A high-profile botanist who uses his own backyard for research | Discovery | Gardening Australia

Jerry meets a botanist who is transforming his suburban backyard into a living laboratory. Subscribe 🔔 ab.co/GA-subscribe
Professionals in the horticulture arena often turn their hands to projects that challenge on a large scale, like vertical gardens, green facades, and roof garden technologies. Botanist and plant pioneer, Erik van Zuilekom, works on some of these high-profile projects and says, “My role is to bridge the gap between botany, horticulture and ecology. I design living architecture systems... My job is to find plants and ecologies that will work well in the urban sphere.” Examples of Erik’s work adorn Brisbane’s city streets, drawing on species from niche ecologies that need more research into how they can be utilised. “I have to conduct a lot of that research myself.”
Two years ago, Erik transplanted his career and family from cool temperate Melbourne to subtropical Brisbane and has continued his research. He is experimenting growing new plants for his innovative work in his own backyard. "One of the pioneer canopy species we're working with is a very rapid growing Brazilian fern tree,” says Erik who planted it by seed just two years ago. The tree has “remarkable growth, it's got the largest compound leaf of any tree. The idea is for it to quickly ascend, produce shade for the trees below but also to be a host for our Aroids,” says Erik. Philodendron warszewiczii is a deciduous, tree-like Aroid and Erik is experimenting with one in full blistering sun and one in shade. “The first thing is I'm exercising reading a plant,” says Erik, “In this case we've got a great example of a plant with leaves that are heavily fenestrated... That tells you that it most likely is trying to conserve moisture, so it possibly comes from a very dry environment.” While the trunks of each plant thicken as they climb and attach to their supports, the impact of the dramatically different environments is evident. “The exposures are talking to the plant’s genetics and stimulating it to conserve a bit of moisture in case there’s a dry period,” says Erik, “But because it's in the shade, it doesn't feel too stressed. It doesn't have to go too far with being succulent, so in this case it's putting out a lot of vertical growth but retaining quite a thin trunk.” In the full sun and higher winds, exposures are higher, and Erik says, “You can see from the base, all the way up, it's grown and thickened dramatically becoming very succulent. When it goes deciduous through a dry winter where it comes from, it can survive those periods of stress.” This experiment reminds us as gardeners that ‘standardised care’ doesn’t always apply.
Erik has long-term goals to establish an edible rainforest and says, “We've modelling it on how a rainforest naturally evolves, so we've got pioneer species, frontline species that will grow really rapidly and produce protective open canopy that allows a lot of light through. Then a secondary canopy of slower growing, emerging species that are our fruiting species.” This will not only feed the family but also extend the botanical collection for research. There are three shade houses for Erik’s experimental collections, which he introduces by saying, “they're not pretty collections, they are hardcore research.” One has controlled humidity, one has ambient conditions, and the third, Erik says, “is my too hard basket, where work and life get in the way.” Erik deliberately stresses these plants to push them to their outer perimeters and tolerances to observe how they respond and find ways to translate this into living architecture projects. But it's not all work and no play. Eric still finds time to tend the family vegie patch and says the move from Melbourne to Brisbane was "quite a gear shift... We got to discover new foods, new herbs and spices, tropical and Asian foods that we really enjoy.” Erik practices what he preaches and leads by example, and with this garden just two years young, it’s a testament to his ability to read the climate and read the plants.
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[@gretchencooper7228]

I love the fern tree, it’s stunning in flower. It’s becoming a bit weedy in QLD though, we had one at a property in the Noosa hinterland and it was spreading everywhere like the jacaranda is

[@TheLaughingDove]

Love to see brisbane videos, how wonderful!

[@GardeningAustralia]

More to come!

[@ManivaHouse]

The Brazilian fern is Yellow Jacaranda (interesting). Thank you for the video. I loved it. 💚

[@Pondok_Anggrek]

Sangat indah dan eksotis ❤❤❤

[@sinntax1647]

Is he looking for a horticulturists?! 😂 I’d love to switch over to this from my gardening job! 😅

[@jhowardsupporter]

I would love to work as a gardener but can't bare the thought of weeding, ending the life of certain plants. I'm a scientist by degree and we don't say plants aren't an intelligent lifeform the same as us because there is no evidence to prove either way, then from cloning the brain is copied 100% but the soul is not copied which to me says the soul is independent of the brain so plants may have a soul. The plants are all my little friends.