Abutilon pictum ‘Gold Dust’
Large group arrangements, or an individual giant plant, standing on the floor are best positioned where they will first be seen from a distance. Site them where they create a vista from a passage or doorway.
Using single plants
There is usually some room even in a small house or flat for one or two large, single-specimen plants. One bushy plant like a palm or a weeping fig can transform an empty corner of a room. In a dark corner the plant may need the assistance of extra lighting, or you can temporarily position a plant in a dark spot as long as it is periodically returned to the light one week in every six.
Two identical tall, slim plants, such as yucca, ivy grown up a pole, or narrow palms, provide interest as sentinels on either side of a doorway or window. If your staircase is wide enough, place identical plants, one above the other, up one side of the steps.
Planning a floor group
If you are lucky enough to have large rooms start a display group with a giant-size plant at the back and to one side, then add medium sized and low plants. Bear in mind leaf colour and shape when choosing plants so that each will highlight the other’s merits. Mix large shiny-leaf plants with feathery, fern-like leaves. Add one or two with either cream variegation or pink streaks. Some of the plants in the group can be given height by placing them on a small table, or an upside down plant pot, or hanging them in a basket.
Good positions for large plant groups are in front of a window, filling up a room corner or on the bend of a staircase. Where a room has more than one use, sitting and dining for instance, the sections can be attractively divided with plants. Use a line of matching plants or plant troughs with a mixture of plants. Make a screen from trellis for climbers if you want to completely hide one section from another.
In sunrooms
If you have a sunroom, conservatory or glazed porch then you have the opportunity to include some of the more exotic flowering or highly scented varieties in a plant group. Consider including a citrus tree, or providing a colourful background for the group by growing jasmine, a leadwort, or an allamanda up the wall behind.
Inexpensive, large containers
Giant baskets make attractive containers for green plants, highlighting the colour and texture. Sturdy wicker-work baskets, used for coal or logs, make good containers.
An old bucket can become a good-looking container for a flowering or variegated-leaf plant if you paint it to pick out the room colour scheme then sponge a second colour over the flat first one to highlight plant colours.
A wander round street markets and junk shops can turn up an attractive old container that could hold a large plant — a washbowl, stone preserving jar, old tin box or preserving pan.
A wooden box or crate could be used if you line it first with a couple of sheets of black polythene. Place a layer of pebbles in the bottom for drainage.
Some plants to consider
Adding colour with leaves
Using white
Include one or two of the following:
Using pink
Include one or two of the following:
Many climbers when trained up a pole, make suitable plants for décor.
Tall, bushy plants
Flowering plants to include
- Flowering Maple (red, pink, yellow or white bell-shaped flowers)
- Poinsettia (white, red and salmon pink)
- Eternal Flame (bright yellow bracts)
- Flamingo Plant (red, waxy spathes)
- Hydrangea (white, pink, deep red and blue)
- Easter Lily (white)
- Amaryllis (pink, red and white, many varieties attractively streaked)
- Begonia (various colours and varieties)
- Comet Orchid (white to pale green flowers)
- Lady of the Night (white, heavily scented flowers)
- Amazon Lily (large shiny green leaves and white flowers)
