whether an interior scheme still looks right a year later.
Projects we have delivered
- Rooftop garden Ebben Inspyrium, Cuijk (Netherlands)
- Garden design, high-end client (global)
- Vertical green wall restaurant Humboldt (Romania)
Need trees inside a building?
Send us the space, the ceiling height and the light you have. We will tell you what will live there and what it will look like.