Growing 500 species of plants at home on smoggy days, creating a forest

We long to create a garden of our own,

but because we live in high-rise buildings of steel and concrete,

without the right conditions of time and place for growing flowers and plants,

we have no choice but to give up.

Or we put it off, saying, "Once I quit my job and go back to the countryside someday..."

Actually, if you don't give it a try,

you will never know that your pastoral dream

can be right within reach.

Herb

 Blanch, Cupich, Nandayapa Trío

Israel Cupich 

00:00/

A girl living in Brooklyn, New York

Summer RayneOakes

started by moving in a 1-meter-tall fiddle-leaf fig

and turned her originally lifeless apartment with no balcony

into a lush little forest.

The entrance

Now this fiddle-leaf fig has grown all the way to the ceiling

Oakes has already lived here for 11 years,

in an apartment of more than 110 sq m,

she has actually grown more than 500 species of plants,

from ornamental plants to edible plants,

not only native medicinal herbs and leafy greens,

but also some exotic ones, such as pineapple, curry leaf and so on,

a grandeur that only a country villa could otherwise achieve.

Actually, growing flowers and plants in an apartment is no easy task,

the lack of enough space, soil, and especially enough light,

all of these will greatly limit the types of plants that can be grown.

But fortunately, Oakes's apartment has windows on both the north and south sides,

and she is very good at making reasonable use of space,

filling every nook and corner with plants of different growing requirements.

Sun-loving plants such as ivy

were planted by Oakes by the windows with ample light,

where she built miniature glass greenhouses one after another

to increase humidity and temperature.

In the bedroom, Oakes created an entire plant wall,

and she also designed an underground irrigation system

connected directly to the sink,

so the plants on the wall can draw water from below,

saving a great deal of manual labor.

The plant wall in the bedroom is filled with all kinds of greenery

Oakes gave names to the different planting areas of the apartment:

jar garden, herb garden, greenhouse garden, vegetable and fruit garden...

And these, built from plywood and rope,

she calls the "hanging garden."

Even the bathroom

was arranged by Oakes into a succulent garden,

paired with some shade-loving plants that do not need much light.

A mini succulent garden on the toilet tank

Besides growing herbs in glass jars,

Oakes has used almost all the containers at home

of suitable size for growing flowers and plants,

even these recyclable tea tins are no exception.

To take care of such a forest apartment

really takes a lot of energy and thought,

just watering alone takes Oakes more than half an hour every day,

and every week she still spends at least an hour and a half

on maintenance work such as composting, repotting, and pruning branches,

but do not think that Oakes is just a spoiled young lady

who stays at home with nothing to do, growing some flowers and plants to pass the time.

She is actually a fashion model busy enough to fly,

shooting editorials for magazines, attending fashion weeks, giving interviews...

Although her schedule is packed every day,

she still insists on tending the plants with her own hands,

and she very much enjoys the time spent with these quiet plants,

which lets her return to herself and reflect and think.

"I think the only way I can survive in New York

is to surround myself with plants."

Perhaps you may wonder,

why Oakes, as a model, loves plants so much?

It turns out she grew up on a large farm in the countryside of northern Pennsylvania,

and the wonderful times of her childhood gave her a deep longing for farming and gardening,

and she loved the sense of freedom that nature brought her.

Oakes has cared deeply about environmental issues since childhood,

she majored in environmental science and entomology at Cornell University for her undergraduate degree,

and even published several high-quality papers,

and she planned to go down the path of becoming a natural scientist.

However, she found that papers on environmental issues

could only be noticed by a small number of people in academia,

which was different from what she had expected,

she wanted to help more people build a connection with nature.

Oakes shooting a public-interest environmental promo in a photo studio

So, with her good looks, she chose to become a model,

but not an ordinary model,

she is the firstnaturalist-stylemodel (Eco-Model),

only endorsing clothing that uses organic fabrics,

taking part in the production of nature documentaries,

shooting environmental-themed advertisements,

and often speaking up for nature in public...

Oakes is recording a Discovery TV program

She works very actively to build a bridge between fashion and environmental protection:

she wrote《style，naturally》this book,

teaching people to learn to, in a sustainable way,

live a stylish and decent life;

she established

the "foodstand" App,

so that residents of various communities can conveniently buy organic and healthy ingredients;

In many environmental organizations, such as the Rainforest Action Network,

Gaia Amazonas, the Mezimbite Forest Centre and others,

she also has an active presence.

Oakes has truly taken her

love for nature to the extreme,

living the green life she wanted:

not only living every day in a little forest she built with her own hands,

but also using her wisdom and abilities,

in all kinds of ways,

to bring people closer to nature.

If you don't give it a try,

you will never know that your pastoral dream

can be right within reach.

LOVE. Soilless Farm

Soilless FarmShengguo Ju Mall

Discover the beauty of growing flowers