Indoor plants provide style to the home, as well as a transition from nature to our domestic living space. Indoor plant arrangements in diverse and creative containers have gained popularity; as opposed to being innocent living defenseless and sympathetic individuals stuck in a corner, today’s indoor foliage breathes life into a home. Indoor plants help clean the air, provide oxygen and brighten our spirits. With today’s eclectic options and open minds, indoor foliage can be done in a stylish way.
Years ago, indoor gardening meant a ficus, dieffenbachia or dracaena plant stuck in a corner and losing half its leaves in winter. A token fern basket would hang deprived of the humidity it needed because of furnace air and then maybe a Christmas cactus and an African violet on the windowsill. Today, orchids, tillandsia, succulents, herbs, fiddle leaf fig, sansevieria, palms and more to name a few have become mainstays of the stylish indoor garden.
If you are prone to an eclectic mix of plants, I have a suggestion. Because inspiration and impulse influence our plant purchases, people often have a variety of textures and sizes in plants, which gives depth to your décor. I would pay attention and make an investment in the containers, or the “homes” for your houseplant friends. A good quality container has enough space for roots to grow and allows for drainage, and adds to the style of your interior plant arrangement. With a variety of colors, textures and forms to your plants, you can unify your living space by coordinating the containers. Even though the plants are varied, a consistent style and color of containers in various sizes can unify or pull the whole décor together. As a matter of fact, I recommend for the interior what I recommend for our outside landscape. Monocultures are not a good idea. When a problem develops it spreads like fire in a monoculture. Diversity is a good thing. Celebrate it with your plants and visually tie them together with a consistent planter theme.
Finally, remember to include poinsettias for added color to indoor plants in December. Today’s varieties of the poinsettia are colorful with long-lasting bracts. They, like other houseplants,
don’t like cold drafts. Avoid placing them near heat registers, as room temperature will do just fine for them. Don’t over water poinsettias (too much water is the number one killer of houseplants), and make sure to provide drainage if they are foil or decowrapped in a fancy pot cover.
Indoor plants are our friends and help bring an interior space to life. They truly are the gift that keeps giving!
Rick Vuyst is CEO of Flowerland, host of the Flowerland Show on NewsRadio
WOOD 1300 and 106.9 FM as well as Mr. Green Thumb on WZZM TV 13.
