Four decades of moving living landscapes across the world: theme parks, casino resorts, giga-projects, and the farms and nurseries behind them. Every photograph on this page is our own work, chosen image by image: real projects, real stock, real logistics. The stories behind them live in the Knowledge Archive.
Signature specimens
Character trees and palms grown, shaped and held ready for landmark projects.
Brachychiton discolor, an unusual character tree, slung for liftingAdansonia digitata, the African baobab, in full leafAlbizia saman, the rain tree, with its umbrella crownRows of Azadirachta indica staked and readyBarringtonia acutangula, a multi-stem waterfront specimenA double-planted Borassus palm with its root ball wrappedA true double-trunk Borassus, one of the rarest forms in the tradeA triple-trunk Borassus: decades of growing in a single liftCassia nodosa carrying a clean standard crownDalbergia sissoo, Indian rosewood, at export gradeFicus microcarpa shaped as a broad standardA cloud-pruned Ficus Panda multi-head specimenThe Ficus Panda block: finished multi-head specimens by the dozenPlinia cauliflora, the jaboticaba, with sculptural smooth trunksPterocarpus macrocarpus carrying a full, balanced crownHeavily pruned Tabebuia argentea character trees shooting awayTerminalia catappa showing its layered pagoda habitBambusa textilis clumps established in steel transport crates
Export and logistics in motion
Root balls rebuilt in soil-less media, crowns wrapped, cool chains held and out-of-gauge lifts craned aboard.
Shade-wrapped Bambusa textilis loaded on a barge for export from ChinaWrapped bamboo craned onto the ship deckA strangler fig staked and prepared, its root ball rebuilt in soil-less mediaThe same fig craned into an open-top containerOut of gauge: the loaded container sheeted and ready to travelWashing the root ball of a Streblus asper character treeStreblus asper on a transport rack, every head wrapped for the journeyHero trees completed in soil-less media and raised on gravel moundsRaised root balls: air pruning and drainage before despatchVigorous new root development in the soil-less mediaA Plumeria root ball prepared for shipmentShrink-wrapping the root ball, crown wrapping to followPhoenix canariensis, 7 m clear trunk, fronds tied for transportBrachychiton populneus root-balled in wire baskets, ready to moveRolling wrapped Delonix regia root balls into the containerDelonix regia packed in hessian for the voyageA Delonix regia consignment staged in the yardBare-rooting for biosecurity: washed clean, no soil travelsLabelled export cartons, biosecurity checked and quality assuredThe cool chain: a foil-wrapped pallet in the refrigerated truck
The craft: moving a mature tree
A field record from China, from first cut to final staking.
The root ball cut as a clean cylinder around the trunkMeasuring the finished ball against the 1:10 caliper ruleHessian goes on firstA wire mesh basket is formed around the ballThe mesh is tensioned wire by wire until the ball is rigidEasing the tree over for slingingAirborne: the ball swings clear on soft slingsLoaded upright for the roadReceiving beds: geotextile, gravel and planting soil stand readyUnloading by crane at the new siteSet down on a free-draining gravel bedAir-pruning container panels fitted around the ballPanels wired off: the tree now grows in its own containerGuyed, staked and establishing in its new avenue
Theme parks, resorts and landmarks
Two Disney builds, Macau casino resorts and headline projects across China and the Gulf.
Brachychiton bottle trees craned into place at Disneyland Hong Kong, September 2004Streblus asper in position inside Disneyland Hong KongA Ficus microcarpa curtain fig flown in by crane, 2004A netted ficus root ball slung for the Disney planting worksGinkgo and magnolia rows at the Disneyland Shanghai project nurseryDicksonia antarctica tree ferns against Tomorrowland, Disneyland ShanghaiInstalling mature pines at the Huadu Centre, BeijingPinus tabuliformis wrapped in straw against the Beijing winterThe finished garden at Fairlake Villas, ShanghaiWynn Palace, Macau: resort landscape at the front of houseThe shade house behind the MGM Macau planting programA character pine root-balled in the field for Genesis, BeijingSculptural pines installed at the Genesis building, BeijingA mature ficus arrives for interior landscape work in Doha
Growing operations
The Australian farm behind the supply: Emaho Trees at Pittsworth, Queensland.
The farm from the air: dam, homestead and production blocksContour-planted rows curve with the hillsideAdvanced evergreens in the field rowsProduction blocks around the irrigation damAgathis robusta, the Queensland kauri, field grown in rowsWaterhousia floribunda Sweeper grown to advanced sizeCamellia sasanqua Jennifer Susan in full flowerAzaleas and camellias in the Emaho display garden
Innovation: breathing walls
Living wall systems developed and grown in-house, from production bench to finished interior.
A finished breathing wall in a commercial interiorThe production nursery growing panels for the walls
