Houseplants; The Indoor Garden

Gardening is not limited to the outdoors. It does provide a fine opportunity to get outdoors and be an active part of Nature rather than sitting indoors and consuming pre-packaged culture, but it can be enjoyed all year round, no matter where you live.

Houseplants are perfect for the person who wants to keep the enthusiasm alive. They offer diverse, inexpensive and relatively easy to care for ways to engage your interest and as a bonus they enhance the indoor décor. 

The variety of plants for indoor gardening is vast and while there are traditional houseplants, there are many others than can be grown indoors if the conditions are ideal.

Lighting, as outdoors, plays a major role.

Plants grown indoors have the same needs as plants grown outdoors; however, there is a major difference. Indoors, the gardener supplies the sun, perhaps in a brightly lit window, perhaps with artificial light, or maybe a combination of both. 

If there is not enough natural light then you need to turn to artificial sources and there are a number of possibilities in the marketplace.

The most important element of success in indoor vegetable growing is light. Light determines how long plants remain active and is essential for photosynthesis.

You need to pay close attention to light intensity as it affects the manufacture of plant food, stem length, leaf color, and flowering.

Over the years I have grow a wide range of plant indoors, spider plants, tomatoes, herbs, and much, much more. Today, my focus is on African violets; one reason is space limitations, another I admire this plant and a third is it has a long history in my family.

African violets are a popular houseplant. The African violet is relatively easy to care for and will reward your attentions with many years’ of beauty. The African violet (Saintpaulia species) may well be one of the most popular houseplant and one that grows and flowers under light conditions found in the average home or under artificial light. Many different varieties, types, and flower colors exist.

The Spider plant or (Chlorophytum comosum) is also an easy care houseplant; one that looks great in a hanging basket and requires only minor attention. It does like it bright but indirect light is best. If this one gets the right combination of light and water it will thrive for quite a few years and is easy enough to propagate.

Houseplants add value and beauty to you indoor space and can be fairly simple to take care of, so if you are not already growing indoors, give it some thought.