Brighten Winter Days with Houseplants
Houseplants can help chase the winter blahs and provide a decorating concept for the home. Here are some tips for displaying plants and caring for them.
Use decorative tins, baskets, and other containers to hold pots.
Arrange plants in groups for visual effect.
Add interest to plain white walls by mounting flowerpots on them filled with greenery. Plants like the light reflected by white walls.
Put plants in the window over the kitchen sink.
Plants’ favorite room in the house is the bathroom if it has a window. They enjoy the humidity.
More hints for aspiring indoor plant enthusiasts:
Find good places in the house for plants by checking the lighting. All houseplants like sunlight filtered by blinds or sheer panels. Many will tolerate windowless rooms with artificial light as long as lights are on for at least 12 hours a day.
To check the light in an area, hold your hand 12 inches from a piece of paper. If you see a definite shadow, the light level is high. If the shadow is fuzzy, the light is medium strength. No shadow means a low light level. It is hard to go wrong if you avoid low light locations for plants.
Practically all houseplants like more humidity than the average Idaho house can provide in the winter. Try putting a layer of pebbles in a shallow tray or dish, adding water to just below the top of the pebbles, then setting potted plants on top of the pebbles. As water evaporates, top it up to maintain a constant humid microclimate for the plants.