When it’s snowing or hailing or pouring with rain, or just plain dark-all-the-time, it’s easy to forget all about the garden and be cut off from the green world altogether, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Many folks are tempted into buying an endless succession of cut flowers or disposable instant-bloom pot-plants to bring a splash of colour to their homes in winter. Neither of these options last long, though, and the air miles and carbon food-print of most cut flowers is pretty tough to justify for such an ephemeral display. Much better to grow “real” indoor plants, and then, even if you can’t quite manage make it out to the garden very often, you can still get a dose of leafy therapy.

Indoor plants can roughly be divided into two types, and, through winter at least, each needs somewhat different treatment. First off are your traditional house plants. These are, for the most part tropical imports that hail from the dark understories of forests. For many the big leafy Cheese Plants and Philodendrons are forever linked with the ‘70’s and it’s actually quite tough to find them for sale these days. Moth Orchids – Phalaenopsis – on the other hand, are deemed essential indoor accessories and pop up just about everywhere. Various bromeliads and carnivorous exotica like pitcher plants are also super fashionable right now, whilst old favourites like Christmas Cactus and African Violets are also offered for their seasonal blooms

All of these house plants grow successfully in our homes because the warmth and relatively low light levels mimic what they would have in the wild. Trouble is they are also used to close to 100% humidity in their native habitats, and when the central heating goes on in winter the air in our homes dries out to a potential dangerous extent.

Another big issue they face is sudden changes in temperature, and in particular cold drafts, something that no rainforest dweller would ever be exposed to. Just like their outdoor cousins house plants do have winter a dormant period too. Although they may not look much different to the casual glance they do (or at least they should) stop growing and take up far less water and almost no nutrients.

So, if these are the problems, what are the solutions? First off think of where your  plants are positioned in your home. Can you give them more light without exposing them to drafts? A west or south facing window can be are ideal, but keep house plants away from the glass itself where temps can plunge at night, and definitely well away from the icy blasts of doors.

Keep watering to an absolute minimum. House plants should never be allowed to sit in water over winter and should be kept on the dry side all season, so no daily hovering with a watering can. An automatic plant watering system is an ideal way to provide just the right amount of moisture to the roots. No feed should be given either – you don’t want to suddenly wake them into growth when the light levels are too low to support new shoots. Equally important, though, is humidity at the leaves. Bathrooms and kitchens – the steamier rooms of the house – can provide better winter quarters for house plants, but only if they’re also light enough. Daily spraying of leaves (ideally with rain water) works well, as does placing the pot in a tray filled with pebbles and water, and letting natural evaporation do the rest.

The second group of winter indoor plants are actually hardy garden plants. Your job is to fool them into thinking that it’s already spring. If you succeed – and frankly, it’s not that hard – then they’ll reward you with a display of flowers, foliage or edible shoots that should definitely put a zing back into the dark months.

The two keys to growing Spring flowering garden plants indoors are light and heat.  You need to find as bright a position as possible, but also one that’s relatively cool. All you’re trying to do is nudge the plants forward a month or two, not plunge them into a balmy August. Feed and water well, and success should be yours.

Shorter growing plants work best as taller specimens can easily get drawn and leggy in the low winter light. One of the best to try is Helleborus niger, the so-called Christmas Rose, actually a buttercup relative that flowers outdoors from late Feb, but delivers the goods indoors during December. Evergreen Azaleas, which these days come in a dazzling array of colours, and all manner of Spring flowering bulbs also work well. Narcissus, Hyacinths, Crocus, Chionodoxa, Iris, Muscari  and, for the more ambitious, smaller species and varieties of Lilium can all be readily forced, i.e. encouraged to flower early indoors.

Finally one of the most fashionable, not to say useful groups of winter indoor plants are the herbs. These can prove more challenging since they are essentially Mediterranean natives that prefer basking in sunshine, so lots of light, together with a decent feeding and watering regimen is the order of the day. Basil, Chervil, Dill, Coriander and Parsley can all be grown from seeds on a south-facing windowsill, whilst plants of Bay, Oregano, Tarragon & Thyme can be transferred from the garden or bought in specially. Give them a few weeks in a transition zone – an unheated porch for example – before moving plants into their heated quarters, and they’ll provide winter-long tasty results direct into the kitchen.

The big advantage of all of these outdoor/indoor plants is that, once they’ve finished doing their thing indoors they can take up permanent residence in your garden, in effect giving you two uses from one plant – who could ask for more!?

Tags: Automatic Plant Watering System, Flowers, House Plants, Indoor plants, Seeds, Watering, Watering Can

This entry was posted on Monday, January 11th, 2010 at 9:00 am and is filed under Tim's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.