The CityPot System of Modular Gardening is a perfect example of a garden in the workplace.

Time spent at work but in a garden is a completely new dimension of organisation teamwork. Gardens, so far from disturbing the execution of work-related tasks, can create new bonds between staff.

This undertaking introduces a new way of perceiving the employee and company and an individual person as a member of a team. Gardens provide space to stimulate creative thinking, share ideas, share experiences, but also to reduce the tension between people and handle stress.

Working in a garden gives rise to new habits – it takes us away from our “technological addictions”. Gardens may be loved – but they also need care and nurturing. In a garden we feel like creators and designers – they bring out our sensitivity and inner beauty. They encourage us to meet ourselves, to encounter our own thoughts and to give ourselves a moment to escape from the noise of omnipresent technology.

How often do you or your staff work together – arm in arm?

Probably not so much – especially now, when we anyway meet rarely in the office. You might think it’s a bad idea.

But take into consideration the successes of companies like Google, Timberland i PayPal, GM, Kraft Foods, Hyatt, Yahoo, Hewlett Packard, joined recently by Infosys Polska or Lexus in Łodzi, all companies who have turned their lawns, concrete parking sites and roofs into employee friendly gardens. Perhaps it is worth taking a closer look at this subject and joining the growing group of companies who have decided to set up gardens and draw the benefits from them for their companies.

Our current lifestyle and the shrinking greenery of our cities all means that our contact with nature has been disturbed. This impacts our sense of wellbeing, our mental and physical health. We are always on the go that it has become difficult for use to stop.

Even at rest, we keep running, taking on marathons – both literally and metaphorically.

Who among us is able to stop for a moment, look at other people around them or at nature, without judgement – just to look?

We cannot escape nature, because we are a part of nature. We need nature to live

Just maintaining high standards of buildings is no longer enough for office life – we need to develop technology which serves to support stable ecosystems – in which both human beings and nature can form a whole.

A great example of this approach is urban gardening.

But how can we overcome the limitations and challenges of life in a city – access to healthy soil, contaminated areas or barren land?

We need to draw strength from limitation! That is the origin of our system of modular gardening – CityPot. We should not fight with our surrounding space but adapt it! CityPot offers freedom in the creation of any composition in any location.

We encourage our clients to build gardens with us in symbiosis with the biotope where they live or work. In this way they will unveil a natural beauty and the ecological cultivation of herbs and vegetables among blossoming perennials and shrubbery will ensure pleasant cooperation between staff members – as well as healthy and tasty meal made from the produce!

The process of developing a garden is already preceded by a workshop during which we share knowledge about gardening with residents and we point out the benefits. By supporting the ecosystem in a garden, we support the ecosystem that is the company.

The “From Seed To Tree” Program

An available garden in an office is an innovative direction of development in every organisation! There is no reason to be limited by the season, since we can have contact with nature 365 days a year. We offer our urban gardeners the program „From Seed To Tree” – we plant in the winter so we can enjoy the saplings in the spring, and we then bring them to the garden so by summer we can enjoy the fruits of our labours.

The CityPot system is easy to develop and maintain. It does not interfere with flooring or with ceilings. It does not require permits or administrative permissions and can be treated as a fixed or temporary installation, being easy to disassemble and transport. It is an ideal solution for parking areas, courtyards between buildings, roof ceilings and garages. The weight in each case is adapter to the building’s construction requirements. Depending on the type of plantings for perennial flower beds, these requirements are 300 kg/m2 and 500-700 kg/m2 for trees. The Citypot system saves water: it is equipped with a mechanism for gathering and distributing rainwater. Specially designed profiles hold onto the atmospheric moisture, subsequently transferring it to the plants.

Thanks to our solution there are no limits to our building a living landscape in the city. We have removed all the barriers and offer practically unlimited possibilities of arranging urban gardens in terms of colour, shape and composition. This solution ensures ideal conditions for flower, vegetable and herb growth – an ideal solution for urban farmers and contributing to the biodiversity of cities.

CityPot provides the opportunity to create a range of diverse, creative urban spaces: from miniature urban parks, through roof gardens, to urban farms full of flowers, vegetables and herbs.
CityPot is the only complete system of its kind. It ensures ideal conditions for plants in an urban environment, thereby leading to a stable ecosystem. A key element is the right composition of plants and special flooring – this represents the starting point. We have selected more than 20 species of plants adapted to a city environment, including: honey-bearing perennials such as Echinacea, jasmine, loosestrife, yarrow, bindweed, rudbeckia, catnip, marrow, geranium, anemone, verbena and bulbous plants such as narcissus, chessboard, garlic and lily. Flowering and fruit trees like lilac and hawthorn attract birds (waxwings in the latter case), elderberry attracts buddleia also called shrubbery butterflies.

Our team ensures a comprehensive service, whether the matter concerns the selection of plants, the sunlight levels, shelter from the wind, temperature, natural flora and fauna, the character of the investment and its purpose, or other related subjects.

The possibility of personalising the system makes it a universal solution – limited only by the imagination of the designer and investor.

Author of photos: Monika Replin