Rockdale hybrid breeders of Wild About Plants create residential jungle

It's not what you'd expect on approach. A 1930's house in the heart of urban, high rise surrounds. But delve a little deeper down the hallway, there you'll find lush, tropical greenery.

The contrast couldn't be any more different. A fast-paced exterior, alongside eight-foot plants creeping off walls, thriving in artificial lighting. Windows are replaced by about 11 types of smart-phone controlled hydroponic systems.

This is lounge-room flora experimentation in its raw form, designed at the hands of hybrid plant enthusiasts Alicia Qian and Nigel Rannard.

The couple are full-time 'breeders', specialising in all living things in the Aroids family - velvet anthuriums, philodendrons and monsteras. Inside their house, thousands of them have taken over most of their living space.

About two years ago they launched Wild About Plants, where they supply seeds and plants, kind of like a 'farm to folk' project. This hobby-turned-business has stemmed into a growing fan base, with more than 15,000 green-thumb enthusiasts following their venture.

What's most unusual, is the arena dedicated to their sprouted successes. There's a 'sperm bank' freezer of pollen, quietly awaiting prime time.

On-the-clock plant attendance required dedicated focus. A typical 70-hour week involves lovingly and meticulously tending to individual seeds.

The couple's early intrigue in plant life began as children. They eerily share mirrored moments of influence.

"I was fascinated by my grandparents' gardening books," Mr Rannard said. "After doing rope access work, abseiling buildings for skyscraper maintenance, I wanted to get into vertical gardens."

Being inspired by the creativity of vertical gardens in Singapore, he picked up the basics of horticulture, and during rehabilitation after an injury, a passion was born.

Ms Qian, who studied science at university, recalls memories of watching her grandmother bring her garden to life.

"I came from a village in a developing country where everything, water from wells, was a marvel of engineering," she said. "My grandmother grew bulbs into daffodils. I was fascinated. Land was very hard to come by in Asia. A garden in China was extremely rare, but they worked hard to have one."

From there a literal seed was planted. Once on Australian soil, Ms Qian began to grow vegetables, fruit, herbs and perfumery plants. Similarly to her partner, she found herself homebound for months after needing foot surgery in 2017.

"It was my preview of lockdown a few years before it happened," she said. "That's when I discovered mail order plants."

Cultivating became the daily grind, and down the rabbit hole of curiousity they fell. But this blooming project branched out into rather cutting-edge cross-breeding of species, much like with dogs, but there's more batches of buds than barks.

Ms Qian likens the process to watching a pregnancy develop. But in this case a human embryo is a hand-crafted seed. "These are our plant babies," she said. "When crossing species, it can be disappointing when the seed isn't viable but that's nature taking its course."

"It fosters patience," Mr Rannard said. "But it's also very peace-inducing to have greenery."

A major part of their venture is crowd-sourcing data from those who buy their plants. The biggest challenge they say is competing with corporate "mass cloning," but they want to lay their roots in a new kind of plant future.

"It's like a big science experiment. We're plant designing for future generations," Ms Qian said. "What we're doing is so new. This kind of territory hasn't been documented, it's not part of any syllabus. We're exploring uncharted territory. I feel like we are fostering a living heirloom. I hope some hybrids will become living heirlooms."

Encouraging education, particularly among children, is an ongoing goal.

"In a small way we are contributing to helping people find that spark," Ms Qian said. "It's like a wonderland of discovery, a daily bit of awe, observing a plant's language, what they want and how they react. I'm constantly marvelling at their resilience and evolution. The ability to nurture something is so uplifting. It's an innate love for nature but also an artistic outlet."

The couple was recently filmed for Gardening Australia on ABC, which is expected to air for National Science Week in August.