Dominic Hooghuis, co- founder of The Plant Runner, provides insights into his Hotham Street garden project, highlighting the challenges and tips for maintaining a garden oasis, especially in smaller spaces. From utilising vertical spaces to experimenting with self-attaching creepers, Dominic has created an innovative space for his clients.

1. Can you share your career background and how you came to start The Plant Runner?

I was immersed in nature from a very young age, growing up on the north coast of New South Wales amongst the beautiful forest and beach. My parents had 2 acres of bush land which they slowly converted into amazing gardens throughout my childhood and I think that made a huge impact for my urge to work within in nature. My dad was also a huge music fan and we’d listen to a lot of vinyl records around the open fire, artists like Led Zeppelin & Jimmy Hendrix were on constant rotation which sparked a 10 year music career for me, touring with bands throughout Australia and internationally. But after my stint in rock n’ roll and meeting my interior designer wife Malin Johansson I feel back into my horticultural career.

About 10 years into my horticultural endeavors I met fellow Horticulturalist Duncan Hilder who had just finished up working with Garden Life in Sydney, he’d moved down to Melbourne & was looking for a job, we started working together in my gardening business and it was over morning tea one day that we devised the plan to launch Australias first mobile green house, a converted vintage truck which sold indoor plants at markets around Melbourne, from this we discovered that there was number of people who weren’t familiar with the importance of plant care and so we launched our plant care range, we’ve since sold over 500,000 bottles of our famous plant food!

2. Tell us about the Hotham Street project and what you set out to achieve with this garden.

This garden belongs to some great friends of mine Mark and Gregory Ladner, Gregory is a very well respected textiles designer and it was amazing to see style continue throughout the garden, the actual shell of the garden is about 30 years old, I’ve been working in the garden for about 11 of those years, maintaining all of the vertical growth and focusing on the overall health of the garden. The creeping fig and Boston Ivy which is used to create vertical gardens by growing in the old church walls needs constant maintenance so that it stays healthy and does not add too much weight to the old structure by growing to large.

3. Were there any challenges you had to overcome in the space?

Mainly working at such heights and the vertical trimming, it’s incredibly physically demanding. There are also the pond and the pool to work around which makes it ever more challenging!
We’ve devised a good system now so we’re sticking to it!

4. Creating a garden oasis can be challenging in small areas, do you have any tips on how to bring greenery into a smaller space?

Make sure you utilize all surfaces, both horizontally & vertically. Don’t be afraid to grow self attaching creepers on the walls (just make sure you’ve considered the ongoing maintenance involved). Even the space over head can be utilized by running stainless steel cables to grow vines such as grape along! Look outside the box and don’t be afraid to experiment!

5. What plants do you recommend for a courtyard or interior?

If it’s well lit plants like olives and cacti are awesome for those of you who don’t have time to water. Otherwise consider plants like rubber trees and bird of paradise as they are quite low maintenance also.

See more at theplantrunner.com