I wish I did too! I have a fair amount of say in what happens, though owners have veto power. I am concerned about the lighting issue, they really want to get rid of it. As for ferns and sans, the room itself is 29'x26', with 12'x12' grow space. And two story ceilings in most of it, it stays fairly dry but there is a shaded wall in the middle on the east side (blocking most of the morning light, sadly) that could be ideal for more water happy shade plants. The space is big enough to disperse the excess humidity, in theory at any rate. Just an idea, will be working on this project all week. Good idea about refreshing the soil, many will be doable, the umbrella tree and grapefruit tree not so much but the rest in theory could come up.

Anyone know what number one is? That one is driving me batty. I have seen them before, just don't know what they are called. I dug it up and replanted it, seems happier now.

#1 is a small Philodendron bipinnatifidum, commonly called Tree Philodendron. Sometimes incorrectly called Philodendron selloum.

Tropicbreeze, doesn't it seem a little small and yet mature to be a species bipinnatifidum. Do you think it could be the "hope" cultivar?

Is their skylight an older style 'roof window'? I would opt for tube
style skylights with rooftop light collectors. You could possible extend
their light emitting ends down closer to the plants. The tube/ducts
would be exposed, but that might be a nice industrial look... Strategic placement of them would help the plants grow straight instead of stretching towards the west window.

I agree that the soil looks ready to be replaced.

I just visited the local botanical gardens, and they use many different varieties of chinese evergreen (algaonema) in their atrium plantings.

They seem to have money, why don't they replace the supplemental lighting with LEDs? Energy efficient and the plants would be happier. I just don't think you're going to get what you want with the current window set up you're having to work with.

But I'm no professional, I could be totally wrong. Darker, less splotches (silver) aglaonemas would do well as would the darker sansevierias. Maybe some spathiphyllums.

But they have so much cool stuff there already. So they are going to get rid of the citrus tree because it won't do well without more light, that's probably why it has scale. It's weak and should probably be ppulled out of its misery anyway.

I agree about the citrus, we have been having that talk. LED lighting is a good option, but they don't have that much spare cash. They just moved across country with two young children and bought this place. Not sure if they will be interested. In the meanwhile, doing what I can to freshen soil and replant stuff. Half the plants are growing parallel to the ground, looking a lot better now.

Craigslist has great deals on plant lights from aquarium people. If you live in a large enough population density, there should be lots!

Good point, will look into that. Ha, here in WA Craigslist is usually full of all sorts of entertaining grow lights actually, hahaha. Though, not ones originally meant for plants I have any intention of cultivating. ;)

Well, that explains why I have to look for fish tank lights but you can look for actual grow lights lol. Geography is everything unless you have equal protections under the law, which doesn't seem to be the case. I think it happened with marriage equality too.

We have been moving stuff around, looks like the jungle look is going to stay. I will be staking things up better this afternoon. For refreshing the soil, can I just put in a top layer? These roots are deep and wild, I would rather not dig everyone up if I can avoid it.

Many people add compost to their soil every year to give it a nutrient boost. I don't see why you couldn't do the same here unless the soil there is just terrible as far as drainage and aeration.

Laticauda, thanks. The soil is actually pretty nice and fluffy, seems to drain nicely too. The compost idea will work well, I might even be willing to part with some stuff from my pile for them. It is strange working with tropical in a garden setting!

All right, some updates. I have things staked up and looking much better. Tomorrow is a garden day, I have six fat bags of some premium organic compost I am going to work into the soil. I have been fighting the good fight with the bonife spray, the hose attachment bottle was brilliant. Things seem better with a nice kelp extract fertilizer too. Some stuff is still suffering, have a few cuttings I started today so hopefully we will have some nice props sooner or later.

Still hunting ideas for additional plants. Ideas?