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Indoor Gardens

As fall slowly turns to winter and people retreat indoors, the gardener's first instinct is to preserve some remnant advertisement of the growing season's lushness inside our homes.

At homes this urge takes many forms: Tubs of spring bulbs are prepared for forcing, culinary herbs are dug up from the kitchen garden and potted for wintertime use, and, most important, tropical and semitropical plants return to the greenhouse from their summer resting places outdoors. Each year, what seems to be an ever-increasing number of specimens make the seasonal trip indoors from the terrace, a journey played out to the accompaniment of my grunts, groans, and sighs, as a gardener manhandles dozens of gargantuan soil-packed pots. The indoor garden is making an impact on the gardening world.

The results are more than worth the effort, for few winter pleasures equal the sensation of returning home from the frigid, frost-rimed garden and entering a haven filled with leaf, blossom, and fragrance in an abundance generally reserved for June. True, there really is no substitute for a greenhouse, but it is possible to create spectacular plant displays in any room of your home. Given the right conditions, you can grow almost any plant indoors. The trick is to match your existing plants with the right site or, if you are starting afresh, to select appropriate plants for your site.

Indoor-gardening involves bringing horticultural color indoors. It can be a challenge, as cut flowers and blooming houseplants don't last very long. Houseplants with colorful foliage can brighten your home for a much longer period, but they require lots of light. You can supplement natural light with fluorescent or "grow" lights. Here are three colorful recommended plants:

Rex-cultorum begonias have large, boldly colored leaves for an indoor garden.
The most striking of the foliage begonias, they require high humidity and warm temperatures to do their best. They need bright, indirect light and should be watered only when the top inch of soil is dry to the touch. Begonias are susceptible to a fungal disease called powdery mildew, which looks like a white coating on the leaves. You can prevent fungus problems by not overwatering, providing excellent air circulation and avoiding getting the foliage wet. Powdery mildew can be treated with sulfur powder.

Purple velvet plant (Gynura aurantiaca) requires bright, filtered light or direct sunlight as long as the room temperature is below 70 degrees.
Standard potting mix and moderate water will keep these plants thriving in an indoor garden. No misting or wet foliage, please. Use a complete fertilizer at one-quarter strength in the spring and throughout the growing season. Pinch back the branch tips to keep the plant bushy and full. The brighter the light, the more the deep purple color will develop. Provide ample humidity with a gravel-filled saucer.

Calathea is native to tropical regions of the Americas and requires filtered bright light, high humidity and warm temperatures to perform well within indoor gardens.
The potting medium should be kept about as damp as a wrung-out sponge. Keep the leaves clean, but don't use commercial leaf-shine products. A damp cloth works well.

Indoor gardens require special and different care from the regular outdoor gardens. The indoor garden is not less work, but in most cases, requires additional attention and garden care. Some gardening tips for your indoor garden to keep in mind include:

• With an indoor garden, never water with cold water. Use tepid water, or allow the watering can to sit overnight. This also minimizes the amount of chlorine, a chemical harmful to many delicate indoor plants.

• Use a weak solution of water-soluble fertilizer every time you water indoor plants. Follow label directions, or use the product at one-half strength. Give plants a rest in winter, cutting back on water and eliminating fertilizer wihtin your garden.

• Plants can't photosynthesize properly with a layer of dust on their leaves indoors. Keep them clean by giving them monthly showers with tepid water. You can rinse them off outdoors, in a protected area out of direct sunlight, or in your bathtub. Make sure you use warm water.

• Remove yellow leaves and faded flowers to keep plants healthy. Decomposing foliage is a great place for insect or fungus infestations to start.

• Placing plants in the proper spots also helps keep them healthy. Don't place shade-loving plants in the sun or vice-versa.

Can you grow flowering plants in indoor gardens?

There are quite a few flowering plants to grow in an indoor garden, and the traditional African violet is just one choice. Kalanchoe, for example, blooms quite nicely indoors. And if it begins to get leggy, you can snip the stalks back to where the next set of healthy leaves starts. Peel all but the top two leaves off the stalk and jab it into some potting soil, with the node under the soil. It will root and start a new plant!

Clyclamen has beautiful silvery foliage and blooms in red and white and other various colors. One thing to keep in mind: When the plant goes dormant in an indoor garden, don't throw it out. Instead, take it out of the pot, shake the soil from the roots and snip back the dead leaves to reveal a bulb. Store the bulb with the trimmed stems in a dark, cool area. When the weather starts getting warm again, pot the bulb and the plant will come back.

If you take care of African violets properly, they'll reward you with blooms in indoor gardens. Don't plant them in a container that's overly large. They like to be a little rootbound. And instead of watering them from the top, which they don't like, water them from a saucer under the pot and let the roots pull the water up. An orchid can be temperamental, but it will bloom if you give it what it wants: humidity. Mist it often. Or go another step. Fill a saucer with rocks and water and place it underneath the orchid pot to create humidity. Another frequent mistake people make with orchids is planting them in the wrong soil.

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