Decorating with houseplants

Flower & Garden Magazine, Feb-March, 1995 by Tovah Martin

Close Your Eyes And Imagine a garden composed of many blossoms, of diverse shapes and textures, of skillfully combined color and deftly blended scents. Envision a setting in which plants and structure form an eye-pleasing harmony, where vines scramble rambunctiously up and foliage spills luxuriantly down. Visualize a place of focal points, foliage and flowers - the put it inside the windows of your home.

And really, why shouldn't you dream garden come to life indoors? Why must windows be lined with soldier-straight rows of plants potted in Martian-green plastic? Can you think of any valid reason why the sun porch can't feature a meticulously designed interiorscape rather than a haphazard cacophony of various plants that outgrew the windowsills in the living room? The outdoor garden was liberated long ago, when the back yard moved beyond tidy rows of prim annuals to become a symphony of carefully selected and thoughtfully combined perennials. It seems as though the windowsill could be equally melodious.

Right about now, I bet that you're thinking about the physical limitations of growing indoors. You're grumbling that space is scant, light is filtered and the atmosphere is dry. But all of these problems can be surmounted. By using varied-leveled tiers of plant stands and tables, the growing area can be increased without jeopardizing the quality of light. When windows are wide and the sunbeams hit low, a gardenlike grouping can be nestled on the floor to form a botanical border not unlike the perennial border outside.

Even in the depths of winter, an unobstructed south- or east-facing window will admit sufficient light to nurture all but the most sun-loving plants. Of course, light will be increased if you throw open drapes and curtains or pull up the shades. And houseplants should be rotated every other week to expose all sides to the sunbeams. Bay windows and sunporches with light coming from several angles tend to nurture the finest and most ambitious interiorscapes, but any window will do if plants are positioned so they don't lurk in each other's shadows.

Very low humidity can stress even the most stoic of botanicals. When the furnace is going full blast and all the moisture is pulled from the air, even cacti and succulents will show signs of stress. In fact, your family will undoubtedly begin to suffer from itchy skin and stuffy noses when the atmosphere is Sahara-dry. A humidifier will come to the rescue for both the houseplants and your family.

Finding suitable plant material should pose no problem. Certainly, you might have trouble locating designer-worthy houseplants on the shelves at the local supermarket. But there are plenty of perfectly riveting plants out there for anyone who searches in specialty nurseries. If you can't obtain a full-grown specimen that will provide instant gratification, start with small plants and nurture them into the forms and shapes you desire.

A garden indoors should have all the visual diversity available in the garden outside. It should be composed of small tufty plants that crouch close to the rims of their containers and vines that wend their way toward the curtain rods. Plants should spill over the edges of the window frame beside compatriots that stand straight and tall. There should be symmetry and balance. Colors should be in harmony with their neighbors and with the furnishings of the room. In a nutshell, an indoor garden should please all the senses.

Of course, there are hundreds of different houseplants that are fully qualified for filling windowsill displays. Your selection really is a matter of personal preference, just as your choice of architectural and decorating styles is very individual. Some folks prefer the stark lines of cacti; others gravitate toward leafy, bulky plants. Often, the furnishings of your interior suggest the mood of the botanicals-in-residence. A modern decor lends itself to plants such as sansevieria, which sends slender leaves jutting upward. A warmly cluttered Victorian room composed of a patchwork of many colors might entertain rex begonias with leaves banded in several shades. Herbs are comfortable in a colonial farmhouse where most of the furnishings provide a practical function. Billowing flowering plants such as pentas, duranta, genista and bougainvillea can pick up the colors of a busy room accented in chintz furniture. But really, there are no rules of thumb governing the balance of botany and decor; your imagination is free to roam wherever it might wander.

Certain plants seem to echo the garden's mood easily and translate its splendor inside. Bougainvilleas are reminiscent of the vines that arch over pergolas outdoors; their blossomlike bracts call to mind fluttery-petaled sweet peas. In a sunny southern window, with moderate humidity, they send woody stems curving gracefully over the window frame, tipped by flouncy umbels of flowers. Although the eye-splitting magenta bougainvillea is the form most commonly offered at garden centers, vines are also available with snow white, salmon, yellow, pink or lilac floral bracts. There's scarcely a decor that a bougainvillea cannot complement.