As the cooler temperatures set in this fall, bring the outdoors in by adding more houseplants to your life! Whether you're new to growing indoor plants or a seasoned professional, having plants inside your home has a host of benefits, including improvement of health and emotional wellbeing.
"Indoor jungle" is a term that is often being used now to describe rooms primarily filled with plants. These rooms are also called "growing rooms", as there tends to be ample sunlight and large windows for plants to thrive in.
Some homeowners are taking advantage of an unused room in their home to use as a growing room. Many times, humidifiers are added to these rooms to help plants thrive that love tropical climates. Bathrooms with a sunny window make wonderful "indoor jungles", as the added humidity is something most plants love. If you have an unused guest room, office, or even possibly an enclosed garage like the photo below, you could potentially turn any of them into grow rooms.
In a situation where there is not much natural light, many plant enthusiasts are looking to supplement natural light with grow lights. These lights facilitate the process of photosynthesis among the plants they shine on to help them thrive and grow. Grow lights have come a long way in the last several years. There are nice ones on the market that are stylish as well. LED lights have opened the door for many more options in grow lights, also. Many LED grow lights can now give off a warm, ambient light, if that is something you're interested in (as grow lights, in the past, have often produced a harsher, florescent-type light).
If you're short on space in your home, creative thinking can go a long way. Adding simple shelving on a wall near a bright window can be a wonderful place to showcase small houseplants that love bright, indirect light such as succulents and cacti, while a plant stand can also make use of vertical space for a taller plant (such as Fiddle Leaf Fig; shown below).
When creating a space for growing plants, be sure that you do not have your plants near where an air vent will continually blow on them. Also, a lot of plants love bright, indirect light, but "indirect" being the key word- most houseplants will not like sun shining directly on them through a sunny window. Many times a corner of a south or west-facing room works well for plants to live to soak up that sunlight but not be basking directly in it.
As we head into fall, indoor plants will need to be watered possibly a bit less. They go through dormancy just as plants outdoors do, and will need rest during the colder months. You may be able to water a little less frequently. Wait to fertilize indoor plants until late winter/ early spring. At that time you can also repot them if necessary.
Feel free to ask us any questions about growing specific indoor plants! We hope to see you soon at the nursery.