The majority will be permanent residents, and as long as the right conditions are provided they will remain elegant and attractive during the entire year. They will repay correct care, for without it they can become unsightly and cease to be an asset to the room they are intended to decorate.
Foliage plants which flower
If kept alive and well, these will be permanent occupants of the room and may be expected to flower there. Their leaves will last throughout the year and are often just as attractive as those of the foliage plants.
Cacti and succulents
Also permanent residents; some will even flower in room conditions, provided that their needs are met. They will survive quite happily at 5-10 C (40-50 F) but they cannot stand frost.
Flowering indoor plants
There are vast numbers of them. Generally, they flower abundantly and will remain in bloom for a long time in room conditions. Members of this group are available for almost every period of the year and, in winter especially, those available can be the source of considerable visual pleasure. Normally they are discarded when flowering has ceased, although some varieties may be kept if a greenhouse is available.
Now that the basic groups have been defined it is important to understand the individual characteristics possessed by single members of any of the groups. This information is vital – without it your indoor garden could lack form or style. Good combination of plants is an art form akin to flower arranging, and to achieve it you need to know each plant’s way of growing, or habit.
- Is the plant upright? If so, how tall?
- Is it bushy? How big?
- Does it trail or hang?
- This will indicate where best to use it.
- Is it dwarfed?
- If so, it will probably be shallow-rooting.
- Is it a climber?
- If so, does it need support?
- Is it slow growing?
- If so, it may be placed almost anywhere.
- It could grow too fast for some uses. Is it vigorous?
Clearly, problems would follow the planting of the vigorous Kangaroo Vine ( Cissus antartica) – which would quickly furnish a room divider – in a small indoor garden; a dwarf Ivy would be much more suitable.