by Keith Cheng AIFD, MHort (RHS)
(English translation below)
我跟植物的故事，是從小時候外婆教我種植開始。當我還是小孩的時候，植物都是種在外祖父母家的陽台，而我總愛找遍整個廚房，把所有可以種的東西都拿來種一遍，綠豆、洋蔥、薑、蒜頭、花生⋯⋯都無一倖免！當然我把廚房裏能找到的植物也種過後，我便開始到附近的公園收集種子，試過種羊蹄甲、黃嬋、九里香、天冬等等，當然跟所有初學者一樣，我總是把牠們種死了，然而經驗也從每次種植失敗中累積起來，我亦慢慢學會到處找尋資料，學習及鑽研不同的種植技巧，因而成就了我成為園藝家的夢想！
2012年，我獲得了在大型國際主題樂園「香港迪士尼樂園」的工作機會，我更在工餘的時候繼續進修相關的專業知識，在2014年的時候我報讀了一個園景設計課程，當時我跟課堂中的一位女同學比較混熟，而她就是我在花藝上的啟蒙老師馮潔儀，而已經是荷蘭花藝DFA全科導師的她，在一次平常的交談中提到有關花藝設計的技巧，令我深感興趣，那時候我覺得應該可以藉著插花來了解更多植物的美學和設計藝術，於是便大膽將這個念頭跟馮老師分享，然後我就是在這樣的機緣下打開了花藝設計的大門！馮老師教導我所有花藝師必須具備的知識及技巧，而我間中亦喜歡尋求突破，總愛嘗試用一些與不合常規的方式去做花藝，即使很多時是不可行的，但馮老師也鼓勵我自己試試看，這個過程讓我可以反覆練習和不斷挑戰我學習到的理論，亦創造了一個反叛的心態去引領無盡的創造力。
經過幾年的浸淫，2017年時我已經掌握了不少花藝的經驗，我被告知需要在樂園的探險世界前面設計一個熱帶植物花壇，而且要配合春日節慶活動的主題，當時在我部門中這是一個全新的概念。我於是揉合了花藝及園藝的知識，設計出一個附生植物佈置，當中包括了鳳梨科植物、蘭花、蕨類、豬籠草等， 當中的擺設是按照顏色分佈組合和比例擺放，而挑戰不只來自於設計方面，還包括植物的準備、缺少植物的替補品種和設置時的人手安排，由於這些大型佈置必需要在樂園開放前完成，我們只能在有限的時間內架設好所有植物，幸好的是經過仔細的計劃及準備，製作過程相當成功，這次的設計亦得到很好的迴響！那次之後，我亦得到更多機會帶領團隊製作大型節慶活動和一些全新遊樂設施開幕的園藝設計，這些經驗讓我能將園藝和花藝的知識結合，並實踐於工作項目之中，而且這些植物佈置也能夠讓成千上萬的旅客觀賞，實是難能可貴！
值得一提的是，亞熱帶氣候的香港在花床植物的選擇上是非常有限的，因為天氣過於潮濕和溫暖，導致很多蟲害和真菌感染引致觀賞時間縮短，所以在每次活動節慶中我也會把花藝設計的概念用在園藝設計上，例如我多運用顏色豐富的灌木，因為它們的觀賞時期和抵抗能力都比花床植物好，這不單止豐富了顏色和質感，也同時豐富了植物的品種及能夠減少更換植物的數量，從而減少產生綠色廢料。從我在節慶活動花壇設計的經驗中，花藝知識可以為園藝師增加植物品種的選擇，而且在園藝設計上更具層次和深度。
My plant story of mind began in my childhood with my first gardening mentor, my grandmother. When I was kid, I grew everything at my grand parents’ place.
Anything I found in the kitchen for example, beans, onions, ginger, garlic and peanuts. After I was done with everything I found in the kitchen, I collected seeds from the park: Bauhinia, Allamanda, Murraya, Asparagus…like all beginners, I killed them all…. This failure gave me a lot of experience and I pushed myself to search for the knowledge required to become a horticulturist. That was my dream!
In 2012 I had the great opportunity to work for the biggest international theme park, Disneyland in Hong Kong. But I was still hungry for more gardening knowledge: In a landscape design course in 2014, I met my second mentor, Dodo Fung who is an instructor for Dutch Flower Arrangement (DFA). It began with a very causal talk. At that time, I wanted to learn more details about creating beauty and the art of plant arrangement for gardens. I thought flower arrangement should be my answer. I shared this idea with the lady that sit next to me. Then she said, I taught Dutch flower arrangement… Aha, now the horticulturist is going to the world of floriculture. She taught me all the things that I should know and let me try anything that I shouldn’t do! It was such a great experience to practice and challenge the theories I learned. It shaped a rebel mind that leads to endless creativity.
Since I have gained some experience, I was asked in 2017 to design a tropical planter arrangement for the spring event in front of Adventureland at Disneyland. That was a total new idea in our department at that time. I combined my knowledge of horticulture and floriculture to create an epiphytic plant arrangement including Bromeliaceae, orchids, fern and Nepenthes by scale, proportion and color combination. The challenging part was not only the design but also the preparation of the plants, the substitution of missing plants and the manpower arrangement for the night shift which left very limited time for work before the park opening in the morning. Fortunately, the result was successful and there were more arrangements for bigger events and attraction openings to handle until now. These are the priceless moments for me, especially when I can combine my unique knowledge of horticulture and floriculture.
In a subtropical climate like Hong Kong, the choice of bedding plant material is limited. As the weather is too warm and humid for bedding plants, it causes pest and fungal infections which reduce the lifespan of bedding plants. During an event set up, it’s exciting for me to apply flower arrangement concepts for garden design. It not only enriches the color and texture of the plant material, but it is also more sustainable by reducing the amount of replacements of plant material, as colorful foliage shrubs is longer lasting and more robust than bedding plant species. From my experience, it refines and enhances the variety of planting species in a bedding planter set up and gives different layers and depth to present planting materials in an event arrangement.
I am a horticulturist who enjoys arranging flowers and appreciates the beauty of nature.
Thank you for sharing your story, I am so proud of you !