Houseplants as Decorative Assets - Lately, indoor plants have become very popular as part of your home or office decorative assets. This is especially true in city homes with lack of enough outside greenery. It is amazing the variety of foliage that now blooms in homes or offices. It is now very common to find flowering plants, evergreens, shrubs, small trees, even palms and rare species from the Orient and deserts, in home indoor gardens. Most of the house plants can bloom year round, so that one can now create a feeling of spring even when snow is falling outside.
The decorating possibilities of house plants are endless. Just a single house plant can highlight a fireplace mantel, a coffee table or a piano and with a large collection of indoor plants foliage and flowering plants one can beautify a bay window in a dramatic way.
You also can sparkle up your kitchen with the addition of an indoor herb garden or create that sense of spring in your entrance foyer with the addition of the flowering bulbs plant and their captivating fragrance. Do you have a teacart? Then bring it to life by adding a potted plant. Now I can feel your decorative juices flowing because you now realize there are hundreds of places in your home where indoor plants will serve not only a decorative function, but also assist you in creating a healthy living home environment.
It is just so easy to create your own indoor garden. It can also be fun, especially after you make the right decision to buy the first one. You now realize you can create your own seasons indoors by buying or growing another indoor plant, for that special location in your home. Please stick to living plants, as the plastic artificial plants are virtually useless and cannot serve as decorative assets. The only talent you need is your imagination and the desire to enhance your living space in healthy way. You just need to use the same basic sound judgment you would employ in planning and using any of the materials, furnishings or accessories that compliment the beauty of your home.
Indoor plants can be classified into two basic types. The first one is the flowering plant that may either produce flower all at one time or keep flowering over several periods of time. Some of best known indoor flower plants are begonias, hydrangeas, geraniums, azaleas, lilies, roses, gardenias, tulips, poinsettias, daffodils, hyacinths and African violets.
The second basic type of plant is the foliage or green plants; they are mostly tropical and professionally conditioned to grow in almost any climate. The most popular ones are ferns, philodendrons, jade plants, Chinese evergreens, dracaena, begonias, bromeliads and other known wonderful plants.
While some gardeners might swear to the advantages of using clay pot, I for one, have had good experiences from using well draining regular containers. In the beginning, if funds are low, just stick to regular containers and your plants should thrive with some love and care. While red clay pots make good decorative pieces, you can also find many other colors of pots in different shapes and sizes that will add to and enhance your home decorative value.
The care for your indoor plants can be easy if you follow this simple common sense rules. Give your plants regular water, but do not over water them. I usually water my heavy foliage leaves plant every other day in the winter and every three days in the summer months. The flowering plants I water sparingly depending on the growth stage. Every three days is fine for them too. Do start out with plants that don't have yellowed, browned, curled or falling blossoms or leaves and drooping stems, which are the most common signs that a plant's root structure is not very healthy. Luckily, most plants come with some care instructions, do follow them carefully.
It is best to use well draining pots because you will be able to tell if you're over watering your plants. Most indoor plants prefer temperatures with range of 60 to 80 degrees. Apply liquid organic fertilizer once a month to help with proper growth. Please do not use chemical fertilizers, which in my opinion is deadly for humans to smell and breathe the odor. Watch out for occasional mealy bug or plant insects. Use only organic products, which you can find in most greenery store to eliminate the parasites.
You can start by visiting some of the online stores with detailed pictures about the best indoor plants to choose. When you consider all the health benefits of an indoor garden, then you would want to get started immediately.
