150 and counting: How this Sydney renter lives with his huge plant collection

• Who: Jan Gettmann, a.k.a. Sydney Plant Guy
• Where: A two-bedroom apartment in Cremorne, Sydney, NSW
• Rent: $590 per week

Jan Gettmann had a few wishes while searching for a rental property in early 2021. The 29-year-old wanted to stay in Cremorne, where he was already living in a share house, but wanted to live on his own somewhere light and bright, like the apartments in his native Germany.

“I grew up having a nice view and having a lot of sun,” he says. “That, to me, feels like home.”

Gettmann, who works in financial services, would also need space for his substantial indoor plant collection, which multiplied while working from home in 2020. “Suddenly that cute little hobby with a few plants … escalated”. He has about 150 plants at the moment, which he says isn’t many for a true plant lover, but Gettmann prefers quality over quantity.

Gettmann applied for the second apartment he inspected – a top-floor, two-bedroom pad in a 1970s-era block of six, a short walk from Cremorne’s shops and restaurants. 

The rental process was smooth, and he secured the lease within a week of the initial inspection. “And it was actually only 500 metres away from my old place, so with a few of the really big plants, I just walked over,” Gettmann says. 

He loves the balcony and unobstructed views toward Middle Harbour, and the large sun-drenched windows to the northeast and northwest. “I get the sunrise and I get the sunset, and everything in between,” he says.

Gettmann’s interior style is deliberately kept “really basic”, with simple modular furniture and a neutral palette providing a backdrop for the show-stopping climbing aroids that are sometimes taller than he is. 

“My goal was always to decorate with plants, to make them statement pieces like artworks,” he says. 

With their huge leaves and towering height, you’d be forgiven for thinking they’ve been shipped from the depths of a tropical jungle, but Gettmann explains most are just healthy examples of familiar indoor plant varieties: monsteras, philodendrons, anthuriums and alocasias. 

When pressed, Gettmann says his Monstera adansonii is his favourite plant. “It cost me zero dollars,” he says. “It was just a cutting I got from a friend. They’re so readily available, you can get these at Bunnings, you can get them at Woollies.” 

Gettmann studies each of his plants closely and also continually assesses how the light, humidity, airflow and temperature in his apartment affect them, working with his own environment to help them thrive. 

“To me, it’s not about growing the rarest plant or growing a plant nobody else has, it’s about growing ‘normal’ plants in the best way possible to transform them into something you would never see in a nursery.”

As the indoor environment changes with the seasons, Gettmann moves the plants accordingly.  

“Basically what that means is I’m rearranging a lot,” he says. “My couch is modular so I can fit it together in different ways … I can move the furniture items around to work for the changing light conditions.” 

Smaller, more vulnerable plants spend time in an IKEA cabinet Gettmann converted into a greenhouse for more stable conditions. “It’s like a little nursery in there, where I just take care of all the babies.” 

There are challenges to hydrating this indoor jungle while keeping the rental property in top nick. “I can’t just walk around with a hose and just water everything … I want to protect my floor, the walls, everything,” he says. “I needed to find a way to make my plant maintenance very clean, efficient and fast”.  

Gettmann achieved that by using inverted water bottles to moisten the plants’ moss poles rather than tipping water into the soil. He shares this technique and other tips on his YouTube channel, hoping budding green thumbs will benefit. 

“It’s a lot of trial and error. I killed a lot of plants over the first couple of years, for sure.”

And though he’s only been growing aroids for three years, Gettmann was “very, very honoured” to be invited to speak at the Aroid Society of Australia meet-up in June about his experience. 

With all this success, does Gettmann have plans to move on from this rental? He admits the idea of moving into a house with a backyard holds some appeal, but for now he’s content. 

“And the [plant] collection has like tripled, so I don’t know,” he says with a laugh. “Maybe I can’t move anymore.”