Indoor Plants
One of the most affordable ways to redecorate a room does not involve paint, a big-box store, or new pillows. Buy an indoor plant. They’re affordable, attractive and one can never have enough of them. If they’re real, they help clean the indoor environment. If they’re artificial, they won’t take up any water or need maintenance. They come in a wide variety of colors, shapes and sizes; the container they’re in can also become part of the overall redecorating scheme, too.
Online iVillage.com ranked its top 10 indoor plants:
- Angel ivy ring topiary
- Braided ficus tree
- Cactus combo bonsai
- Chamaedorea palm
- Chinese evergreen
- Miniature herb standard topiaries
- Moth Orchid, novelty stripes
- Ponytail palm
- Tropical combo bonsai
- Amaryllis, “Yellow Goddess”
The University of Arizona suggests other favorite indoor plants that include:
- Begonia
- Bo-tree fig
- English ivy
- Philodendron and Giant Philodendron
- Fiddle leaf fig
- Bird of paradise
Indoor plants allow residents the ability to have a little piece of garden in their living room, dining room, kitchen or bedroom. For those urban dwellers, indoor plants – whether real or artificial – are even more valued in the absence of a back yard. Indoor plants can become a solace after a hard day’s work, the first thing a resident sees when he or she comes home at night and opens the front door. They can become conversation pieces for company, or learning tools for youngsters.
Indoor plants are an essential part of any indoor environment. Use them around windows, on table tops or on bookshelves to add variety for the eyes.
But when buying indoor plants – real ones in any case – consider the context. Which room is the plant going to go in? Or, which room would work best? Does the plant need partial shade or full sun? How often does the plant need to be watered or fertilized? How large will it grow, or is the plant fully grown? Will you need to re-pot the plant after a time? How many plants will you need for that room? Will you have to worry about insects, or your pet cat or dog chewing on the leaves?
Most indoor plants grow well at temperatures between 60 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Be careful you don’t over or under water them.
Artificial plants, on the other hand, require no water, no fertilizers, no pruning and are virtually maintenance free. They come fully “grown” and you’ll never have to worry about sunlight or replacing them after a time. If you lack a green thumb, artificial indoor plants are a great choice when redecorating a room or buying a new plant.